With kind authorization Oz Ocampo
By
Will Patel
03/25/25 22:08
Before identifying future star launchers on an international scale, Oz Ocampo was a student student abroad, looking for his career path. While in Buenos Aires, he watched the SuperClásico, a fierce rivalry match between the best football clubs in Argentina. After Boca Juniors, his newly adopted team, won, he realized that he wanted to work in baseball.
“Seeing all the excitement and energy of the fans who went down to the city, I admitted that I wanted to do something that fascinates me,” said Ocampo, a sports management teacher. “From the moment I was young, I had a passion for sport, especially baseball. In high school and college, this passion has grown up to include leadership … and Latin America. “
His pursuit of a career that combined sport, leadership and Latin America led him to the Dominican Republic.
“I took a leave of my last year, I moved to the Dominican Republic and I did not know anyone,” said Ocampo. “I started calling teams and saying,” My name is Oz. I speak Spanish, and I am ready to do anything to work in the game. “”
Ocampo said his persistence had borne fruit. He won an internship with the Baseball office of the major leagues in the Dominican Republic and attended the MLB Scout School, where he met Jeff Luhnow, then vice-president of the Cardinals of St. Louis and future managing director of Houston Astros.
“(The) Next semester, I returned to the Dominican Republic for the spring holidays, and Jeff said:” We are opening an academy here, brand new. Would you like to execute it? “” Said Ocampo. “I was a 21 -year -old child who hadn’t even graduated yet … This is how my baseball career started.”
“The Dominican (Republic) connections were essential,” added Ocampo. “Many of these relationships that I expressed at the start ending up with relationships for the rest of my career.”
Maya Gerke, a student of the Ocampo sport management seminar, appreciates the way Ocampo uses his professional connections to bring guest speakers.
“It is super cool that he uses his relationships in the world of sport to bring speakers in class,” said Gerke, a senior from Jones College. “Recently, we had (former manager of Miami Marlins), Skip Schumaker spoke to the class, which would not be possible without his relations.”
After working in the Cardinal Scout department and completed another visit to the MLB office, Ocampo joined the Astros in Houston as director of international development and Latin players. In this role, he traveled a lot to scout the players and helped to rebuild an Astros organization in difficulty which ended last in MLB each year between 2011 and 2013.
“Most of the time I spent was in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela because so many players are there … But I have been everywhere internationally,” said Ocampo. “I have traveled to Japan to follow the Cuban team and watch Japanese professional players. I went to Barcelona and Germany to scour European players, El Salvador, Brazil and many other places in Latin America. ”
Ocampo and the Astros scout department signed many international players who have contributed to their reconstruction and two World Series championships. It attributes their success to the neglected scouting of the players and promoting a cohesive front office.
“There was a bias at some point against older prospects, and we did not have this bias,” said Ocampo. “It is important to understand how scouting, the development of actors, operations and analysis are interconnected. Establish relationships and bridges between (the departments) was essential to our success.
“We have built a brand that represented excellence and a place where players and families could trust that they would get the best possible development, not only as a player but as a person,” continued Ocampo.
After leaving the Astros in 2019, Ocampo joined Pittsburgh Pirates as a special assistant and the Miami Marlins as Deputy Managing Director. This semester, he came to Rice University and SMGT 470 teaches: global sports strategy, management and negotiation.
Ocampo has brought experiences from the Front Office to his students, recently spent courses simulate negotiations.
“I have probably directed negotiations for hundreds of contracts,” said Ocampo. “It was fun to see the students learn the fundamental (aspects) of negotiation and observation of negotiations take place in class.”
Brandon Braccia Junior of Baker College values his accessible.
“It can be intimidating that people seek to enter the sports industry to speak to someone who was a framework for the MLB team, but it is a fantastic resource to learn,” wrote Braccia in an email at The Thresher. “He is ready to help in any way and is full of invaluable information that only someone who has been in professional situations can bring and teach.”
“I wanted to find an opportunity for mentorship and restore,” said Ocampo. “Being able to dive into world sports is fun for me. I was a big sports fanatic of my whole life … and I wanted to build a course that I would take myself. ”