Dominican player Starlin Castro to sign huge contract extension

Dominican baseball player Starlin Castro is close to signing a long-term extension with the Cubs. The Cubs have reportedly signed Castro for at least seven years with a deal worth $60 million, according to ESPNdeportesLosAngeles.com, plus a $16 million option for 2020.

Castro is just 22, but he has been in the majors for three years. He was the first MLB player to be born in the 1990s. He has made two All-Star teams already, and he was the NL batting champion last season. He was also the youngest player to lead the NL in hits ever.

His first contract made him and his family a little bit of money. “It changed me my first year in the big leagues,” Castro said. “It changed me and my family."

But this contract will make his family financial secure for the rest of his life. Castro knows that he must focus on baseball and not slow down just because he got the big contract. Cubs teammate and fellow Dominican baseball player Alfonso Soriano has mentored him in that regard, telling him to not let the money change him or his approach to the game.

For some reason 'Starlin' is a very popular surname in the Dominican Republic. I have traveled all over Latin America and grew up in a predominetly hispanic area in Texas. And I had never heard this name before, until my first trip to the Dominican Republic in 2009. One of the first people I met in the Dominican was an assistant in the Gigantes del Cibao office and his name is Starlin. Then I started meeting and seeing Dominicans named Starlin all over.

Not sure the history of how it became to be a popular Dominican name, but it is. And the Cubs brass and fans are happy to have him locked up for seven years. He is certainly a grade A building block type of players, so they have a base to build a championship. He is from Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic.

Dominican player Starlin Castro with the Cubs, by Gamefreak777

Miguel Tejada ready to play ball

Miguel Tejada is ready to join an MLB team as soon as one comes calling.

The 37 year old Tejada is nearing the end of his MLB career, but should still have a couple good years left.  He played in 91 games last year for the Giants.  While his offensive output is down from his peak, he is still a very good fielder and can play three infield positions.

Adam Brush has been training with Tejada in Florida for several years.  A former college player that is a National Strength and Conditioning Association certified trainer, Brush has worked with a number of big league players including Manny Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Ramon Hernandez, Luis Hernandez, Juan Rincon, and Ardolis Chapman.  He is the owner of Five Tool Baseball Performance Training.

According to Brush, Tejada looks great and is ready to go.

"Miguel is a joy to work with.  He absolutely loves the game of baseball, and playing the game is what he wants to do.  He knows what it takes to play in the big leagues, and he knows that he can still produce at that MLB level," Brush said through a phone call.

Continuing, Brush says, "I first worked with Miguel over five years and he looks as good as he ever has.  He is taking over 200 ground balls and hitting four days a week.  And we are doing baseball strength and conditioning work three times per week.  He is working extremely hard, so that when he does get a phone call, he is ready to go."

A native of the Dominican Republic, Tejada is a legend in his home country.  He has played 15 seasons in the major leagues, but has actually played more years than that in the Dominican Winter League (LIDOM).  Tejada is known as "the nation's ball player" or "the patriot player" in his home country, due to his prowess on the field in LIDOM action and his ability to represent Dominican baseball through numerous avenues.

Adam Brush witnessed the love that Dominicans have for Tejada during a training trip to the Dominican Republic.  They went to a LIDOM game one night.

Brush explains, "he stood up, got in the aisle to leave, and the entire stadium went crazy.  There were people yelling his name, taking pictures with their cell phones.  It was like a rock star.  It blew me away because I had never seen anything like it in my life."

"The Dominican baseball fans are absolutely unbelievable fans," said Brush.

A career .286 hitter, Tejada has played in Oakland, Baltimore, Houston, San Diego, and San Francisco.  He is a 6 time all-star and former MVP winner, so at the very least he is a great mentor for young players, especially Dominican players.  Miguel is from Bani, Dominican Republic.

Dominican baseball star Miguel Tejada with the Orioles in 2007, photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

Brewers re-sign Dominican baseball player Carlos Gomez, Dominicano firma con Brewers

The Brewers re-signed Carlos Gomez, and in so doing they avoided arbitration with the player, who will be in his sixth big league season this year, all with the Brewers.  The Brew Crew has six other arbitration eligible players yet to resign.

Gomez has been a successful major leaguer over five seasons.  He was the youngest player in the NL when he made his debut with the Mets in 2007.  He was traded to the Twins in the Johan Santana deal and was the Twins everyday center fielder for two seasons.  For the last two years he has been a utility outfielder and pinch hitter for the Brewers.  He was an important part of their playoff run last year, even as a bench player.

