2024 will see the introduction of Locally Developed Players. A significant and useful reform championed by Stephen Lesfargues and the DTN.
It’s Article 162 of the general regulations of French baseball: it introduces the concept of LDP (locally developed player). And it will have certain consequences for the D1, D2 championships and the challenge. To put it simply, from now on, D1 clubs will have to ‘guarantee the continuous presence of 5 LDPs in play’ and ‘at least one match must be started by an LDP pitcher’, with ‘at least 7 innings’ on the mound in the case of a doubleheader. An LDP is a player licensed three seasons before his 18th birthday in a French club, or five seasons before his 23rd birthday, with a special arrangement for those born before 1989.
French baseball is far from being a pioneer in this area. Basketball launched the idea about fifteen years ago, other federations have followed. The model adopted by the FFBS is very similar to what is done elsewhere, particularly in terms of ages and durations. Nothing new, therefore, all the more so as there was a kind of ‘LDP’ for pitchers in the past, with, until 2018, the obligation to pitch half the innings with a French pitcher. But the notion of local training considerably strengthens the approach.
Why, today, try to protect training? At the National Technical Directorate, they obviously noted the increase in the number of imported players in recent seasons. And its consequence on the place given to French players, mainly to pitchers. And then came the 2021 European Championship. That terrible slap taken on September 17, in the 12th inning against Greece, with, in the end, a dreadful 15th place and a relegation to Group B. When this memory is evoked with the DTN Stephen Lesfargues, one can feel that it is still painful.
“If this poor performance had not alerted us and we were not looking to react, it is that we are not in the right place,” he declares. “It was enough to see speaking indicators, factual ones, such as an ERA above 5.00 and a batting average below .170. We said to ourselves that we could not continue like this.”
The diagnosis was not complicated to make. The DTN pushed to change the rules on the use of foreign players, explaining that continuing in the previous direction would lead to disappointing results.
“If we don’t set a framework, we’ll have the same results,” notes the DTN.
And it must be recognized that it is shooting oneself in the foot not to do everything to promote the emergence of young talents. Somewhere, it’s about collective work, between a federation and a DTN that act at the regulatory level to support the training efforts of the clubs, secure the place of French players and ensure their evolution.
“The philosophy of the LDP is to tell players that we are not abandoning them. It is our responsibility and duty to put the new generation in the best conditions to develop as men and players within the clubs,” summarizes Stephen Lesfargues. The encouraging results obtained last year, with a bronze medal in the U23 and a European Senior Championship that was within an inch – or rather an out in the 9th inning against Germany – of becoming a very beautiful adventure, proves that there is talent. We must not waste it at all costs.
We must not see the LDP as a far-fetched idea that comes out of nowhere. It is, after all, the new stage of a rocket built over the past decade, within the high-level sports strategy, in which we find the clubs, the poles, as well as the approaches to allow players to develop in North America and also, now, in Asia, with the support of Frédéric Hanvi. These departures abroad represent a small constraint for the clubs, who temporarily lose talents, but later reap the benefits of the experience accumulated by these players, when they return to their original training.
We must not see the LDP as a one-size-fits-all solution either.
“What is interesting to me,” remarks Stephen Lesfargues, “is to continue working with the clubs, that they are always more structured and developed, that they grow their projects, that they invest in their infrastructures. The LDPs go with the clubs’ project in its entirety.”
And the DTN is certainly eyeing the Czech Republic and the efforts made by the clubs themselves, without necessarily waiting for federal support. Don’t ask what French baseball can do for you, but ask what you can do for French baseball…
We would almost like to ask the federation to be even more coercive. To go as far as the mandatory 9 innings for LDP pitchers, or to impose quotas on strategic positions such as catcher or shortstop. But it was necessary to please everyone. According to several witnesses, the discussions were not always easy, and we know that it is easier to click on the pages of the baseball overseas website and then take out the checkbook than to say that we are going to take the risk of giving the ball to a local product. At the end of the exchanges, the cursor was placed at 7 innings and the obligation for an LDP to start a match. Even these limits were contested by some during the meetings. Stephen Lesfargues did not give in on these points.
But the DTN draws something positive from the debates: “The approach may have been perceived more difficultly by clubs, but fundamentally, everyone understood that this measure is strategic for the development of our disciplines. What was interesting is that we were able to easily reach a majority to move forward.”
The defenders of the opening of line-ups to foreign players and other Cotonou agreements argued that the general level would increase, with French batters facing better pitchers. We don’t seem to have seen this happen. And some excesses in the use of foreign arms (who doesn’t remember Sam Belisle-Springer’s 17 consecutive innings in the 2021 Championship final or Yorfrank Lopez’s 202 pitches in the 2022 Challenge final?) proved by the absurd that something was not working. So should we fear a pauperization of the championship? This may be the case this season, but is it still to be demonstrated, because the talent exists, and those who have seen Ben Couvreur pitch, for example, can testify to this. And then the arms race doesn’t stop either. The Rouen Huskies have gone out to get 4 foreign bats, to fill the 4 non-LDP spots, Sénart has poached Mathis Nayral from the Barracudas to fill the mandatory 7 innings. It’s perhaps one of the risks of the LDP to see the big guns get stronger and stronger, especially by attracting young French talents. But the measure must be implemented, it must prove its usefulness over time. Its usefulness is certain. And let’s be spared the arguments about the free circulation of players, etc., lawyers are dealing with that, making a lot of money out of it, and these considerations really have no impact on the smooth running of the championships of a small discipline like baseball in France.
“The wealth of a club is its training”, concludes Stephen Lesfargues. It is difficult to go against this principle, and therefore even more difficult to go against the idea of LDPs.
François Colombier
To measure the impact of the reform, we have compiled the pitching stats of LDPs and other players last season: percentage of innings pitched, earned run average, percentage of strikeouts pitched, opponents’ batting average, wins. We can see, with these figures, that LDPs will undoubtedly have a major impact on the championship.
