WSU baseball players benefit from Dominican tour

PULLMAN – The omnipresent buzz of the Boca Chica marketplace was shattered by the percussive tamboura and accompanying accordion, which swirled together faster and faster into a frenzied rhythm to alert the locals: It was time to head to the ballpark.

Summoned by the insistent tempo of the merengue music, the Dominicans gathered to watch a curiosity: outsiders engaged in the national dream.

The Washington State baseball players were captivated, too, by the nine-time MLB All-Star stepping to the plate. Freshman shortstop Jack Strunc was so mesmerized he let Miguel Tejada’s ground ball get by him, but that was OK.

“I got to speak to him at second base for a little bit,” Strunc said.

The WSU baseball team traveled to the Dominican Republic on Nov. 22 to spend a week playing games, putting on youth camps and learning about the island-nation that ranks No. 85 in world population and No. 1 in producing Major League Baseball players born outside the United States.

The per capita Gross Domestic Product of the Dominican Republic is less than $6,000 a year and for many people the job prospects extend to the sugarcane fields and the baseball diamond.

Imported from Cuba, baseball is by far the most popular national sport. Interest has only increased as stars like Albert Pujols, Pedro Martinez, Sammy Sosa and Vladimir Guerrero have earned fame and riches as professional ballplayers.

“To see the work that the kids here puts in, you now realize if all you could do was play baseball to get a better life, you realize why there are so many great players,” coach Donnie Marbut said.

“I think the key is that every one of my players and every player I’ve come across, they all want the same thing. They all want to be pros. It made my guys think: How important is it to them and how much are they willing to do to make it happen?”

The best teenagers are discovered by MLB teams and signed to contracts long before their American counterparts. Their skills are cultivated in baseball academies run by the teams.

The Mariners have one of the newest academies, which opened earlier this year. The 24-acre facility has three full-sized fields and a dormitory that can house up to 80 prospects.

The Cougars faced three such MLB-affiliated teams and went 3-0 against the Mariners, Nationals and Royals teams that were comprised primarily of 16- to 20-year-olds. The Royals affiliate had a few of the organization’s Double-A players take the field against the Cougars to prepare them for winter ball.

“We played on sketchy fields and we played on the best fields I’ve ever played on,” pitcher Sean Hartnett said. “It’s a whole other world down their playing baseball.”

It was a school trip, so there was also an educational component.

The players toured Santo Domingo’s historical zone and learned about the island’s bloody history and about the dictatorship of Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo.

They saw the first cathedral, hospital, monastery and universities in the Western Hemisphere.

On their off day, they took a catamaran to Saona Island to enjoy a day at the beach.

The Cougars also played games against the Police National squad and a naval team, tying the former and losing to the latter just hours after a long travel day. While those teams did not have the raw talent of the MLB academies, the players were older and the Cougars praised their baseball knowledge and skill.

The experience should well serve a WSU team that will rely heavily on freshmen in the spring, potentially starting three in the infield alone.

“It’s going to help out a lot, because we’re going to have a lot of freshmen traveling and playing this year,” Hartnett said. “They got that first trip out of the way, got that away batting practice feeling and I think it’s just going to calm a lot of the nerves they would have had those first couple trips when the season comes around.”