Twins' trip to Puerto Rico gives Eddie Rosario a chance to go home again

GUAYAMA, Puerto Rico — Imagine returning to your high school to hold a press conference.

Twins outfielder Eddie Rosario experienced such a scenario on Monday afternoon in a physical education class toward the back of Escuela Dr. Rafael Lopez Landron.

Nearly eight years after he was selected in the fourth round of the 2010 baseball draft, Rosario returned home a conquering hero as part of Major League Baseball’s two-game foray in Puerto Rico. The Twins host the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.

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But on Monday, Rosario made the 75-minute drive to his hometown from the team hotel in San Juan to tour his old stomping grounds, see friends and teachers, and hold a baseball clinic for 75 students.

Under normal circumstances, the experience would have been surreal for most anyone. But given the gravity of what has taken place here in the past year, how his home is still recovering seven months after Hurricane Maria tore through it, causing hundreds of deaths and leaving many of the island’s three million inhabitants without power for months, Rosario admitted he was overcome with emotion.

“I see the people happy,” Rosario said. “I know that people need that. I (want to try) to help, to say to (them), ‘Hey, everything is going to be better. Everything is going to be good.’ I’m here to help them. I feel comfortable to help the people. I see their faces … I feel good inside.

“There’s a lot of emotion right here.”

This isn’t the first time Rosario has returned to Puerto Rico since Maria made its destructive landfall on Sept. 20 and swept across the middle, doing significant damage in the mountainous regions and in San Juan. He’d made several previous trips to do charity work.

But Monday’s journey was different as he returned to an island in recovery mode rather than one in dire need. It also included his first tour of his old high school in seven years.

As he stepped out of an SUV in the back lot, Rosario was greeted by a number of adults who had an impact on his life when he was a student athlete. The school’s principal, Edna Rodriguez Alvarez, taught Rosario English in summer school. Speaking in English while walking through the school’s main courtyard, Rosario pointed out the classroom where he learned to speak his second language. Alvarez was struck by how confidently Rosario spoke English during several interviews.

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“It’s great to see him,” Alvarez said. “Being able to watch him express himself in English, I was part of that.

“It’s something great. Everybody loves him. He’s a player from Puerto Rico and he’s from our town. It’s big. It’s great having somebody from Puerto Rico, especially from Guayama. The community. It’s great.”

One of Rosario’s first coaches, Alfredo Ortiz Martinez, greeted the 26-year-old with a flying forearm. Martinez coached Rosario, who started to play for the Rangers baseball program at age 4. Back then, Rosario played pitcher, shortstop and center field. Even though they tried to convince Rosario to hit from the right side, he had too much left-handed power to make the switch.

Martinez, who coached Rosario until he was 12, said the youngster always stood out because of his strong baseball IQ. Though he only gets to see his former player via highlights on MLB Network’s Quick Pitch, Martinez isn’t surprised by Rosario’s success.

.@EddieRosario09 visited his high school today in Guayama, PR and hosted a baseball/softball clinic! #PuertoRicoSeries #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/DL0qe9ilS8

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 16, 2018

“He was unique,” Martinez said through an interpreter. “Since he was a little kid, you could tell he was going to be a big-leaguer. He had a baseball sense since he was a little kid. His talents were greatly developed and he was ahead. He was unique because he would field to the right side right-handed and would hit lefty.

“He always had the mettle, the makeup to be a big-leaguer. I think he has a lot of room to improve. Because he’s able to see more baseball and he’s maturing.”

Martinez thinks the support Rosario received from his parents, Eddie Sr. and Maria, played a significant role in his success. Rosario’s parents always attended his games. Even though they recently moved to Orlando, Fla., in the wake of Maria after living without power for several months, Rosario’s family was on hand for Monday’s festivities.

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Rosario’s father was taken aback by the crowd that had gathered to watch his son host a clinic and hand out Twins hats to the 75 students in attendance. Rosario moved from station to station at the clinic, pitching Wiffle balls to hitters and working on drills with the outfielders. He also stopped to take pictures with anyone who asked.

“It’s awesome,” Eddie Rosario Sr. said. “It’s very nice for the people of Guayama. He was born here, grew up here and played ball here. All these fans and parents here and have known me, him and our family. It’s awesome.

“I’m getting used to (the attention he receives). I’m very proud. I enjoy the moment every time he’s at-bat. I’m an excited person. If you see, I might be jumping up, because I get so happy.”

Rosario Sr. had a chance to experience this before with his son in the months after Maria. Shortly after his wild-card game heroics in October, Rosario and his father brought supplies to hurricane victims in the mountainous region of the island. Though it lies near the coast on the Southeastern portion of the island, Guayama isn’t far from the mountains.

“We mostly went into the mountainside because there was more damage up there than down here,” Rosario Sr. said. “They didn’t have any roads. People were so grateful. People were crying. I was crying. People were so desperate. No power, no water. Food wasn’t a problem. It was water.”

“Everyone was so happy to see him.”

They were just as elated on Monday to have the fourth-year major-leaguer in their presence. Teachers and coaches shared quick stories or stopped for a photo. Rosario said he was flooded with memories as he walked through the quad, which had a volleyball net hanging between two trees.

“I know I’ll remember this moment for all my life,” Rosario said. “I’ll remember everything.”

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But the oddest moment arrived a few minutes later when Rosario sat at a desk in a PE room where the walls were lined with tributes to the late Roberto Clemente. Rosario had several cameras trained on him and a boom mic above his head to capture the audio. Asked about holding a press conference at the school where he grew up, Rosario quickly smiled before he laughed aloud.

“That’s different. I’ve never felt like that in my life,” Rosario said. “It’s awesome. It’s awesome.”

(Top image: Eddie Rosario poses with students and more at his high school in Guayama, Puerto Rico. He's made several trips back the island since Hurricane Maria ravaged it in September. Credit: Dan Hayes)

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