1980 Even before I started catching, my favorite player growing up was Johnny Bench. For some reason those Big Red Machine teams were always on TV in Puerto Rico. And as a kid, I loved to watch Bench play. He did everything well, and he wasn’ t all that big. So watching him gave me some hope that I might have a shot. Once I became a catcher, it kind of all made sense why I had liked him so much as a little kid. 1980 在我开始蹲捕之前，我的偶像是Johnny Bench(*1)，原因是因为波多黎各的电视常常播着大 红机器(*2)的比赛。当我还是个孩子的时候我超爱看Bench的比赛，他并不是那麽的强壮可 是他每一件事情都做得棒极了！看着他也带给我一个我也可以打出一番成就的希望，所以为 什麽我成为捕手之後会像个小孩子一样热爱他也是有道理的。 1985 When I was 13, my dad moved me from my hometown to the San Juan Metroplex so I could train at the Raiders Baseball Academy. That’s where all the scouts were. I was on a traveling team, and we played all over the island. We also played some games in the States against American Legion teams. We had a really good team back then. We were very complete — good pitching, good offense, good defense. We’d usually win all those tournaments. 1983 当我十三岁的时候，我爸爸为了让我可以在Raiders 棒球学校练习就带着我离开家乡搬到 San Juan Metroplex。那里到处都是球探，因为球队没有固定主场，我们在岛上到处跟其他 球队打球，我们也在美国本土跟一些美国地区的球队比赛，我们真的是一只好队伍，非常的 完整－好的投手、好的进攻，好的防守，我们真的常常赢下不少比赛。 1988 Funny story about the day that I signed with the Rangers. I was 16 at the time, and there was a big Prospects Showcase for a bunch of major league teams in San Juan. Sandy Johnson was scouting for the Rangers then, and he was there with Omar Minaya and Manny Batista, who were also scouts with Texas. Luis Rosa, the owner of the baseball academy, had three or four catchers who he was showcasing. The problem for me was that I was last on Luis’s list — fourth in line. Literally. He was focused more on a few other catchers at the time. But Sandy saw me warming up in the outfield — just throwing back and forth — and he asked about me. He told Luis that he wanted to see me before the other catchers there. So I started out as last in the group, but they jumped me to first. And after my first throw down to second base, like as soon as it got to the bag, Sandy turned to Omar and said: “Stop him. I don’t need to see another throw. Don’t let him throw down to second again. Go tell Luis that I want this kid.” He knew there were scouts from other teams there, and he wanted to get to me first. So I went out to the parking lot and signed a contract on the trunk of a car, and that was that. 1988 在我跟游骑兵签约的那一天有一个有趣的故事，那时我十六岁，在San Juan有一个大型的大 联盟新秀测试会，Sandy Johnson是当时游骑兵的球探，跟他一同的还有Omar Minaya（*3） 以及Manny Batista,他们当时也是德州的球探，棒球学校的老板Luis Rosa想要展示一下他 旗下的三或四个捕手给他们瞧瞧，但有个问题是···我在Luis的名单里面是排名第四。那 个时候他确实把焦点都放在其他的捕手身上，但Minaya一看到我在外野热身的样子－仅仅是 单纯的传接球，就开始问起我来，他告诉Luis在看其他捕手之前想先看看我，所以本来是在 最後的我，突然顺位就跳到第一了，在我第一次快速地把球传到二垒的时候，Sandy转过去 对Omar说：「叫他停了，我不需要看其他人传球了，不要再让他传球到二垒一次，告诉Luis 他就是我想要的那家伙！」他知道其他队的球探也在场，所以想要第一个拿下我，所以我就 走到球场外的拖车然後签下了合约，这就是当时的故事。 *1:Jhonny Bench:名人堂成员,1967-1983红人队的主战捕手，拿过新人王以及两次MVP 连续十二年入选明星赛，拿下十座金手套 *2:大红机器:辛辛那提红人队的昵称，1970-1976年间以强大的火力称霸国家联盟 并拿下两次世界大赛冠军 *3:Omar Minaya:曾任游骑兵球探，期间曾签下Sammy Sosa以及Juan Gonzalez等知名选手 之後先後担任大都会以及博览会的GM -- Minaya真的很厉害，球探功力真的很厉害，即使GM手腕不好但是眼光很精准 --

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