SMBA DR Trip Blog Series: Meet Our New Friends

I am sure all of you loyal SMBA blog followers have had a chance to read our Dominican Republic trip's press release by now. So naturally all of you are aware the trip presented SMBA students with an amazing opportunity to enlarge their professional networks and their perspectives of the World as a whole. What the press release did not tell you is that the trip presented students with the opportunity to enlarge their Facebook networks as well.

During the 10-day trip, SMBA students shared the 15-ace San Diego Padres facility with 36 Padres ballplayers from all parts of Latin America. By the end of the experience, friendships were formed, dozens (and dozens) of Ping-Pong games were played, and Facebook friend requests were initiated in order to keep in touch with our new friends.

Below are some pictures and stories of players who shared the facility with us. SMBA is looking forward to tracking all of the players we met as they ascend through the Padres’ minor league system and, hopefully someday, to Petco Park.





The above picture is of yours truly and 17-year-old free agent pitcher Juan Batiste who was at the facility for a 30-day tryout with the Padres. Sadly, to say Batiste comes from a poor Haitian family is redundant. Haiti is the least developed country in the Western Hemisphere; approximately 80% of its citizens live below the poverty line. However, Batiste has conquered all economic barriers he may have faced growing up and is now a big-time baseball prospect (SMBA students bared witness to Batiste’s 97 MPH fastball.) The only reason Batiste hasn’t already signed with a Major League club is because of another disadvantage of growing up in Haiti: no birth certificate. Because his family did not register his birth at a local registry office in Haiti, there is no paperwork that can prove or disprove Batiste’s stated age of 17. And while Batiste’s word is good enough for me, it is not good enough for MLB teams who are more wary than ever of age falsification. The lack of a birth certificate will likely cost Batiste some serious money whenever he does sign with a team. The signing bonus for a 97-MPH-throwing 17-year-old with paperwork can be as much as $2.5 million. But without the paperwork? It’s tough to say and is case specific, but my educated guess is it is no more than $1 million. Especially in this context, a birth certificate is a valuable slip of paper. I no longer take mine for granted. All of SMBA sincerely wishes Batiste the best of luck and hopes he signs with a team soon (and for lots and lots of money).

Above are two pictures from the Padres DR facility’s World Series of Ping-Pong. I represented the USA, and 17-year-old Padres catcher Fernando Escarra represented Venezuela. I’ll admit that Fernando beat me more times than I beat him, but I do think it is noteworthy that, after playing nearly 50 games over the first two nights, Fernando hurt his shoulder and was ordered by his coaches to not play against me anymore. I consider this to be some form of “tapping out,” and thus, I claim victory in the overall series.


Tyler Griggs
SMBA '10