Cotton was the only American player who was with the program from Day 1 all the way through until the plane took off from Caracas on Day 74. And he was probably the least prone to the culture shock that impacted the other players to varying extents as Cotton hails from the U.S. Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory that lies closer to Caracas than it does to Houston. Cotton set himself apart with his fine bullpen work in Venezuela and was singled out by Astros GM Jeff Luhnow in my November interview as a player who had really opened his eyes.
Dimock and Musgrove, along with four other players, left the program early due to some of the issues and concerns I alluded to in Part 2 of this series. But they were there long enough for the experience to leave an indelible impression.
I reached out to the three players via email and asked them the same set of questions. Here is what they had to say ~
JH: Can you tell me a little about actually playing ball down there, the facilities, the atmosphere, the competition, the fans, that kind of thing?
JC: Playing ball in Venezuela was a good experience for me to get more reps in. I played with/against guys with age range anywhere from 16-25 years old. Guys that play in the upper levels that didn't make the big league club there came down to paralela league to continue playing with the hope of getting the chance to play for the big club. That basically made the competition pretty good, but of course you're going to have your up and down games.
The facilities weren't bad at all. We played in mlb/milb academies there and where we played our home games it was turf. Obviously though they do things a little different due to finances. For the first time I've seen a motorcycle being used to drag a baseball field haha! The atmosphere wasn't up to par with that of the big clubs of course when it comes to the fans, but on the field it's always the same when it comes to baseball.
MD: The baseball aspect of being in Venezuela was great, obviously the reason for us being down there. The facilities that we played and practiced at was about a 10 minute bus ride from where we lived and it consisted of four baseball fields, a batting cage, a few covered basketball courts, and a workout complex. The fields were turf outfield and dirt infield. The surroundings outside of the athletic complex were amazing, mountains overlooking the field and the one thing I enjoyed the most was the weather, hot and sunny every day. Concerning our fan base, there weren't many fans at our games because we played at 10 a.m. on week days and had most of the weekends off to ourselves.
JM: The guys that we played with were all very talented. Some extremely young. It was very cool getting to play with guys who had such raw talent but maybe weren't as experienced with the mental part of the game and the fine details. I enjoyed getting to share thoughts and experience time with the Latin players. Not only did we teach them, but they had plenty to share with us. The crowds were never very big but we saw the same fans at the same fields. Very loyal ha ha.
The fields were nothing like the quality fields that we have in the US but our home field was decent.
JH: What was the funniest thing that happened to you or one of your teammates or that you saw while you were there?
MD: Definitely one of the biggest disconnects I had was the language barrier, seeing as it was my first time being in a Spanish speaking country and my level of Spanish was juvenile at best. Since the last time I was in Spanish class or spoke it was years before, I had trouble communicating. Whenever I traveled around I would try bringing people who knew the language or had a better feel for it than I did.
JM: I've taken a few years of Spanish and at the time was going through the Rosetta Stone program so I was one of the few Americans who could get by with what I knew so the language wasn't much of a problem for me. Not having Wifi was a big disconnect for most of us just for the fact that it was our only way to communicate with our families or anyone for that matter. We had no phone plans so having Wifi was our only way to have anything to connect with. I somewhat enjoyed it though. I was a lot more productive without my phone or computer ha ha. I read 3 full books in 3 weeks out there which is more than I usually do. I did a lot of writing. I did my Rosetta Stone daily, etc. It was just tough not being able to share all the daily experiences with my family and friends.
MD: One thing that I took away from my time being in Venezuela was just to be thankful for the things that myself and many other Americans enjoy, even down to the smallest things of having warm water to shower in every day which we often take for granted. It was a growing experience for myself and it showed a different way of life. It made me realize that the true things in life that we should cherish are friendships and relationships with others instead of material things. It really puts life into perspective of how blessed we baseball players are living the American dream playing baseball.
JM: There are a lot of things that I can truly appreciate more now after spending time out there. Having power outages daily, sometimes no running water, not having hot water available to shower with, not having cold bottled water available whenever you want, even not being able to eat on your own schedule. All those things are things that I never thought about, or was really all that grateful for until I made my trip to Venezuela. I would say that trip was a huge eye opener, and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to go and experience all I did.
