Image via Complex Original
Professional sports, especially the game of baseball, is peppered with Hispanic athletes making a name for themselves, both for what they’ve done on the field and the challenges they’ve overcome to get there. They’re guiding their teams to the World Series, winning Super Bowls, and setting league records. As sports in America become more and more diverse, Hispanics find themselves at the forefront of the games’ transformations. Here are nine of the best, whose careers will only get brighter as time goes on.
Ricky Rubio
Position: PG
Team: Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota was ecstatic when Ricky Rubio decided to leave the Spanish ABC League and join the Wolves in 2011. Pairing his ball handling and passing skills with Kevin Love’s shooting and rebounding, the team hoped to flourish with Rubio running the show at point guard. But Rubio tore his ACL in March of 2012, wiping out his season, and would not return until December.
Rubio courageously fought through a grueling rehab process, determined to return to the court the same player he was before the injury. He did so, and more, averaging a career high in assists upon his return as the Wolves nearly made the playoffs during the 2013–2014 season. The Wolves decided to rebuild, trading away Love for Andrew Wiggins and starting over with a young core. Finally healthy, Rubio is ready to lead a young, incredibly talented group to compete in the Western Conference, something the Wolves had hoped he could do from the get go.
Salvador Pérez
Position: C
Team: Kansas City Royals
Pérez is just 25 years old, but he’s already been a MLB all-star for three straight seasons, an incredible feat when you think about how far he’s come since he was a child in Venezuela. With his father out of the picture by the time he was four years old, and his mother left to support him and his family by working multiple jobs, Pérez took up baseball. He was so good at it that the Royals signed him when he was just 16 years old. Pérez calls his mother his “support,” and knows the opportunities she gave him are the reason he is where he is today. To this day, he still calls his mother back in Venezuela twice a day to thank her for all she did for him.
Pérez made his Royals debut in 2011, made his first All-Star game two years later, and found himself behind the plate as the Royals made an incredible run to the World Series during the 2014 season. Back in the playoffs with the Royals again this season after hitting 21 homers and driving in 70 runs, Perez led the Royals to their second straight World Series. He flourished there, hitting .345 in the five game series and was stellar behind the plate. His play earned him World Series MVP honors as the Royals captured their first title in 30 years.
Kiko Alonso
Position: LB
Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Though he was born in Massachusetts, Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Kiko Alonso grew up with a Cuban father and a Colombian mother, and speaks Spanish well enough to consider it a second language. Despite his ease integrating himself into his parents’ culture, his NFL career has not been without its own set of challenges.
As a rookie playing for the Buffalo Bills in 2013, Alonso was a star. He made 159 tackles, third most by a rookie in NFL history, and played every single defensive snap over a grueling 16-game schedule. Then, his health betrayed him. He was forced to have hip surgery during the following offseason, and then tore his ACL during training camp in July, knocking him out for duration of 2014. Alonso was anxious, and wanted to battle through the typical nine-month rehab process as fast as he could. He had to be told to slow himself down, and eventually began to respect the process that would allow him to get back to being one of the fiercest linebackers in the league.
After being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles and coach Chip Kelly, whom he played for in college at Oregon, Alonso has treated the 2015 NFL season like a fresh start. Though additional injuries have limited his playing time, the young linebacker is a part of the Eagles long-term plan as a leader of their defense, which is poised to be as prolific and progressive as its Kelly-powered offense.
Yoenis Céspedes
Position: OF
Team: New York Mets
When you’ve traveled thousands of miles just to play the game you love, playing in your first World Series can look a piece of cake. That’s the case for Yoenis Céspedes, who left his native Cuba for the Dominican Republic to give himself a better chance to play baseball in the United States, a goal he achieved when he signed with the Oakland Athletics in 2012.
In 2015, Céspedes went on the wildest ride of his short MLB career, being traded to the New York Mets at the trade deadline only to catapult them to their first World Series appearance since 2000. Céspedes hit 35 home runs during the regular season while hitting .291 and knocking in over 100 RBIs, by far the best season of his career.
Despite falling in the World Series to the Kansas City Royals, Céspedes’ stellar season won’t be forgotten. His name was in the MVP conversation, and we have a feeling it will continue to be for years to come.
