Here is one of Alex’s writing samples of a feature story during his time with the Eugene Emeralds, High-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
After winning the 2021 High-A West title under the helm of former manager Dennis Pelfrey, it led to a promotion to Double-AA Richmond.
With the promotion for Pelfrey, that meant there would be a managerial vacancy for the Eugene Emeralds.
Before the 2022 season, the San Francisco Giants promoted former Arizona Giants’ manager Carlos Valderrama to take over as manager for the Emeralds.
To be moved up two levels in the Minor Leagues was a very exciting moment for Valderrama.
“I was excited to accept this job. My first year in High-A is going to be a challenge. My first thought was I knew I was going to have a lot of great players in the organization. I am happy to be able to help them develop their career,” Valderrama said.
Valderrama’s baseball career started back home in Bachaquero, Zulia, Venezuela when he was just a little boy.
“When I was growing up, I really loved baseball. I didn’t have the skills to be an everyday player so I started doing track and field. When I started practicing, I established skills for baseball like getting faster, my arm got better,” he said.
“With these skills, that’s where my interest in playing baseball grew and when I started playing, that’s where I realized that I was having success and I became one of the best players on the team. That motivated me to keep going until the day I signed as a free agent back in 1995 with the Giants,” Valderrama added.
He grew up watching some of baseball’s biggest stars during his young playing career and it added to his excitement.
One big person who was a huge part of his support system was his father.
“I can’t describe it, but it was very very exciting. I grew up being a huge baseball fan of stars like Mike Schmitt, Steve Garvey, Will Clark. It was a great moment in my life. My dad was my biggest supporter. He says he was a good player but never played professionally. I guess that’s where I got my skills from,” Valderrama said.
His professional career started in the Dominican Summer League where the facilities were not the best at that time.
“When I signed, they sent me to the DR (Dominican Republic). Back in the day, our facilities and living environment wasn’t very good. When I first got there, it was totally different than what I was expecting. I wasn’t too comfortable like some of the other guys there. I told myself that the living situation in the US has to be a lot better,” he described.
And he would be right.
When Valderrama was promoted to the Arizona League, the facilities were better than what the DSL had in possession, but he had some obstacles to go through when he moved to the United States.
“It definitely was a lot different, especially with the facilities at Arizona as opposed to the Dominican. The living situation got a lot better, food got better, but now I had to deal with the language barrier. I didn’t speak any English,” Valderrama explained.
Despite Spanish being his primary language, he didn’t let that get in his way.
“It was kinda tough for me but I always like a challenge. As soon as I started getting the hang of the language, things started getting better. I fell in love with this country and baseball,” he said.
Valderrama would work his way up to a Major League call up with the Giants in 2003.
But the call up would be tough on him.
The same year he was called up, his father passed away.
“The year I got called up was the year that he passed away. Before he passed away, he told me, ‘son, what I want from my life is to see you in the big leagues.’ It was a tough year for me because eight months after he passed away, I got called up,” Valderrama emotionally said.
“I really wish he could’ve seen me play in the big leagues. I would’ve made his dream come true. It was a tough moment because I was happy about the moment, but I was sad that my dad was not with me. The first thing I did when I got to the stadium was buy a ticket for my dad so I knew he had a spot to watch me play,” he continued.
Valderrama finished his playing career with the Milwaukee Brewers with shoulder injuries, which resulted in career-ending surgeries.
With his playing career ending, an opportunity emerged for him to become a coach.
“After my last surgery, I had four total surgeries, the doctor told me I wouldn’t be able to play anymore. That was frustrating for me but right away I received the opportunity to be a hitting coach for a winter ball team called the Agilas De Zulia, a Venezuelan Winter League Team. So I accepted that job,” Valderrama said.
He also added, “At the time, there was an international scout for the San Francisco Giants that saw me and he offered me a job right away. It was a quick transition.”
Valderrama’s goal as the manager of the Emeralds is to make an impact on the team and their careers and build a great relationship with everyone around him.
Alex Naveja 