He should fight for an everyday outfield spot this year, and should see the 90-plus games he saw the last two years.  Gomez is from Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Carlos Gomez with the Brewers, photo by Steve Paluch on Flickr

Dominican baseball players in World Series, Dominicanos en el serie mundial

The World Series is upon us today.  That means it is time for the Dominican Baseball Guy's list of Dominican baseball players in the World Series.

Last round, the Dominican Baseball Guy's index predicted one of two league championship series.  The Cardinals had more Dominicanos than the Brewers did, and they won the series. In the ALCS the Rangers had one fewer Dominican players than the Tigers, but managed to win the series. They only had one less Dominican than the Tigers, so that explains the Index not predicting it correctly.

Enough about last round. Here is the list of peloteros Dominicanos in the World Series:

Texas Rangers: Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, Adrian Beltre, Esteban German, Nelson Cruz
Saint Louis Cardinals: Octavio Dotel, Rafael Furcal...and o yea, some guy named Albert Pujols

So there were no changes to either team regarding the Dominican baseball players.  In total there are 8 Dominican baseball players in the World Series, 16% of all players.

According to the Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Baseball Index the Rangers should win this thing easily as they have 5 Dominican baseball players to the Cardinals three.  But wait, one of the Cardinals Dominicanos is Albert Pujols, aka the machine.

Should be good series, as always.  The Dominican Baseball Guy is excited to see all these jugadores de beisbol Dominicano play, and he is also excited to see if the Dominican Baseball Index holds up.  But most of all he is rooting for his loved Texas Rangers and Nelson Cruz.

Dominican Coco Cordero hopes to remain Cincinati Red, Coco Cordero quire quedarse en Cincinati

The Dominican Baseball Guy has been a big fan of Coco Cordero since he busted on the scene with the Texas Rangers around 2000.  He truly made his mark with the Rangers in the 2004 season in which he went 49 or 54 in save chances.

That season he set the all-time save record for a Dominican pitcher in one season.  He broke Jose Mesa's Dominican record for saves in a season that year, and should pass him for the Dominican record of all-time MLB saves.  Cordero is currently 14th on the all-time list with 319 and Mesa is just 2 ahead of him.  Mesa is of course remembered by the Dominican Baseball Guy as a great closer on those classic Cleveland Indians of the mid-1990's, but also as having one of the most classic "lost in translation" names in MLB history: Joe Table.

Cordero sees Mesa as a role model and sees him often, as they both make their permanent homes in Santo Domingo, DR.  So, breaking Mesa's records are a major milestone for Cordero.

According to the recent article the Dominican Baseball Guy just cited above, Cordero has no plans after his contract expires this year or next: he is playing to win a World Series this year.  But as the title says, he would love to stay in Cincinati.

Coco is a nickname, and his real name is actually Francisco.  He has gone by both throughout his career.  Coco is from Santo Domingo, DR and Mesa is from Azua, DR.

Francisco Cordero pitches for the Reds, by FujiMatt on Flickr

Dominican Baseball documentary "El Play" premiers in New York, pelicula de pelota dominicano va a ver en New York

The Dominican Baseball Guy wishes he was in New York to see the premier of "El Play."  The documentary follows the story of Jairo Candelario, a young Dominican baseball player, and his dream to play professional baseball.

El play is a synonym for a baseball or softball game in the Dominican Republic.  If someone asks what you are doing later, an exchange may go like this:

Que te pasa esta noche?
No se, vamos al play. 

And you can be refering to anything from a little league softball game all the way up to a professional Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) game.

You can see the film on June 21, 2011 at 7 p.m. at the 809 Lounge, 112 Dyckman St., New York, NY.  Here is a preview:

ELPLAY_Trailer by cubanica

The Dominican Sports and Education Academy is presenting the movie.  The academy is an amazing concept of the founder Charles S. Farrell.  The plan is to develop and educate 14-16 year old Dominican baseball players and other athletes, while at the same time giving them a top notch education that would allow them to qualify for college scholarships in the US.  

This is such a great concept because this is the exact age when kids get lost or misled by the dreaded buscones (*disclaimer* all the buscones that the Dominican Baseball Guy has ever met were great guys really looking out for their players).  But, it does happen to varying degrees, even when a players advisers really are looking out for him.  

