This week’s episode features a couple of conversations I had last week with young players who have been promoted recently from Eugene to Richmond, outfielder Lisbel Diaz, and catcher Jancel Villarroel. Both earned their promotions with outstanding first half performances in the NWL. Diaz is tied for the lead in the Giants’ system with 26 home runs on the year, while Villarroel, who came over from the Astros this winter, hit over .300 with an .856 OPS in Eugene. I talk with both players about their baseball journeys, from Cuba for Diaz (who speaks with me in his second language), and from a small island off the mainland of Venezuela for Villarroel who speaks with me in Spanish, with an assist from Dayson Croes, who served as interpreter).
As an aside, I’m happy to see that the Substack transcript generator seems to have recognized Spanish and done what looks to me like a pretty solid job of generating an accurate transcription of Villarroel’s side of the conversation. You might want to copy some of those out of the transcript and pop them into an online translator to get a fuller version of his comments.
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