Sal Agostinelli probably has more frequent flier miles than most pilots.
The Phillies' director of international scouting is in perpetual search mode, which is why he watched and he winced during the 2019 postseason as a parade of young international stars dominated the stage. It was impossible not to notice and, even worse, the bulk of them were from the National League East, the Phillies' own division.
Washington's Juan Soto, the youngest of them all, shined the brightest, hitting .277 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 17 postseason games while leading the Nationals to their first World Series title.
Soto, who turned 21 on Oct. 25 in the middle of Washington's seven-game World Series victory over Houston, did his best work against the Astros, hitting .333 with three home runs and seven RBIs. At the moment, he appears to be a superstar without a ceiling, surpassing even Mike Trout's remarkable feats at such a young age.
By no means, however, was Soto a solo international act. The Braves went down in five games in their divisional series with St. Louis, but Ronald Acuna Jr., 21, was every bit the star for Atlanta in the postseason that he was in the regular season, hitting .444 with five extra-base hits after slugging 41 home runs and stealing a league-leading 37 bases during the regular season.
Washington's run to a World Series title was led by 21-year-old outfielder Juan Soto, a native of the Dominican Republic who signed with the Nationals for $1.5 million in 2015.
Soto and Acuna also have tremendous Latin sidekicks who are just slightly older. Center fielder Victor Robles, 22, had 33 doubles, 17 homers, and 28 stolen bases in his rookie season for the Nationals while Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies, 22, led the National League in hits and finished 15th in baseball with 75 extra-base hits.
The Astros, meanwhile, got big hit after big hit in the World Series from American League rookie of the year Yordan Alvarez, a 22-year-old Cuban originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of course they also have Venezuelan-born Jose Altuve, who, at 29, no longer qualifies as young but is still an international superstar.
The New York Yankees' best player during the postseason was 22-year-old Venezuelan Gleyber Torres, who hit 38 home runs during the regular season.
"I think about it every day," Agostinelli said during a recent interview from Taiwan, where he was on a scouting excursion for international talent. "I know every time Soto walks into our park people are saying, 'Why don't we have that guy?' Same thing with Acuna and Albies. I'm ticked that we don't have at least one of those guys. I don't sleep at night and I'm not going to until we get one."