I received a follow-up email from Joe Musgrove. He wanted to share this story ~
I happen to be, as is my family, a big animal lover. While in Venezuela, I adopted a stray dog that roamed our field daily. I named him Taco. Taco looked extremely hungry, matted, had fleas covering him, raw hot spots from scratching, and in need of some serious companionship. Not having the time or facilities to bathe or manicure Taco, I took the bus to the store and bought a big bag of dog food. I would daily, grab a big handful of dog food and put it in a ziploc bag that I traveled with. Taco and I would meet at the "Snack Bar" for his breakfast. Taco somewhat became our team mascot, ha ha...and his energy levels sky rocketed! He was running on the field with us before practice, fetching balls, and after practice I'd give him the other half of the bag of food for his evening meal. Every morning Taco waited for me at that snack bar, and certain mornings I'd bring him a bone from the dinner we had eaten the night before. Taco was my friend out there and it was tough having to say goodbye to him. It brought so much joy to me to be able to add a good 3 weeks to his life.
As I mentioned before, Venezuela isn't for everyone. For some Americans, it's not an easy place to navigate or communicate. The crime rate is problematic. The food situation can leave American tummies longing for home. But these 11 intrepid souls helped pave the way for a possible return to a robust, beneficial relationship that can help the Astros for years to come.
Jeff Luhnow would like to send American players to play in the Liga Paralela in Venezuela again this fall. His job now is to find ways to insulate the players enough to keep them healthy and safe while still allowing them to learn and grow as individuals and as ballplayers, and to take memories and experiences with them that will last a lifetime.
Dimock and Musgrove, along with four other players, left the program early due to some of the issues and concerns I alluded to in Part 2 of this series. But they were there long enough for the experience to leave an indelible impression.
I reached out to the three players via email and asked them the same set of questions. Here is what they had to say ~
JH: Can you tell me a little about actually playing ball down there, the facilities, the atmosphere, the competition, the fans, that kind of thing?
JC: Playing ball in Venezuela was a good experience for me to get more reps in. I played with/against guys with age range anywhere from 16-25 years old. Guys that play in the upper levels that didn't make the big league club there came down to paralela league to continue playing with the hope of getting the chance to play for the big club. That basically made the competition pretty good, but of course you're going to have your up and down games.
The facilities weren't bad at all. We played in mlb/milb academies there and where we played our home games it was turf. Obviously though they do things a little different due to finances. For the first time I've seen a motorcycle being used to drag a baseball field haha! The atmosphere wasn't up to par with that of the big clubs of course when it comes to the fans, but on the field it's always the same when it comes to baseball.
MD: The baseball aspect of being in Venezuela was great, obviously the reason for us being down there. The facilities that we played and practiced at was about a 10 minute bus ride from where we lived and it consisted of four baseball fields, a batting cage, a few covered basketball courts, and a workout complex. The fields were turf outfield and dirt infield. The surroundings outside of the athletic complex were amazing, mountains overlooking the field and the one thing I enjoyed the most was the weather, hot and sunny every day. Concerning our fan base, there weren't many fans at our games because we played at 10 a.m. on week days and had most of the weekends off to ourselves.
JM: The guys that we played with were all very talented. Some extremely young. It was very cool getting to play with guys who had such raw talent but maybe weren't as experienced with the mental part of the game and the fine details. I enjoyed getting to share thoughts and experience time with the Latin players. Not only did we teach them, but they had plenty to share with us. The crowds were never very big but we saw the same fans at the same fields. Very loyal ha ha.
The fields were nothing like the quality fields that we have in the US but our home field was decent.
JH: What was the funniest thing that happened to you or one of your teammates or that you saw while you were there?
JC: Hmmm, the funniest thing I have to say is that laugh of my 'Stros teammate Brett Phillips. That laugh of his is hilarious and gives you that eye along with it. It really brightened up those guys faces also because they really enjoyed being around him, making him laugh so they can laugh along with him.
MD: As a group we had lots of memorable moments and experiences that we will always remember. One memory that stands out to me and probably a few of us was one day we went to the mall to get food and see the culture. After walking around exhausted and wanting food Blair Walters and a few others and myself tried the challenge of ordering food on our own without an interpreter. Since neither of us spoke Spanish very well we tried ordering the most American thing we could find, pizza. We walked up to the pizza counter and began the difficult process of speaking broken Spanish (which included very very basic Spanish) to the employee. Proudly I thought I had this whole Spanish thing covered and took the reigns of ordering one small cheese pizza for myself. To my surprise when my order arrived it turned out to be two extra large pepperoni pizzas. Needless to say I did not eat the entire meal and had plenty of leftovers for everyone else. Probably one of the most embarrassing moments is when I was walking around the mall with a giant pizza box, very American.
JM: I couldn't say there was one funny moment that stood out more than others, but I found our days at the field were hilarious. I found watching some of the Americans who couldn't speak any Spanish try to communicate with the Latin guys. Most of the time the Americans would just reply with an "oh yeah" or "sí sí" without having any idea what the guys were saying. Half the time they'd be cracking jokes about us and we'd agree and nod our heads because we had no idea what they were saying .
