The many gifts of baseball

As we went to press on Monday, Major League Baseball announced that Miguel Sanó, the Minnesota Twins’ husky, 23-year-old third baseman from San Pedro de Macorís in the Dominican Republic, was the American League Player of the Week. An honor well-deserved, after he went 11-for-21 with a double, three home runs and 11 RBIs in five games.

And that sums up the first month of the 2017 season. In a metrics-centered sport, balls have been flying over the fences nonstop — vuelacercas as we call them en español. In both leagues, the numbers were simply off the charts.

Latinos were very much part of the hit parade — not surprising, given that they now make up nearly 30 percent of MLB’s rosters. The game is changing due to its global appeal, and a new generation is already leaving its imprint.

Plátano Power

Not only did Sanó lead the American League with 25 RBIs in April, he was one of seven Latinos among the top nine run producers, including two other Dominican youngsters, 24-year-old Cleveland Indians’ infielder José Ramírez and 22-year-old Texas Rangers’ outfielder Nomar Mazara. Talk about #PlátanoPower.

In the senior circuit, Maikel Franco, the Philadelphia Phillies’ 24-year-old free-swinging third baseman from the Dominican Republic, hit not one, but two grand slams.

And Eugenio Suárez, the Cincinnati Reds’ 25-year-old third baseman from Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, was quite the sensation in the first month. He hit for average, power and a 1.025 OPS.

To place those numbers in a fantasy league context, Suárez led National League position players with 1.9 WAR — until he got schooled, or should we say, “Molina-ed” last week by a grizzled veteran from Puerto Rico, St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.

pay attention

In the top of the sixth inning, with St. Louis ahead 3-1, Cardinals starter Lance Lynn loaded the bases with a walk. Suárez went from second to third base and turned toward home, taking three steps before turning his back to Molina and taking two short steps back to the base.

He never saw the ball coming. With a powerful snap of Molina’s wrist, Suárez was out, leaving him red-faced and embarrassed. His mental lapse squashed a potential rally in a game the Reds would lose 7-5.

“I made a mistake,” Suarez told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I was not paying attention. I came off the base and he got me on that tag. I don’t know. That happened. You have to pay attention to the game. It happened.”

If it’s any consolation, Molina was on the other side of another unbelievable play. In the seventh inning of a tie game, the Blue Jays’ Chris Coghlan hustled from first base to home plate on a line drive to the right field wall, jumping headfirst over the catcher to score a run. Coghlan should have been out, but Molina instinctively ducked. Even in baseball, prudence is sometimes the better part of valor.

The kings of jerseys

The youngsters even raked in jersey sales on MLBShop.com. Since the 2016 World Series, the Cubs’ slick-fielding Javy Báez, 24, has ranked fourth, after teammates Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo and Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

Not only was the young boricua flying high in his debut on the list, Báez led six Latinos in the Top 20, including Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez (9th), Molina (11th), Mets’ outfielder Yoenis Céspedes (13th), the Indians’ Francisco Lindor (16th) and the Astros’ José Altuve (19th). In all, there were 10 players 25 or younger on the list.

In Texas, outfielders Mazara and Carlos Gómez starred in a Rangers sales campaign titled “Lone Star Grit.” It makes you want to buy tickets. Nothing was lost in translation.

Bryce Harper who?

The Washington Nationals pummeled team after team, scoring 170 runs, including 14 or more five times. Their right fielder, Bryce Harper, flashed his 2015 MVP form, averaging .391 with nine home runs and 26 RBIs while leading both leagues with a sizzling .509 OBP and scoring 32 runs, the new MLB record for April. His teammate Ryan Zimmerman was arguably better, hitting .420/.458/.886 with 11 home runs and 29 RBIs.

Yet, it was another Nats slugger, third baseman Anthony Rendón, whose father is of Mexican descent, who stole everybody’s thunder on the final day of April.

Rendón went 6-for-6 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in a 23-5 rout of the Mets. While five other players have blasted six hits and three home runs in a game, Rendón is only the second ever to total those numbers and notch 10 RBIs, after Reds catcher Walker Cooper back in 1949.

“Oh, our pitching was, you know, just amazing,” Rendon said during his post-game TV interview on MASN, with barely a hint of a grin. “They kept them down to five runs, so as long as we scored six, all we had to do is win.”

That’s Rendón, 26, playfully evasive and self-deprecating. He grew up in Houston watching the History Channel and preferring hoops to baseball. He even declined an invitation from Mexico to play in the WBC, saying he wanted to focus on spring training. It took him the whole month to hit his first home run of the season, but now he’s in the record books.

Gift to baseball

Then there were rookies that no one expected to see. The Pittsburgh Pirates, Roberto Clemente’s team, called up reliever Dovydas Neverauskas, the first player born and raised in Lithuania to reach the major leagues. After a two-inning stint against the Chicago Cubs, the Bucs sent Neverauskas down and called up South African infielder Mpho’ ‘Gift’ Ngoepe, the first African ever to make it to The Show.

Debuting as a pinch hitter on April 26, Ngoepe connected on a single in the fourth inning against the Chicago Cubs’ Jon Lester.

“I thought about where I’ve come from, making the journey from South Africa to pursue my dream of playing in the major leagues someday,” Ngoepe told ESPN.com. “I thought about the struggles of being in the minor leagues for 8½ years and then to finally get up here and get a hit in my first at-bat. The whole thing was just awesome. That’s the only word I can think of to describe it. It was awesome.”

Ngoepe, who donated his cap to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, went on to collect four hits in his first five at-bats. In how many languages and African dialects can we say awesome? For one week at least, Ngoepe was a gift to baseball. But with the World Baseball Classic as a precursor, it’s little surprise that Latinos and other players of color are making their mark this season.

Featured Image: Jaime Squire / Getty Images Sport