Jorge Velandia Brings Venezuela to the Front Office

The Phillies’ assistant general manager is the highest-ranked executive his country has produced. He doesn’t plan to stop at assistant.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Baseball is the national sport of Venezuela. The country has sent 428 players to the major leagues — a number topped only by the United States (over 17,000) and the Dominican Republic (794), according to the website Baseball-Reference. Some of the sport’s biggest stars over the past few decades are from the South American country: Miguel Cabrera, Félix Hernández, Johan Santana, Bobby Abreu, José Altuve. Venezuela’s newest star, Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, trails perhaps only Mike Trout and Mookie Betts as the best player in baseball. Given this rich tradition, many in the sport were astonished that a Venezuelan had not reached the upper ranks of a major league club’s front office until December, when the Phillies promoted Jorge Velandia, a former player who had been working his way up through the organization, to assistant general manager.