Cesar Salazar - July 2019
Photo by Jayne Hansen
When I talked with Salazar in late July, I asked him what was clicking for him this season. He said, "I feel like just trying to do the same thing offensively. What was hurting me, especially last year I tried a bunch of different stuff. I tried to make changes real quick instead of just feeling them out first. This year in spring training, my hitting coaches helped me a lot, just refining my swing and helped me realize what works for me and what doesn't work for me. Rafael Pena, our hitting coach, has been doing a really good job with me, with keeping me on track, a trustful pair of eyes on what I'm doing offensively. And defensively, I feel pretty comfortable with my defense. I just try to take charge, help my pitchers, try to be the best leader I can be."
Asked to give a scouting report on himself, Salazar told me, "I think being a leader out there on the field. I take a lot of pride in working really good with my pitchers. That could be on a scouting report. He knows how to handle a pitching staff. He knows how to call pitches. He knows how to make a pitcher comfortable by receiving, blocking, etc. I think for hitting ... good hand-eye, good contact, just has to improve power. That's going to be my main thing to work on during the offseason, a little more weight, try to get a little more juice on the bat. Hitting the ball hard more consistently. That's probably the scouting report."
It was Salazar's leadership and his take charge attitude that I quickly recognized in him when I first saw him in Tri-City last season. It is a trait that is appreciated by coaches and pitchers alike. Salazar's Quad Cities teammate RHP Brett Daniels said of Salazar, "I love throwing to him. I threw to him in Cape Cod and then last summer and now this is my third season with him. I love when Sally catches me. First of all, he knows me. I've shook him off twice this year. Both times they've led to hits. So I don't do that. Every time he always comes up and says, 'This is why I did it. I saw something.' I just trust him. He gets me a lot of pitches and he knows when to get on me. I think last time I threw to him he came out there and he said, 'This isn't you. Come on, make an adjustment.' And somehow I always get out of a jam when he does it." Another pitcher on the squad, RHP Felipe Tejada, was very complimentary of Salazar's ability to get rid of a ball fast, a trait that is evidenced in his 37% caught stealing rate for the season to date.
In response to those comments, Salazar said, "I think I have a pretty good idea what I'm doing and I think I there's a reason why I call pitches. I like to think that. I put thought process into every pitch I call. It's nice having pitchers like that who have that much trust in a catcher. I'm grateful that I've shown them that they can trust me. It's super nice and good to hear those two good pitchers talking good about me."
More praise came from Quad Cities Pitching Coach Erick Abreu, "Sally is wonderful because he came with already a lot of knowledge from college. He just came trying to get better. He's always asking questions, how he can do his job better, how he can help these pitchers the most. And he's a wonderful, wonderful catcher. And also he helps out the team a lot with his bat. I cannot ask more from him." And from Manager Ray Hernandez, "He does everything well. He's a really good catcher behind the plate. And he's really starting to find his swing. Pena's got him really going. He looks the part right now and I think he's probably ready for the next challenge here pretty soon."
Salazar knows what he will need to do to keep moving forward, "I feel like I need to keep improving my offense. My offense will be what separates me from getting where I want to be or not getting where I want to be. I know what I can bring to the table defensively and I think I just need to keep working on my offense, keep developing and keep trusting the process, trusting my hitting coaches and just keep working my butt off."
Knowing that Salazar was born in Mexico, but attended high school and college in Arizona, I asked to hear more about his background. "I was born and raised in Hermosillo. I went to Tuscon my second half of my sophomore year in high school. I played for a travel team since I was 12 years old. It was run by Luis Valenzuela. He's my second dad. He's the one that helped me go through the process of finding where to stay in Tuscon, going to high school, trying to get me showcased for college or pro scouts or whatever. And that was my dream. I really wanted to go to state just to get a scholarship to go to college and start my education," said Salazar.
Salazar continued, "One of my dreams is fulfilled. I lived the college experience. Those were the best three years of my life. I was born and raised in Mexico. 16 years old, I moved to Tuscon. The host family that I lived with in Tuscon, they didn't speak any Spanish so I had to put myself in that tough and uncomfortable situation to actually learn the language. It was a tough year, year and a half to learn it, but it paid off. My family is still in Hermosillo. They were actually here last week. We had nine games at home and they saw that and wanted to come watch me play so that was really refreshing seeing them. I hadn't seen them since February so that was pretty cool, pretty neat of them to do that."
The Quad Cities team had a rough spring in which the vast majority of their home games were played on the road due to flood waters surrounding their home ballpark which is situated on the Mississippi River. Of the early season, Salazar said, "It was an experience. I'm not going to lie. It was tough not being able to have any games at home, play in front of your home crowd. It is what it is. We just went to every single ballpark and tried to play as best as we can. I don't know how to explain it. We just tried to do our job. Yes, it sucked, whatever, but in the ballpark, we'd just focus on what's in front of us, which is the next game, which is practice, which is the weight room. I think we did a really good job. I think it showed because of the first half season that we had. But I think we just sucked it in. We still played baseball. This is what we dream of doing. And we did it."
Now that the team is back home, Salazar is enjoying the experience, "Good crowd. The facilities are awesome. The locker room is fantastic. The weight room is good. Our city is good. Like it's really comfortable. It's nice coming from Tri-City. Tri-City gets a really good amount of fans. You really feel their support. And coming into Quad Cities, the fans showing the same amount of support. We get pretty good crowds every night. It's pretty fun."
Salazar calls himself a "social person" who you won't find staying in and playing Fortnite like some of the other guys and someone who enjoys doing things with other people. Given the opportunity, he says, "I like to go hiking. I did that a lot when I was in Arizona. I play tennis when I'm back home. I'm a huge tennis fan so I would go with my dad and just swing the racket for a little bit. Just spend time with my family. Spend time with my friends. I did enjoy that when I was back home. I would love to go fishing. I haven't been since my sophomore summer. I would like to do that a little more because I really enjoyed it but we don't really have a place to fish back home."
In the offseason, you will likely find Salazar playing tennis or racquetball with his dad. "I love those two sports. I love watching it on TV. It's something that refreshes my mind when I'm back home. I can go with my dad or somebody and just play tennis and swing the racket for a little bit."
It turns out that his love for tennis almost took Salazar in another direction, "When I was 15 years old, I almost gave up baseball to play tennis. I was a good tennis player. I was actually runner up in state in Mexico. I was pretty good. I had this debate for like a month. What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? I like tennis, but I like baseball. And I finally realized that tennis wasn't going to get me very far in my sports life. I think I made the right decision."
I would say that tennis's loss is baseball's gain. Salazar's intelligence, confidence, talent, passion and leadership qualities make him a perfect fit at catcher and will carry him a very long way.
Thank you for your time, Cesar, and best of luck as the season continues.
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