"I first met Yoelvin Silven on a Monday morning in November 2017. I had been helping out at the local baseball field for close to three months and had never seen him there.

 

That previous Saturday there was a tryout for the Texas Rangers and he mysteriously appeared (I was still new to the baseball scene in the DR and kids seemed to come out of nowhere on days of tryouts). I remember watching him throw that day and thinking to myself: “Wow. This kid has serious potential.” He was small but had a big presence about him. His fastball touched 87 mph once and he sat 85-86. I knew he had more in him.

 

I wanted to work with him. I asked around about him after the tryout and found out that he had bounced around training facilities all over the island and had just moved back into town to be closer to home. He was working out by himself and living with his aunt. Read More

When we first met Jonathan, he was one of the youngest boys working out for professional scouts. He was 15 and on the smaller side. His size was the only small thing about him. Jonathan lit up the field every morning with his boisterous personality and jovial spirit. Every day he acted like a kid in a candy store. He loved the game of baseball, and there was no place on earth he would rather be than on a baseball field. 

 

Even the toughest of workouts were fun for him. While most would consider working out everyday at this level a job, he never went to work. He simply played. I knew immediately a Major League team would be lucky to have him. Read More

 

It was an especially warm summer afternoon in Las Terrenas. Jose had recently wrapped up his morning-long baseball workout and was preparing to cook himself a standard Dominican lunch consisting of rice, beans, chicken and a salad, something only a few months prior he did not know how to do. As he was cleaning and dicing his chicken, his phone rang. It was the Kansas City Royals and it was the call Jose had spent countless hours dreaming about.

 

A call that would forever change his life. No, it wasn’t a call to inform Jose that the Royals would like to sign him to a professional contract; that happened three years prior. It was a call informing Jose that a college scholarship had been secured in his name. His hard work, positive attitude, and continued dedication since being released as a professional had paid off. He stayed in the fight and so long as all went well at the consulate, he would be headed to the United States to study and play ball at Kansas Christian College. Read More