Morales steps up to plate for rookies
Guerrero isn’t only Jay leaning on DH for advice about the game, and life
It was a weekend matinee last September and the Blue Jays’ designated hitter, call-up Rowdy Tellez, ducked into the clubhouse to watch video of his swing. There he met the man he was subbing for. Kendrys Morales, the 35-year-old slugger, had the day off, but his mind wasn’t far from the game. It never is.
“He was like, ‘Papi, look, look, look,’ ” Tellez said at spring training in Dunedin, Fla. “He showed me the pitcher, how he was tipping pitches and how he was set for what they were doing to me. The next at-bat, I looked at it and paid attention, and the pitcher was doing it.”
Tellez’s story is familiar to many young Blue Jays. In a clubhouse that some have suggested lacks enough of a veteran presence, they have the ultimate veteran in Morales, entering his 13th season in the big leagues.
The DH is one of the first to arrive each day, and works with the joyful disposition of someone who knows all too well that there are much more difficult things in life than playing baseball. Morales attempted to defect from Cuba a dozen times, and was jailed on several occasions, before reaching the United States on his13th try in 2004.
He doles out advice freely, about the game and life in general. It was not uncommon last September to see 25-year-old David Paulino — the six-footseven reliever acquired in the Roberto Osuna trade — sitting at Morales’ feet in the clubhouse, in deep conversation with the designated hitter, often leaning back in a chair in front of his locker with a friendly ease.
“He’s a guy that is always there for you, especially as a young player,” said Teoscar Hernandez, the Dominican outfielder who considers Morales a men- tor after just a year and a half as teammates. “He always wants to give advice to make you better, and if you need anything from him, he’s going to be there for you.”
Shortstop Lourdes Gurriel Jr. agreed. Asked for an example of how Morales has helped him, Gurriel said there wasn’t enough time in the day to list them all.
“He’s always giving us advice on the field, in the cages, in the locker room,” Gurriel said through translator Tanya Bialostozky, the Jays’ mental performance coach. “He’s always there for us and he’s always giving us great stuff to work on in the field. That’s also why we go to him, because he’s always ready and available for us.”
To Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the top prospect in baseball, Morales is a father figure. That relationship began more than a decade ago, when Morales — then in his mid-20s — played with Guerrero’s dad in the Angels organization. Guerrero Jr. told ESPN last week that Vlad Sr. advised him to watch Morales closely.
“He said, ‘When Kendrys Morales was a rookie, he did all the things that you need to do by following my example. Anywhere I went, he followed. So what you see in him, that’s the way I did things when I was playing,’ ” the young Blue Jay said through a translator.
Morales didn’t ask many questions back then, but he paid attention to the older players. Now, it’s his turn.
“I am always watching them and seeing how they work,” Morales said, via Bialostozky. “I don’t like them doing mindless reps, so whenever I see them doing something that’s wrong I will address it. I want to make sure that if they’re doing 20 swings, that they do them right, not that they do 10 okay and then 10 right … that when they’re here and they’re up with us, that they are focused and that they are paying attention to what they’re doing.”
Morales calls the Jays’ youthful clubhouse mix “very stimulating.”
“Being a veteran is not about strength, but about intelligence,” he said. “I hope that they feel the openness to ask a lot of questions, so that they can learn from some of the experiences that we have.”
He will continue to support young players, helping to boost confidence and help them “play loose and feel free.”
“Attacking them is not something that I think we should do.” he said.
“We should not attack young players, but just give them the confidence and the space so they can get better. The looser they are and the more confident they feel, the faster they will be able to cope and to increase their potential.”