Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Dominican MLB All Stars

The Major League All Star game is tonight and the Home Run Derby was last night.

Two Dominicans, David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez fought it out in the finals of the Home Run Derby.  What can the Dominican Baseball Guy say about Hanley Ramirez.  Probably the sweetest swing in the game.  He already has a batting title and now he is winning the Home Run Derby.  And he plays shortstop.  But experience won out this time as David Ortiz paced himself.  Hanley is from Samana and Big Papi is from Santo Domingo.  Ortiz counseled a young Ramirez early in his career:
"Hanley is like a son to me. He grew up with us in  Boston" Ortiz said.  "I was all over him, because i knew he had a super talent. I'm really happy for him. He showed what he could do."  
Many young Dominicans have been unable to adjust to cultural differences and pressures of big league play.  Obviously these two have made a swell transition to the MLB.

Here is a preview of tonight's All-Star Game.  And it took me several minutes (an eternity in internet time) to find a list of the current All Star rosters.  The Dominican Baseball Guy was surprised to see that there are 81 All Stars.  Lots of All Stars.  Five out of 20 starters are Dominican, and there are 14 total Dominicans out of the 81 All Stars.  This is 17% of the All Stars, while no other country (besides the United States of course) is represented by more than 2 All Stars.  Of course, Ubaldo Jimenez will start for the NL and he says that he is happy to represent his family and the Dominican Republic in this interview.  Should be a good game tonight, we will see how these Dominican peloterros do.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...