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Most foreign players, especially from Latin countries, barely play organized ball. Their showcases as 15-16 year olds are taking BP, sprinting as hard as they can from home plate to the OF wall, and throwing as hard as they can to home plate. It's like old-time horse trading. "Trot around the yard, young man, and let me look at your hooves." They also play essentially barnstorming events, but it's not the same.
We obviously play more organized ball in the states, so kids from cold-weather states see breaking balls. Oregon actually has a pretty year-round baseball presence. It's more the Ohio/Maine/Pennsylvania type players that have trouble - that snow's a killer and they can't hop a border for a Cali team like the OR kids can. They don't tend to hook on with travel teams and can only play a few months of the year. It's all local coaching garnered in a few warmer months. NY/PA vs FL or CA kids is a big difference. If you see a Pennsylvania kid who's holding his own at 17 with CA kids (or exceeding them) then take the PA kid.
Which we did with DeCarlo.
Did I mention that Kivlehan went to the state university of NJ (ie, Rutgers) and grew up in NY? He was a raw(er) ballplayer type coming out of HS even without taking the 4 year break. When his pitch recognition catches up to his phenomenal strength and very good batspeed, look out. We'll see if his increasing skill can make up for a .400+ BABIP that's sure to come down a bit, but like I said, this guy isn't betting against him.
~G