This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf's Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
BRADENTON, Fla. -- In 2018, Dauri Moreta was sent to the Reds’ Class-A affiliate in Dayton and encountered an unavoidable problem. He had pitched there briefly the year before, so he knew the western Ohio town a bit, and he knew the Reds would help set him up with a host family for the season.
The issue is when he met his host, Janet, at her home, the two had a failure to communicate.
“When I met her, I didn’t know any English,” Moreta said. “She would always try to help me, but she didn’t know any Spanish. We had to learn together.”
Moreta was the only player at that house, so there was no intermediary who could serve as an interpreter. So, how do two people learn to communicate when they speak two different languages? Through Google Translate, of course. At least in the short term. The two would gradually learn the other’s language together, and years later, they still talk to each other about every day.
“She’s a very special lady for me,” Moreta said. “She helped me a lot.”
Moreta’s story is unique, one that probably wouldn’t happen for a young player coming up through the Pirates' system today. Players who sign as an international free agent in the Dominican Republic are enrolled in a program to get a high school diploma, which includes English classes. The program is mandatory while the player is at the Dominican Academy and voluntary once they come to the States (many who are given the option follow through and complete it).
Every affiliate in the Pirates’ system also has a local teacher and a bilingual coach. Those who read Pirates articles regularly have surely come across Stephen Morales’ name, the coach who acts as the interpreter for players who opt to not do interviews in English.
It’s a system to help new players coming into pro ball and those joining the organization from other teams.
For someone like Endy Rodríguez, who was acquired from the Mets in January of 2021, the online curriculum and teachers are available, perfect to refine his gift of gab.
“You know me. I like to talk,” Rodríguez said. “I like to ask, too. It’s how I learned.”
Rodríguez, a catcher, knew early on that if he wanted to be a catcher in the Majors, he had to be bilingual. You can’t fake your way through a mound visit, after all.
“You have to learn the language,” Rodríguez said. “It’s one of the important things about being a catcher. Most of the guys on the team, they aren’t going to try to learn Spanish, so you have to dominate the language.”
There are different ways to figure out how to dominate the language. There are apps. Rodríguez took classes and credited Education Coordinator Mayu Fielding for helping him, but it was in 2022 with Class High-A Greensboro that it started to really click for him because of a teammate, Ernny Ordonez. Ordonez was fully bilingual, and seeing him communicate with coaches and teammates helped Rodríguez push himself.
“I think being around him, hear him, asking him everything, it helps more than what people think, Rodríguez said. “He helped me a lot.”
Inspiration can come everywhere. Liover Peguero learned English through rap music. Tsung-Che Cheng, the team’s No. 17 prospect and a member of the 40-man roster, has learned in part through country music, which is why the Taiwanese infielder’s walk up music with Double-A Altoona was Luke Combs’ cover of “Fast Car.”
Players who sign as international free agents out of Asia are assigned a translator just for them who also serves as a teacher. For Cheng, it’s Haagen Tan, but the infielder also has a 1,000 day ongoing streak on Duolingo.
He also has what anyone really needs to learn a new language, and that’s a strong support system: his teammates.
“In the beginning when I was here, I never felt the pressure to speak English,” Cheng said. “But I just tried to talk to everybody. I don’t really feel like, ‘Oh, my English is at zero. I’m scared to talk.’ I feel like the teammates, the coaches, they’re really open to let me say whatever I want to say, so I always [felt] comfortable speaking English.”
Cheng isn’t just taking English lessons, too, on Duolingo. He’s also learning Spanish to help better forge what language should bring: connection.
“Maybe in 20 years, I’m not going to be here anymore and nobody speaks Spanish,” Cheng said. “But it’s a really good environment, a really good chance to learn Spanish… I [can] get more close with them [my teammates].”