Santo Domingo.- At the age of 16, David Ortiz Jr, the son of Dominican baseball star David Ortiz, signed his first contract with the Texas Rangers team this Wednesday, marking the beginning of his professional development in the academy that this team has in Santo Domingo.
With a big smile, just like his parents who captured every moment of the signing, David Ortiz Jr put on the white jersey of the American team for the first time, with whom he will start training in their facilities from the next day.
“David is practically my double as a player. At his age, I see him more advanced than I was, he is extremely intelligent (…), he has great power and speed in his hands, essential qualities in the big leagues today”, his father expressed in an interview with the EFE Agency, referring to what he expects from his son’s future sports career.
The words of one of the five Dominicans in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown are of great support for Ortiz Jr, who admitted to EFE that, in addition to admiring his father’s game, he also draws inspiration from players like Bryce Harper and Freddie Freeman.
He identified consistency in training as his greatest challenge: “The most complicated thing has been to maintain consistency, to work every day, I think that demands more sacrifice, but once you master it, it becomes a habit”.
In this context, ‘Big Papi’ highlighted the “discipline” and “dedication” shown by his son to obtain this contract, mentioning that “he has worked very hard for the past year and a half to achieve his goal, he is an adult in a child’s body, he lets himself be guided”.
Ortiz Jr, who showed enthusiasm for starting his training with the Texas Rangers, will join other young people in training in the team’s academy in the Dominican Republic, who dream of demonstrating their talent to continue their career in the United States.
Interestingly, the Rangers also have Pablo Guerrero, son of another legendary Dominican baseball player, Vladimir Guerrero, who is already in the lower ranks of the team in the United States, and with whom David Ortiz Jr could coincide in the future.
‘Big Papi’, who was chosen ten times for the All-Star Game and won the World Series three times with the Boston Red Sox (2004, 2007, 2013), sees in his son another opportunity for the family to continue contributing talent to Dominican baseball, as D’Angelo Ortiz, his other son, is already part of the Red Sox.
credits of the images of this post: Elnacional.com.do
