Ballpark Provides Comfort for Homesick Minor Leaguer

AURORA, ILL. — Chester Pimentel fans his long fingers through the pages of his Bible, pulling out photos of himself as he searches for his favorite verse. It’s admittedly not too difficult to find the verse he’s looking for, given he goes to it frequently.

After going through a few pages and pulling out a few action shots of himself with the Class A Kane County Cougars that poke out of the small, black Bible, he finds the verse: Jeremiah 33:3.

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know,” it reads.

The 23-year-old ems more than 1,900 memles from hems home emn Baní, Domemnemcan Republemc. The verse hems comadre gave hemm makes those thousands of memles feel no further than the 60-foot, 6-emnch throws he makes as a pemtcher for the Demamondbacks’ Class-A affemlemate.

“The Bible is like the bread of daily life for me,” Pimentel said. “It gives me confidence seeing things that may seem difficult, but in reality over time will heal.”

Pimentel goes through the struggles that many Latin American minor leaguers face. Many of them are alone and away from home for the first time in small towns where it is difficult to find culture similar to theirs. They often scrape by in order to send money to their families back home.

Pimentel uses his faith in order to overcome the lonely, difficult life a minor leaguer can endure.

“The life of a minor leaguer is complicated,” Pimentel says. “It’s a difficult life. Although there are difficulties, there are also pains. You have to keep moving forward without dropping your head.”

It’s a far cry from the life many people see from big leaguers who grace the fields in the United States’ various metropolitan cities.

On social media, you can see a big-league player flaunting his newest car or jewelry while wearing designer outfits.

That lifestyle is but a dream in the lower levels, though.

Pimentel’s style is very relaxed. He lounges around his residence wearing a white T-shirt and grey Nike shorts.

For many big leaguers that might be a customary lounging outfit while at home. Except, Pimentel isn’t in a luxury penthouse with a city view. He’s not in a mansion with big televisions and fancy artwork. He’s not even in an apartment.

No, Pimentel lives in a room roughly 10 feet by 12 feet long. He has a small dresser, a queen-size bed, a closet roughly six feet by two feet long.

He doesn’t even have a television.

Pimentel lives with two other teammates, Wesley Rodriguez of New York and Yaramil Hiraldo of the Dominican Republic, in a home belonging to Dennis Stone and Linda Pilmer; their host family while they play Class-A ball in Kane County.

“We tell them that our house is their house; our home is their home,” Pilmer said. “We want them to feel comfortable here because if they’re comfortable they’ll do better with their work. They’re living their dream.”

Rodriguez and Hiraldo share a room roughly twice the size of Pimentel’s, with identical furniture.

Their modest-sized rooms seem spacious when you compare it to their travel arrangements.

The entire Kane County team travel on charter buses from their stadium in Geneva, Ill., to the other seven teams in the Midwest League’s West Division and four rotating teams in the East Division.

This season, the team spent an average of 3 hours, 5 minutes on the road. The longest trip was the six-hour drive to play the Lake County Captains in Eastlake, Ohio.

“It’s tough, man,” Cougars manager Vince Harrison said. “It’s not the luxury that everybody associates with being a professional athlete all the time.”

That’s just part of their struggles.

“There are occasions where we get back super late from a road trip on a bus for five, six hours and there’s nothing to eat,” Pimentel said. “You have to eat what you see, if you find anything. It’s a difficult life.”

That anything might not be the best diet for a pitcher hoping to reach the big leagues. A diet of McDonalds, Chick Fil-A and Panda Express isn’t ideal for building a strong, fit body, so often, Pimentel will skip meals.

Pimental acknowledges that there are times when their team bus stops at places where he and teammates eat the food even though they don’t necessarily like it.

“Bread is a food that, while it’s not bad, it’s not good if you eat it daily because you gain weight easily,” he said. “It gets tough having to eat sandwiches and burgers daily because that’s the only thing available where you’re at.”

When Pimentel returned to Northwestern Medicine Field from a trip, he, Rodriguez and Hiraldo drove Rodriguez’ car back to their host family’s home. They don’t usually get to bed until around two or three a.m., depending on when they get back.

Pimentel wakes up around 10 or 11 a.m. On game days, the trio will immediately leave the house and head straight back to Northwestern Medicine Field for their 6:40 p.m. first pitch. It’s significantly earlier than a major leaguer, who might arrive at the park around three to four hours before first pitch.

The players hang out in the locker rooms and peruse social media, play cards and relax before the game.

Then comes arguably the easiest thing for Pimentel: the game.

Pimentel, a long reliever whose fastball has topped at 100 mph this season, was used primarily every fifth day like a traditional starter.

His faith brings him calm, helping him prepare for any situation.

He listens to Christian music on the days he knows he’s going to pitch and reads his Bible.

“What I do, first of all, is place everything in God’s hands,” Pimentel said. “I always put myself in His hands, that He does as he pleases.”

When the game is over, Rodriguez, Hiraldo and Pimentel drive back to their “home,” maybe making a stop at McDonalds for a Big Mac with fries and a drink.

Then, Pimentel will go back to his room and read his Bible before going to bed.

He’s far from home. The major leagues can seem just as far. But with his faith, Pimentel believes he’ll one day reach his life-long dream.

“If God allows it, I will continue shooting forward and striving for it every day,” Pimentel said. “If you work, God never forgets about your work.”

Featured Image: Chester Pimentel

Inset Images: Andy Martínez/La Vida Baseball