I was five when my dad bought me a baseball bat. Since that day, I have always had my bat with me. I was six years old when I played baseball for the first time with friends in the neighborhood of Azua in the Dominican Republic.

I was nine when I first played for a team. We used to play around the country. Baseball became more than a sport to me. I used to practice more than three times a day. People were saying that I was crazy. I was only a kid who was doing what he loves to do. When I wasn’t on the field playing, I was playing baseball with my friends on the side streets and in people’s yards. My grandpa use to tell me I practiced too much. But I never changed. I was just crazy about the game. I grew up with baseball in my head.

I remember when I was ten, I learned that on July 2nd every year the MLB scouts would come to the island and sign 16-year-old players to teams. A lot of people don’t have money in the Dominican Republic, and so many of the

young players are poor and want to help their families come out of poverty. I wanted the time to pass quickly so that I could turn 16 and be signed by a team.

I came to the United States when I was 14. My mom was already living here. I knew that I was going to be with her and I felt happy. But I felt sick, too, because I knew I had to start a new life, learn a new language, and start from the bottom. One of the hardest things for me was to realize that I had to give up my dream of getting signed by the MLB. The first year here, I felt alone. I went from home to school, home to school. I didn’t play baseball.

But then, at the end of my first year, one of my middle school teachers knew that I liked baseball. I was always talking about baseball in class, and he called a coach of a local team and paid for me to be able to play on the team. He used to come to watch his son’s games and mine. He was the first person to get me to play baseball here.

My freshman year, I tried out for the baseball team. I made the freshman team, and to be honest I didn’t play well. I struck out a lot. I felt like I was lost. I couldn’t communicate. There was only one other kid who spoke Spanish on the team, and we would try to help each other. I wanted to quit and I thought about giving up baseball. That summer I told my family I wanted to go back to the Dominican Republic. But they didn’t let me.

My sophomore year, I decided to try baseball one more time, and I got onto the school’s JV team. My life started to change. My English was getting better. I started to make friends. And all my hard work paid off. I had the best year of my baseball career. Then junior year, I made varsity. I remember the first time they called me to play, I hit a line drive. By the middle of the season, I had become a starter.

This year I want to just keep playing, work on getting into college, and try to play ball in college. Everything is totally different compared to when I was in the Dominican Republic. I’ve learned to be strong and brave. I am proud of the challenges I have surpassed. It took me a while to let go of my childhood dreams. But as I get older, I’m creating new goals and dreams. And I still dream of playing ball in the major leagues.

© Emil. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.