JM: I couldn't say there was one funny moment that stood out more than others, but I found our days at the field were hilarious. I found watching some of the Americans who couldn't speak any Spanish try to communicate with the Latin guys. Most of the time the Americans would just reply with an "oh yeah" or "sí sí" without having any idea what the guys were saying. Half the time they'd be cracking jokes about us and we'd agree and nod our heads because we had no idea what they were saying .
JH: What was the biggest disconnect or barrier for you as an American in Venezuela? Language? Food? Something else?
JC: Honestly there wasn't any really besides not perfectly knowing the language and the internet there. I managed to learn a good bit of Spanish while being there, and you also have those guys trying to learn English themselves. We just tried to help each other out when it came to learning a different language. On the food side of things, it wasn't much of a difference for me because I come from a Caribbean island myself.
JC: Honestly there wasn't any really besides not perfectly knowing the language and the internet there. I managed to learn a good bit of Spanish while being there, and you also have those guys trying to learn English themselves. We just tried to help each other out when it came to learning a different language. On the food side of things, it wasn't much of a difference for me because I come from a Caribbean island myself.
JM: I've taken a few years of Spanish and at the time was going through the Rosetta Stone program so I was one of the few Americans who could get by with what I knew so the language wasn't much of a problem for me. Not having Wifi was a big disconnect for most of us just for the fact that it was our only way to communicate with our families or anyone for that matter. We had no phone plans so having Wifi was our only way to have anything to connect with. I somewhat enjoyed it though. I was a lot more productive without my phone or computer ha ha. I read 3 full books in 3 weeks out there which is more than I usually do. I did a lot of writing. I did my Rosetta Stone daily, etc. It was just tough not being able to share all the daily experiences with my family and friends.
JH: What did you take away from the experience that you can use in your day-to-day life or in your baseball life?
JC: What I took out of being there is that I have to continue getting as much reps in. Those guys play baseball all year round and some from the ages of 15/16. The more game reps you can get is so beneficial to you as a player because it's different from practice once your adrenaline is going. In terms to using something from being in Venezuela as an everyday life kind of thing, it would be Spanish. Now I can be able to communicate a little more with my Latin teammates, and in the process continue learning and getting better.
JC: What I took out of being there is that I have to continue getting as much reps in. Those guys play baseball all year round and some from the ages of 15/16. The more game reps you can get is so beneficial to you as a player because it's different from practice once your adrenaline is going. In terms to using something from being in Venezuela as an everyday life kind of thing, it would be Spanish. Now I can be able to communicate a little more with my Latin teammates, and in the process continue learning and getting better.
JM: There are a lot of things that I can truly appreciate more now after spending time out there. Having power outages daily, sometimes no running water, not having hot water available to shower with, not having cold bottled water available whenever you want, even not being able to eat on your own schedule. All those things are things that I never thought about, or was really all that grateful for until I made my trip to Venezuela. I would say that trip was a huge eye opener, and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to go and experience all I did.
I received a follow-up email from Joe Musgrove. He wanted to share this story ~
I happen to be, as is my family, a big animal lover. While in Venezuela, I adopted a stray dog that roamed our field daily. I named him Taco. Taco looked extremely hungry, matted, had fleas covering him, raw hot spots from scratching, and in need of some serious companionship. Not having the time or facilities to bathe or manicure Taco, I took the bus to the store and bought a big bag of dog food. I would daily, grab a big handful of dog food and put it in a ziploc bag that I traveled with. Taco and I would meet at the "Snack Bar" for his breakfast. Taco somewhat became our team mascot, ha ha...and his energy levels sky rocketed! He was running on the field with us before practice, fetching balls, and after practice I'd give him the other half of the bag of food for his evening meal. Every morning Taco waited for me at that snack bar, and certain mornings I'd bring him a bone from the dinner we had eaten the night before. Taco was my friend out there and it was tough having to say goodbye to him. It brought so much joy to me to be able to add a good 3 weeks to his life.
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As I mentioned before, Venezuela isn't for everyone. For some Americans, it's not an easy place to navigate or communicate. The crime rate is problematic. The food situation can leave American tummies longing for home. But these 11 intrepid souls helped pave the way for a possible return to a robust, beneficial relationship that can help the Astros for years to come.
Jeff Luhnow would like to send American players to play in the Liga Paralela in Venezuela again this fall. His job now is to find ways to insulate the players enough to keep them healthy and safe while still allowing them to learn and grow as individuals and as ballplayers, and to take memories and experiences with them that will last a lifetime.
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