And a program like this would give kids another option (college), which would allow them to further develop their education, rather than having to put all their eggs in the dream of Major League Baseball and the academies in the Dominican Republic.  If they do not make it to even the minor leagues, and they go the academies route, they more than likely never leave the island, and have no money, and very little education to show for it.  If they make it college in the US, they will at least have continued education, and in some cases a better opportunity at making the big leagues.

So, visit the Dominican Sports and Education Academy website and make a donation.  The Dominican Baseball Guy cannot wait to see the movie.

Vladimir Guerrero ready to strengthen Orioles lineup

Yesterday's post featured the Dominican Baseball Guy's all time favorite Dominican player, Manny Ramirez, and today features the Dominican Baseball Guy's second favorite player all time in Vladimir Guerrero.  While Manny is first in career RBI by Dominican born players and second in hits and home runs, Vlad is third in all three categories.  He is just behind Manny in hits and actually has a better average, an amazing .324 lifetime average.

A couple of recent articles by Brittany Ghiroli tell of the excitement Guerrero is brining to Orioles camp.  This one says how Vlad answers all his fan mail during spring training and how his mother makes plenty of Dominican food for Vlad and his teammates.  According to ex-teammate Michael Young, "his mother has the best food in the league."  Another article talks of Vlad's place in the Orioles lineup as designated hitter and who he will be replacing.

Vlad was on some great talented teams with the Expos in the 1990's.  He won an MVP in 2004, his first of six years with the Angels.  And he was with the Rangers for one year last year.  He has nine all-star selections and eight silver slugger awards, along with the one MVP.

His peers call him "Vladdy."  He is a legendary bad ball hitter, and has never worn batting gloves.  Vlad is from Nizao, DR and has several businesses in his hometown.

Guerrero with the Angels in 2005, no gloves hitting one of his
legendary "bad balls," photo by Rich Anderson on Flickr

Miguel Tejada leader in Giants camp, known as nation's ballplayer in Dominican Republic

Miguel Tejada arrived in Giants camp last week and plans to lead Pablo Sandoval in daily workouts throughout the season, this according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.  Miguel recently worked out with Erick Aybar in the Dominican Republic throughout the off season, as both players are from Bani, DR.  He plans to play a similar mentor role with fellow Latin player Sandoval.

Tejada last year with the Orioles, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Tejada is perhaps the most popular Dominican player in his home country.  He is known as the "nation's ballplayer" and the "patriot player" because he has played virtually every off season in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) and made several Caribbean Series appearances with his longtime team, the Aguilas de Santiago.  He also maintains a home in the country, mentors younger Dominicans, and does lots of charity work in his home country.

He has garnered another nickname through his performance in winter campaigns.  He is known as "la guagua."  So, a guagua is a small bus that is used for public transportation around cities and between smaller cities in the Dominican Republic.  These guaguas are always overflowing with people squeezing on to them.  So, it is said that when Tejada plays, the stadium is like a guagua, overflowing with people.

Dominican "guagua," by Valentintv blog

Dominican Nicknames

Nicknames are very common in this country, everyone has them, and generally goes by their nickname. With that said, the commentators on TV and the announcers at games end up giving out lots of nicknames to players.

All baseball fans know Dominicans David Ortiz (Big Papi), Manny Ramirez (Man Ram), Alex Rodriguez (ARod), and Pedro Martinez (Petey).

Thus far the Dominican Baseball Guy has said that Juan Francisco is known a ¨El Diamante¨ (The Diamond) and Dario Veras is known as ¨El Flaco de Oro¨(The Golden Skinny Guy). Of course Dario´s nickname makes a lot more sense in Spanish.

I spent last night in the press box with the announcer for los Gigantes and learned a knew nickname. Israel Paredes (the Announcer for Gigantes) has been calling Luis Durango La Maquina (The Machine). All these nicknames fit the players really well. Durango is leading the league in steals, and when he runs he does it like a machine. He plays center field really well and has a pretty good average. The Dominican Baseball Guy earlier guaranteed that we will see him in the Majors within 2 years, and he has done nothing to make me doubt this. Interestingly, Durango is Panamanian, and counts as an import in the Dominican Winter League. Durango was with the Padres AA team last year, check out the labels to see other posts on him.











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More nicknames to come, just check out the nicknames tag.