Carlos Correa
Position: SS
Team: Houston Astros
The first pick in the draft by the Astros in 2012, Correa, who grew up in a small fishing village in Puerto Rico, fought his way onto the roster this year after turns in both Double and Triple-A. He was called up on June 8, and helped the Astros nab a spot in the AL Wild Card game by hitting .279 and mashing 22 home runs. On Nov. 16, the 21-year-old was named A.L. Rookie of the Year.
He’d been on fire in the postseason, posting a .412 batting average in the Astros first round series against the Kansas City Royals, while hitting a whopping seven home runs. Then, disaster struck. Leading Kansas City 6-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, with a spot in the ALCS on the line, Correa booted a double-play ball that would have slowed an inning in which the Royals scored five runs to take the lead. Houston would go on to lose the series, though Correa has vowed not to let the error define his season, or his career.
Manny Ramirez
Position: C
Team: Detroit Lions
In 2010 the Detroit Lions informed Manny Ramirez that he’d been cut. The painful news came three years after the team had drafted him. So Ramirez began to work to get back to the player he was in college at Texas Tech, where the NFL first noticed him. Eventually, he worked his way on to the Denver Broncos roster. After playing just two games for them in 2011, Ramirez became a starter the following year. Then, three years later, Ramirez found himself starting at center in the Super Bowl. Now, back with the Lions for a second stint, he may be playing the best football of his career. He isn’t just playing for himself, either. Ramirez, a Mexican-American, says he wants to be a role model for Latino athletes everywhere, showing them that they too can dream big.
Though the Lions are mired in a miserable season, Ramirez has been a bright spot, and the website Pro Football Focus has given Ramirez the coveted “excellent” grade for his play this season.
Greivis Vasquez
Position: PG
Team: Milwaukee Bucks
A standout at the University of Maryland, Vasquez’s NBA career took almost as long as his college career to really take off. The Venezuela native has played on five teams in his still-young six-year NBA career, bouncing around from Memphis, who drafted him, to New Orleans to Sacramento before finally settling in with the Toronto Raptors in 2013.
Coming off the bench to spell starter Kyle Lowry, Vasquez morphed into the leader of the bench brigade, shooting a robust 38 percent from 3-point land and providing high energy and defense for a fantastic second unit that helped push the Raptors to the playoffs both years he was there.
After being traded to Milwaukee during this year’s NBA Draft, Vasquez now will play a key mentorship and reserve role to a Bucks team loaded with young talent. With skilled teammates from Jabari Parker to Giannis Antetokounmpo, Vasquez has a chance to become a part of something long lasting and special.
José Abreu
Position: 1B
Team: Chicago White Sox
After setting the Cuba National Series league on fire during the 2010–2011 season by setting a record for home runs, and then winning an MVP award following the 2013 Cuban season, Abreu decided to test his luck in the major leagues and left Cuba for Chicago. The following season, his first in the majors, he hit 36 home runs with the White Sox, a rookie record, while hitting .317, incredible numbers for a man just trying to get adjusted to life in America. He was not only named to the All-Star game, but was overwhelmingly voted the AL Rookie of the Year
With the league adjusted to him this past season, he still cranked out 30 home runs and hit .290. With just two years under his belt, Abreu is set to be one of the American Leagues most dangerous hitters in the cleanup spot for the White Sox for the next four years, the duration of his contract with the team.
Victor Cruz
Position: WR
Team: New York Giants
Knowing the type of player Victor Cruz has become, imagining the man going undrafted is almost unthinkable. But that’s what happened to Cruz, who, after playing his college ball at UMass, was not selected by a single team in the 2010 NFL Draft. He wouldn’t let that deter him though, persevering to make his mark in training camp with the New York Giants and fighting to secure his spot in the NFL. Despite his best efforts, a hamstring injury ended his 2010 season after just three games.
Cruz broke out in 2011, winning a Super Bowl, and his success led to an enormous, 5-year, $45 million contract extension in 2013. Then, after just six games in 2014, Cruz tore his patellar tendon trying to catch a pass in the end zone, ending his season. Disappointingly, Cruz will miss the entire 2015 season after suffering a calf injury that requires surgery but has vowed to return to top form in 2016 and once again have the chance to leave his mark on another championship run.
