5 things we learned from Robinson Chirinos

1. He learned the game watching his older brothers.

“I have three older brothers who played the game andever since I was a little boy I was going to the baseball field. That’s how I fell in love to the game – going to the games with my brothers. I started playing when I was six years old… My dad never played baseball but he was the guy who took my brothers to the game every single time and he did it for me and for my younger brother too… That’s how I got into baseball, just watching my brother and my dad take to me to the stadiums.”

2. His confidence never wavered.

“I always thought I was going to make it to the big league. I don’t know it was going to take two, three, five years. Took me ten years but the hard question, where I kind of doubt a little bit was when they present to me to be a catcher… [My coach told me] ‘If you learn how to catch I think you can be a big league player. If you say no it’s going to be hard for you to make it to the big leagues.’ I remember I went home, prayed, talked to my wife. The next day I say yes and two years later I was playing in the big leagues.”

3. He was born to be a catcher.

“Looking back now I say I was born to be a catcher, [I didn’t] find out until ten years later. I just fell in love with the position, man. When [I changed positions] something inside myself came out. You know the view of the game, it was something different about catching than it was before playing infield… the way I was looking at the game took me to another level in my baseball career. It help me so much to understand more about hitting and what to do in a play. Just helped me in every aspect of my game.”

4. Helping others is a blessing.

“We’re here in this world for a purpose and it’s not about myself and being a big league player. It’s about something bigger and I believe there are so many people going through tough times and they need people to help. So, for me, charity and helping people and trying to give a hand to the guy who’s down. It’s something I have inside my heart so I do it with passion and with love. I thank God for allowing me to do that and help people around my world, back in Venezuela and here in the U.S. It’s a blessing.”

5. He’s always thinking about Venezuela.

“Venezuela is home for us, man. And every time you have a problem in your own house it just hits you in your heart. And it’s sad to see what that country’s going through because we know the beauty of the country, the beauty of the people. What they can afford, can offer to each other is big. But I think we are going through this for a purpose. I know the country is going to get out better than [it was before]. And having so many Venezuelan players in our own clubhouse is a blessing. It’s blessing to be able to see Elvis [Andrus], Martin [Pérez], [Yohander] Méndez and talk to those guys and ask questions about how their families are doing back in Venezuela.”

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