When we are youths in the Dominican, we pick up bats and balls because baseball is part of what we grow up with. The fun feeling you get playing keeps your head up when you encounter difficult times.

What I do is see the ball, hit the ball.

I just have to come back tomorrow and try again, ... I have to look at the ball and keep swinging.

I don't think about how many people are watching me. I'm just happy to play baseball for myself.

I'm not as good as I want to be.

I might be shy, but in the field, where I have to do my work, I do it. I let my bat speak for myself.

As a ballplayer, you just want to feel respected. I like the way Washington presented the team to me and I feel good about what was being said.