Dominican baseball non-profits: Boston teen takes part in Lindos Suenos program

Like a number of MLB players and teams, the Red Sox are very active in signing Dominican free agents and developing them into big league players. The team is also active in giving back to the Dominican Republic.

They run a non-profit program called Lindos Suenos, or beautiful dreams. The program pairs Boston area teens with Dominican teens in an effort to repair and rebuild houses in Dominican communities. Each year ten Boston teens and ten Dominican teens are paired up and live at a Dominican resort for a couple weeks. In the mornings they rebuild houses and in the afternoons they play baseball at the Red Sox Dominican baseball academy.

American teen Austin Rubino recently participated in the program and says that he went down to learn about Dominican baseball, but mainly to help people. “Definitely working on the homes, that’s the main reason I wanted to be down there, to help these people out,” said Rubino.

The group did get to play some baseball though. They played against other MLB teams’ academy programs as well as a team representing Santo Domingo.

There have been a number of college or church groups get together similar mission work/baseball playing trips, but this is the first program of this nature that the Dominican Baseball Guy has seen put together by an MLB team. It is a great effort by the Red Sox to give back to the Dominican community in which they have a Dominican baseball academy. More teams should follow their lead and have similar programs.

Dominican baseball academies: place to learn baseball and English too

Most followers of the Dominican Baseball Guy, or Dominican baseball in general, know that the Dominican baseball academies of the MLB teams are an important part in the development of Dominican prospects.  Every team now has an academy in the Dominican Republic.

The original point of the Dominican baseball academies was to develop the baseball skills of young Dominican players.  And the academies have done a pretty good job at that over the last twenty plus years.

But recently the need to teach young Dominican players life skills and English has been moved to close to an equal field with the players developing their on-field game.  The Dominican Republic and MLB recently signed an agreement that put forth the steps and the infrastructure necessary to educate young players on English and cultural differences between the Dominican Republic and the United States.  The agreement also allows for the creation of vocational programs to teach Dominican prospects other job skills in case a career in baseball does not work out.

So, the government of the Dominican Republic and MLB seem to be moving in a good direction in regards to educating their Dominican prospects.

More evidence that MLB and their teams are making an effort to better prepare their Dominican players for a life after baseball: a Northeastern University student recently served as an intern with the Red Sox in their Dominican baseball academy, and worked as an education consultant.

Roberto Lavin served as a translator, English teacher, and cultural consultant for the Red Sox Dominican prospects.  According to Lavin, learning English was a focus for all the Red Sox prospects, but especially for catchers:

“The Red Sox would always talk about how essen­tial Eng­lish is for all posi­tion players, but to a catcher, Eng­lish is really a neces­sity,” he explained. “I worked closely with young catchers, tutoring them fre­quently and sim­u­lating catcher-​​pitcher mound interactions.”

But the focus was not only on learning English.  Cultural anthropologists, such as the Dominican Baseball Guy, know the importance of learning about a culture before someone is thrust into a new country and culture full force.  Dominican prospects face culture shock and may have ethnocentric views that inhibit their assimilation into a new culture.  That is where education consultants such as Roberto Lavin serve an important role in the Dominican academies.  Eddie Romero, the Red Sox director of international scouting spoke to this:

“Roberto did a ter­rific job of assisting our young Latin players in not only learning Eng­lish, but also in preparing them for the Amer­ican cul­ture once they got to the States,” said Eddie Romero, the Red Sox director of inter­na­tional scouting.

The Dominican Baseball Guy feels that MLB teams have made a great effort in these regards.  The majority of teams now have a coordinator of cultural immersion for Latin players.  And most prospects that spend some time in a Dominican baseball academy are more prepared to live in the United States, and/or work in a field outside baseball, than they were before entering the academy.  While the teams could spend more money and hire more staff in these areas, the league has come a long way in this regard and seems to be on the right track to grow these programs, as the international presence of the game grows.

Father and son donate baseball equipment to Dominican baseball players

The Dominican Baseball Guy has blogged on Dominican Baseball charities a number of times. There are several major leaguers that have charitable organizations that contribute to Dominican baseball and there are some non-profits that contribute to Dominican baseball.

In this case, a father and a son have taken it upon themselves to deliver equipment to Dominican baseball players in need. The Lakeland, Florida father-son duo, Sean and Ryan McEnroe visited the Dominican Republic on Spring Break and saw the need Dominican baseball players have for equipment in the Dominican Republic.

Ryan was exciting and happy to share the equipment:

They knew right away what to do with it. They started throwing the balls around. Up here (in the US) everyone wants a certain kind of bat, but down there, they were just happy to have a bat.

No doubt, kids know what to do with the equipment. One of the reasons Dominican baseball players are so good is that many of them grow up playing with rocks, sticks, and milk cartons for gloves. When they finally get 'real' equipment the game is easy for them.

