PHOENIX -- During a three-day tour of the Dominican Republic in January, Craig Counsell saw the remains of Freddy Peralta's boyhood home. He walked the field where Willy Adames signed his first professional contract. He marveled at Carlos Gómez's estate. And he met a group of prospects at the Brewers’ new, $15 million academy -- many of them 16 or 17 years old and wide-eyed at the sight of the Major League manager.

No one expected to hear Counsell speak en Español.

“Some of the kids at that complex had never seen Counsell in person; they only dreamed of playing for him someday,” said Eduardo Brizuela, Brewers vice president and special assistant to the GM and baseball operations. “So, it wasn’t just that he got down to where they’re from, where they’re comfortable, he did it in their own language.

“He talked about his experience in the Dominican, how cool it was for him to see Willy and Freddy, and how impactful it was to see that those guys are the heads of their families, that they have a lot of weight on their shoulders because they take care of everybody around them. He talked about how they use the skills they have learned about being on time, being ready. The message he gave to the young guys was that there are things you don’t see on the field that, if you do them consistently, will translate to better performance.

“The whole thing was done in Spanish. It was pretty cool.”

It was also a little scary, as Counsell’s Spanish is rudimentary.

“You try,” Counsell said. “It’s not good, but you try. And it’s uncomfortable. That gives you so much more appreciation for what they go through -- which is what we should be doing in a lot of areas of life.”

Counsell and his youngest son Jack enjoyed experienced tour guides in Brizuela and Brewers special assistant Carlos Villanueva, the right-hander from Santiago who pitched 11 seasons in the big leagues, including five in Milwaukee. They packed plenty in three days, picking up Counsell and his son each morning at 6 a.m. in the capital city of Santo Domingo to begin the journey.

First was a two-hour drive to Adames’ home in Santiago. Peralta, who’d risen even earlier than the Counsells, traveled in from his home in Moca, and the group -- including Jack Counsell -- took grounders and hit at the field Adames once called home with the trainer who has worked with Adames since he was 13 or 14 years old.

“Jack got to take ground balls on those lousy fields,” Brizuela said. “I think he now knows how Willy has become so good.”

After the players signed autographs and took photos with locals who’d heard about the impromptu workout, it was on to the impressive home of Gómez, the former outfielder, one of the few men who have played with Counsell in the big leagues and played for him when he became Brewers manager in 2015. Counsell was so impressed by the home and Gómez’s collection of animals that he took video on his iPad to show his other kids.

Lunch followed at a hillside restaurant with organizational newcomer Joel Payamps, followed by a journey down the back roads to Moca to visit the Peralta property. It has a modern home surrounded by plantain fields and a small, deteriorating structure in which Peralta was raised.

You see Peralta differently, according to Brizuela, after you see where he came from.

“My parents don’t want to change that. They want to keep it,” Peralta said. “It’s made of wood and the ceiling is metal. It’s falling down, man. It’s almost on the ground. But it’s still there. It makes me feel good when I see that house next to my parents’ house. It reminds me of a lot of things when I was growing up. Now we are able to have a nice house. And Counsell was there.

“Hey man, it was a great experience for me and my family, too, to have Counsell there in my house.”

Said Villanueva: “That part felt very special. It was the real Dominican. Freddy’s mom, dad and brothers were there. Willy’s dad was there, too. Freddy’s mom was offering everybody food and coffee, but by then it was almost 7 o’clock. We had to start heading back to the capital.”

The next day, they did it again. Brizuela and Villanueva were waiting outside the Counsells’ hotel at 6 a.m.

This time the destination was the Brewers Baseball Academy outside Santo Domingo, a multiyear project which culminated in October and was led by a group that included former Brewers assistant GM Gord Ash. Besides meeting the young prospects there, Counsell watched pitching prospect Abner Uribe (Brewers No. 12 prospect according to MLB Pipeline) and another organizational newcomer, Elvis Peguero, throw bullpens. He saw top Brewers prospect Jackson Chourio (Brewers No. 1 prospect and No. 8 in the Majors) and catching prospect Jeferson Quero, both of whom happened to be passing through the complex.

“It means the world to those guys,” Villanueva said. “It connects them. Once Counsell was down there, the players wanted everything to be perfect. We saw everybody’s best outfits. We got the good china everywhere.”

Next week, Counsell will be the first Brewers manager to reach nine seasons. Brizuela and Villanueva are already thinking about future visits.

“It’s people who are growing up worlds apart from you but have the same dream I had and now my son has,” Counsell said. “We all come from different backgrounds, but it’s the same dream. We did a lot of driving that day, and what strikes you is there’s no empty baseball fields. No matter what time of day, if you pass a baseball field, there are kids on the baseball field.

“It hits home how important baseball is in that country, how important to the kids in that country. And we got to spend time with guys who were able to make the dream come true. That’s really special.”