Lecturer Oz Ocampo talks sports scouting, leadership
Before he scouted future All-Star pitchers internationally, Oz Ocampo was a college student studying abroad, searching for his career path. While in Buenos Aires, he watched the Superclásico, a fierce rivalry match between Argentina’s top soccer clubs. After Boca Juniors, his newly adopted team, won, he realized he wanted to work in baseball.
“Seeing all the excitement and energy from the fans coming down to the city, I recognized I wanted to do something I was passionate about,” said Ocampo, a lecturer in sport management. “From when I was young, I had a passion for sports, especially baseball. In high school and college, that passion grew to include leadership … and Latin America.”
His pursuit of a career that combined sports, leadership and Latin America led him to the Dominican Republic.
“I took a leave of absence my senior year, moved to the Dominican Republic and didn’t know anybody,” Ocampo said. “I started calling up teams and saying, ‘My name is Oz. I speak Spanish, and I’m willing to do anything to work in the game.’”
Ocampo said his persistence paid off. He landed an internship with the Major League Baseball office in the Dominican Republic and attended MLB Scout School, where he met Jeff Luhnow, then the St. Louis Cardinals vice president and future Houston Astros general manager.
“[The] next semester, I came back to the Dominican Republic for spring break, and Jeff said, ‘We’re opening up an academy here, brand new. Would you want to run it?’” Ocampo said. “I was a 21-year-old kid who hadn’t even graduated yet … That’s how my baseball career started.”
“The connections in the Dominican [Republic] were critical,” Ocampo added. “A lot of these relationships that I forged early on end up being relationships for the rest of my career.”
Maya Gerke, a student in Ocampo’s sport management seminar, appreciates how Ocampo uses his professional connections to bring guest speakers in.
“It’s super cool that he uses his relationships in the sports world to bring speakers to class,” said Gerke, a Jones College senior. “Recently, we had [former Miami Marlins Manager] Skip Schumaker speak to the class, which wouldn’t be possible without his connections.”
After working in the Cardinals’ scouting department and completing another stint at the MLB office, Ocampo joined the Houston Astros as the director of International and Latin Player Development. In this role, he traveled extensively to scout players and helped rebuild a struggling Astros organization that finished last in the MLB each year between 2011 and 2013.
“A lot of the time I spent was in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela because so many players are there … but I’ve been everywhere internationally,” Ocampo said. “I’ve traveled to Japan to follow the Cuban team and to watch Japanese pro players. I went to Barcelona and Germany to scout European players, El Salvador, Brazil and many other places in Latin America.”
Ocampo and the Astros’ scouting department signed numerous international players who contributed to their rebuild and two World Series Championships. He attributes their success to scouting overlooked players and fostering a cohesive front office.
“There was a bias at one point against older prospects, and we didn't have that bias,” Ocampo said. “Understanding how scouting, player development, operations and analytics are interconnected is important. Building relationships and bridges between [the departments] was critical to our success.
“We built a brand that stood for excellence and a place where players and families could trust they would get the best development possible, not only as a player but as a person,” Ocampo continued.
After leaving the Astros in 2019, Ocampo joined the Pittsburgh Pirates as a special assistant and the Miami Marlins as assistant general manager. This semester, he came to Rice University and teaches SMGT 470: Global Sports Strategy, Management and Negotiation.
Ocampo has brought experiences from the front office to his students, recently spending classes simulating negotiations.
“I probably led negotiations for hundreds of contracts,” Ocampo said. “It’s been fun to see the students learn the foundational [aspects] of negotiating and watching negotiations play out in class.”
Baker College junior Brandon Braccia values his approachability.
“It can be daunting for people looking to get into the sports industry to talk to someone who was an MLB team executive, but he’s a fantastic resource to learn from,” Braccia wrote in an email to the Thresher. “He’s willing to help in any way and is full of invaluable information that only someone who’s been in professional situations can bring and teach.”
“I wanted to find an opportunity to mentor and give back,” Ocampo said. “Being able to dive into global sports is fun for me. I've been a big sports fanatic my entire life … and wanted to build a class I would take myself.”
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