There is certainly plenty of need for baseball equipment in the Dominican Republic. I throw whatever extra equipment I may have in my bag every time I go down, and just give it to kids I meet in the streets or at games. So, if you visit the Dominican Republic takes a few gloves and give them away. Every bit helps. Or better yet, do what the McEnroes did and take down a bunch of equipment.

Ryan McEnroe delivers equipment to Dominican baseball players, photo by the McEnroes

Brewers and their cultural immersion program for Latin and Dominican players

Currently every single MLB team has a Dominican baseball academy in the Dominican Republic.  However, only 5-6 teams have a full time staff dedicated to cultural immersion of Latin and Dominican baseball players, the Brewers are one of those teams.

The Dominican Baseball Guy is a trained anthropologist, so he could tell you all about culture shock, language acquisition, cultural relativity, and many other issues facing people moving to a new country and culture.  Dominican players coming stateside face all these issues and more.

One of the anecdotes that the Dominican Baseball Guy has heard many times, both in print and from Dominican players, is that when they first get to the states they do not realize they fall into the "black" racial category.  Most consider themselves Latin and feel like they fit in with the Hispanic population, because of their shared language.  In the Dominican Republic, many of the players that are categorized as "black" in the states are categorized as "prieto" or some other racial classification.

The racial classifications are much more free flowing in the Dominican Republic.  The Dominican Republic is mainly a homogeneous population, and the racial classifications are more descriptive characteristics based on shades of skin color.  This is a complicated issue, so for simplicity sake: whereas in the United States, the racial classifications fall into black-white-brown-yellow, in the Dominican Republic the classification are more like black-dark brown-light brown-yellowish brown-whitish brown-white.  Even Dominican family members may be classified as a different "races" due to their skin color.

However, the skin color does not necessarily decide a Dominicans "ethnicity," as in the States.  Everyone is Dominican, and there is no separation of ethnicity like in the United States.  With that says it does have an affect on social standing.  As with many parts of the world and world history, "white is right."  The famous Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo was said to have whitened his skin, and many think Dominican baseball player Sammy Sosa did the same.  And the lowest members of Dominican society are the Haitian immigrants, also the darkest in complexion.  Haitians in the Dominican Republic are often discriminated against.

As you can see, it is a complicated issue, and it is just one issue Dominican baseball players face when moving to the states.  Others are of course language, food, treatment of animals, and travel.  The Brewers up and coming Latin baseball players and Dominican players are lucky to have Rolando Valles.  Rolando is native of Maracaibo, Venezuela played for twelve years in the minors.

Dominican beisbol player Vladimir Guerrero works out for Indians

Dominican beisbol player Vladimir Guerrero showed up at the Indians Dominican baseball academy on Monday for a workout.  He is one of the all-time top Dominican beisbol players in history, by the Dominican Baseball Guy's estimation and most others.  "Vlad" Guerrero is thought to be a sure fire Hall of Famer by most as well.

As much as the Dominican Baseball Guy hates to say it, the great Guerrero is showing his age.  He has been in the big leagues for sixteen years.  With that said, he did hit .290 with 13 homers and 63 RBI in 145 games last year.  Not bad for an off year, but he is a .318 lifetime hitter.

Well, the Dominican Beisbol Guy would sure love to see him in the majors for another season.  Vladimir Guerrero es de Nizao, the Dominican Republic.

Dominican beisbol player Vladimir Guerrero still had a pretty darn good
year last year with the Orioles, photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

Cubs Dominican prospect Lake hopes to join Dominican baseball player Starlin Castro on Cubs roster

Starlin Castro has progressed faster than pretty much any prospect ever.  He was an everyday player at age 20.  This is a few times in a generation anomaly in baseball.  Ken Griffey, Jr. and Barry Bonds were able to do it, but only one or two players every year make an impact like Castro has made at the age of 20.

Junior Lake hopes to join his long time friend in the big leagues soon.  The Dominican Baseball Guy has been hearing about Lake for several years.  Castro and Lake grew up together, both playing in the Cubs Dominican baseball academy in 2007.  They then made the move to the states and played for the Cubs rookie ball team together.

But Castro matured faster and caught on with the big league club in just his second year with the organization.  He has hit .300 both years, and is a plus defender.  Lake remains in the Cubs minor league system, and had a good year at AA last year.  Junior Lake is one of the top prospects in all of minor league baseball.

Lake hopes to play with Castro in the majors some day soon.  They have a mutual respect for each other, and both feel that Lake can play on the major league level.  Most in the Cubs organization and in the rest of major league baseball seem to agree.  The only question is when Junior Lake will become a Cub.

