Since many people indicate an interest--perhaps even surprise--that many players on such World Baseball Classic teams as Italy and Spain qualified to play without actually coming from those countries, I put the question to several of Espana's players when I had the chance to see them prior to their first exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton, FL Tuesday.
The only native of Spain on the 28-man roster, 13 of whom have played in Independent leagues, is Frontier League pitcher Eric Gonzalez, who, ironically, was the only one I had overlooked when tracking down their Independent roots. The right-hander, who pitched at Lake Erie the last two years and went a combined 11-11, was born on an island off the coast of Morocco and lived there until he was 16.
Some of my personal findings were quite intriguing:
--Eddie Morlan, who pitched for Southern Maryland (Waldorf) in the Atlantic League the last two seasons, has had a Spanish passport since he was "11 or 12" when he came to the United States from Cuba. Both sets of grandparents still live in Cuba.
--Versatile Gabe Suarez, who played for seven different Independent teams between 2005-11 before joining the Texas Rangers farm system, qualified to play because his grandparents are from Spain.
--Nick Schumacher's father was born on an Air Force Base in Madrid, even though the pitcher did not realize it for a long time. Schumacher pitched for Sioux City, IA in the American Association last season, and just signed to play for the Atlantic League's York (PA) Revolution this year.
--Current Sioux City pitcher Richard Salazar qualified because his wife lived in Spain the first 11 years of her life. They now call Caracas, Venezuela home along with their 8-year-old daughter. Salazar also has pitched for Wichita, KS and the former team in Shreveport, LA in the American Association.
I learned so much about the players' Independent Baseball experiences, their roles in the WBC and their future plans, which will be featured in Thursday's Independent Baseball Insider column.
COLABELLO HOMERS
Longtime Can-Am League standout Chris Colabello was the designated hitter for Italy's exhibition opener, a 4-3 loss to Oakland Tuesday, and the Minnesota Twins hopeful kept up his solid hitting with a solo home run. He went 1-for-3.
KEVIN HOWARD BACK WITH BARNSTORMERS
While this week's Insider also will list the 40 or so formerly major league-affiliated players who came from the Independent ranks but were released during the offseason and remain unsigned, lanky infielder Kevin Howard will not be on that list. Howard, who was in Triple-A in the Toronto system last season, has rejoined Lancaster, PA (Atlantic League) where he was a standout shortstop before his contract was sold to the Blue Jays.
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Get the independent minor league baseball trivia question of the day by clicking this link: Independent Minor League Baseball Trivia Questions
Get the independent minor league baseball trivia question of the day by clicking this link: Independent Minor League Baseball Trivia Questions
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