Lake says he hopes to make the jump from AA to the majors this season.  Junior Lake is from San Pedro de Macoris, Republica Dominicana.  Castro is from Monte Cristi.

Dominican baseball player Junior Lake hopes to join the Cubs this year, photo by  Tom Haggerty for LakelandLocal.com

Dominican Republic and Major League Baseball sign deal on education of Dominican baseball players

The education of prospects has long been a dilemma for Major League Baseball.  This issue only became more complicated when teams started to expand their operations internationally.  Until recently teams generally had no formal educational component to the development of their players.

Slowly, the league and the teams have started to implement programs to educate their players in formal education, as well as off-field issues.  At this point it is mainly language classes and some cultural orientation classes.  Dominican baseball players are some of the most hard hit in this lack of education for several reasons.

Many Dominican players are signed before they even finish high school.  Even if they remain in school, the primary and secondary educational systems in the Dominican Republic leave a lot to be desired.  Lots young Dominicans discontinue their formal education after grade school and enter the workforce, whether they are playing baseball or not.  So, it would not be uncommon for players to eschew schooling in favor of more baseball practice.

But, the fact is the majority of Dominican baseball players signed to an MLB team will not make the major leagues.  So, some sort of education is very beneficial to the whole of Dominican baseball players in the teams Dominican baseball academies.  Even if they make it to play in Major League Baseball, formal education will help them future in business transactions, etc.

The Dominican Republic and Major League Baseball just signed an agreement that will move this bar of education even further than it has been set in recent years.  The new agreement includes Major League Baseball, the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Labour, the Dominican National Institute of Technical and Vocational Training, and the Cyber Park technology free zone.

The program will provide education for players in the Dominican baseball academies, and will create a registry of those enrolled in the academies. It will include English classes and other formal education, but also vocational training. It is a good step, and will give Dominican baseball players other options, should their baseball careers not work out.

Chicago Cubs to build training academy in Dominican Republic, Cubs va a contsruye academia en la Republica Dominicana

The Dominican Baseball Guy is always scouring the news to learn about the happenings with all the Dominican Baseball Academies of the MLB teams.  Every team now has a facility and Dominican Summer League team.  The Indians just opened a brand new Dominican baseball training academy last year.

Well, the Cubs are the latest team to revamp their Dominican baseball academy.  Their new facility will feature four fields, four covered batting cages, eight bullpens, a weight room, a cafeteria, two locker rooms, two meeting rooms, a large classroom, a video room, and an on-site dormitory.  Whew, that was a mouthful.

The team released some pics of what the new facility will look like.  Here is one of them:

Like most Dominican baseball academies, the Cubs facility will serve as a baseball classroom, but players will also have the chance to get their GED and learn English.  The Cubs estimate the project will take 12-18 months to complete, at a price tag of $6-8 million.  It is located in La Gina, outside the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Dominigo.

Nationals Dominican prospect dies in Dominican Republic, Pelotero Dominicano de los Nationals muerte

Washington Nationals Dominican prospect Yewri Guillen died April 14th.  He was living and practicing at the Nationals Dominican academy in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic. It was originally thought that he died of a bacterial meningitis infection, but it has since been shown that the cause of death was a brain infection.

Meningitis can be a major problem for people living in close quarters, such as at a Dominican baseball academy where players and staff live in a dorm type setting.  The Dominican Baseball Guy recalls when he entered college and had to get the meningitis vaccine.

Major League Baseball has determined that the Nationals medical staff took all the necessary steps to prevent the spread of meningitis, even though it turns out that was not the cause.  Always sad to lose such a young man.   Guillen was scheduled to be placed in one of the Nationals minor league teams this summer.

But hopefully something good comes of his death.  The Major League Baseball medical advisory committee recommended that all Dominican Republic academy staff and players receive a meningitis vaccine, a step that frankly should have been taken much sooner.

RIP Yewri Guillen.  The photo really brings home what a sad story this is: a very young man so full of hope.  He was from Nigua, Republica Dominicana.

Cleveland Indians open Dominican training academy

The Cleveland Indians increased their presence in the Dominican Republic this week by opening a brand new $2.6 million facility in the country.  The team of course already had a team in the Dominican Summer League and a small complex, but the new facility features brand new baseball facilities as well as dorm and living quarters to house 72 players.

The Indians are just keeping up with the curve here.  Every single Major League Baseball team now has facilities in the Dominican Republic and a team in the Dominican Summer League.  In fact, the Mets, Yankees, and Cubs all have two teams in the vaunted summer league.

The facilities and teams host mainly Dominican players between the ages of 16 and 20, but also hosts players from other Latin American countries.  If the players show good enough stuff in the Dominican academies or the summer league, then they get a shot at the low-A ball in the states.

The Indians new facility is in San Antonio de Guerra which is just outside the capital of Santo Domingo.