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Yankees Mag: Life Sciences
《洋基雜誌：人生教育》
At the Yankees’ Latin Béisbol Academy in the Dominican Republic, the On-Field
Work is Just Part of the Education
在多明尼加的洋基拉丁棒球學院，球場上的訓練只是教育的一部分
https://reurl.cc/YDy53a
Melissa Hernandez seems to be fighting back tears as she tells the story, attemp
ting to explain some of the unexpected emotional heft that comes with her job as
the lead teacher/player development assistant at the Latin Béisbol Academy.
當拉丁棒球學院首席教師兼球員發展助理Melissa Hernandez講述這段故事時，眼眶似乎泛
著淚光，她試圖說明這份工作除了棒球之外，還承載著許多人意想不到的情感重量
Hernandez has been working for the Yankees since 2016, teaching in the Dominican
Republic for several years before spending time running the education side of t
he player development complex in Tampa, Fla. She’s back in the Dominican now, w
here her office in the Boca Chica complex is plastered with photos of smiling yo
ung ballplayers.
Hernandez自2016年起便在洋基隊工作，她曾在多明尼加擔任教師數年，之後負責佛羅里達
州坦帕球員發展基地的教育業務，如今她又回到多明尼加，在Boca Chica訓練基地的辦公室
裡，牆上貼滿了一張張年輕球員燦爛微笑的照片
The vast majority of them are all but anonymous; few would be recognizable to ev
en the most prospect-savvy Yankees fan. But the photos radiate warmth and joy an
d achievement. It’s the type of brag wall that only a teacher could truly appre
ciate.
其中絕大多數球員幾乎默默無聞，即便是最熟悉洋基農場體系的球迷，也很難認出他們，然
而這些照片散發著溫暖、喜悅與成就感，那是一面只有教師才能真正珍惜與驕傲的榮譽牆
The Latin Béisbol Academy is where some of the youngest members of the Yankees
organization get their start.
拉丁棒球學院是洋基體系中最年輕球員展開職業生涯的起點
While players from the United States and Puerto Rico are subject to the MLB Draf
t, which they can take part in either immediately following high school or after
one year of junior college or three years at a four-year college, international
players can sign contracts when they’re as young as 16 years old.
美國與波多黎各球員必須透過大聯盟選秀進入職棒，可以在高中畢業後、社區大學一年後，
或四年制大學三年後參加選秀；然而國際球員最早只要16歲就能簽下職業合約
It’s essentially a free-for-all, with scouts scouring the globe and locking up
players as early as possible.
這幾乎是一場全球性的搶人大戰，各隊球探在世界各地尋找人才，並盡可能提早將他們網羅
And while amateur baseball in the U.S. is becoming an ever-more-expensive and sp
ecialized sport, many of the teenage prospects signed from far-flung corners of
the world show up with well-trained skills, loads of potential … and little els
e.
而在美國，業餘棒球正逐漸成為一項昂貴且高度專業化的運動；相比之下，許多來自世界各
地的青少年國際新秀雖然擁有紮實的技術與驚人的潛力，卻往往除此之外一無所有
Hernandez recalls a young, thin pitcher that was signed and brought over to the
Academy.
Hernandez回憶起一名剛被簽下、帶到學院的瘦弱年輕投手
“He was so skinny that I was worried when I saw him,” she says. “Like, How is
he going to make it? He had these sandal shoes on all the time."
「他瘦到讓我一看到就擔心，我心想：『他真的能撐過來嗎？』他總是穿著一雙涼鞋」
“And when they took him down to get his feet sized for baseball shoes, he start
ed crying. And the guy down there called me, ‘Melissa, will you please come dow
n here, because this kid is crying and I don’t know what’s going on.’”
「當工作人員帶他去量腳、準備發棒球鞋時，他突然哭了起來，下面的人打電話給我說：『
Melissa，妳能下來一下嗎？這孩子一直哭，我不知道發生了什麼事』」
“So, I went down there and I asked him, and he told me that was the first time
that he had worn shoes.”
「於是我過去問他，結果他告訴我，那是他人生第一次穿鞋子」
“Those are the kinds of things you hear.”
「這就是我們經常會聽到的故事」
Hernandez and everyone else involved with the Latin Béisbol Academy have plenty
of stories like that.
Hernandez與拉丁棒球學院的工作人員都聽過無數類似的故事
To be sure, if you asked administrators from any of the other 29 teams’ academi
es that dot the Dominican landscape, they certainly do, as well.
事實上如果去詢問其他29支大聯盟球隊設在多明尼加的訓練學院主管，他們也一定都有類似
的經歷
The system that feeds players to many of these academies, particularly from thir
d-world countries, is different in every way from what American amateurs experie
nce.
尤其對於來自第三世界國家的球員而言，通往這些學院的培養體系，與美國業餘球員的成長
環境可說是天差地遠
Oswaldo Cabrera was 16 years old when he signed with the Yankees out of Venezuel
a on July 2, 2015.
Oswaldo Cabrera於2015年7月2日以16歲之齡從委內瑞拉加盟洋基
By the end of 2016, he had split time in three different leagues, starting in th
e Dominican Summer League, then spending time in Florida’s Gulf Coast League an
d with the team’s then-Carolina League affiliate in Pulaski, Virginia.
到了2016年底，他已經在三個不同聯盟出賽，包括多明尼加夏季聯盟、佛羅里達灣岸聯盟，
以及當時位於維吉尼亞州普拉斯基的洋基卡羅萊納聯盟附屬球隊
But, he says, “I left home at 13 or 14 years old.”
但他表示：
「我13、14歲時就離開家了」
Like so many other young strivers, Cabrera had turned his life over to baseball
at a time when young American boys and girls are managing the awkward effects of
puberty.
與許多懷抱夢想的年輕球員一樣，在美國同齡孩子還在適應青春期變化的年紀時，Cabrera
已經把人生完全投入棒球
“You’re still a kid; that’s not a secret,” he says of showing up at the Acad
emy as a 16-year-old. “You have to get your mind in the right way to not think
that you’re a kid. You’re a man now.”
談到16歲來到學院時他說：
「你仍然只是個孩子，這不是秘密，但你必須調整心態，不能再把自己當成小孩，你現在是
一個男人了」
Kids need love, they need support, and they need schooling. And at the Yankees’
Latin Béisbol Academy, Hernandez and her staff are working to make sure that t
he players in their charge get all three.
孩子需要關愛、需要支持，也需要教育，而在洋基拉丁棒球學院，Hernandez與她的團隊正
努力確保這些年輕球員能同時獲得這三樣東西
Brian Cashman gets it. The big leagues’ longest-tenured general manager knows t
hat he and his staff are judged by results more than processes. All the goodwill
that he has accumulated could be wiped away by a few dark Octobers at Yankee St
adium.
洋基總經理Brian Cashman非常明白這一點，身為大聯盟任期最長的總管，他知道外界評價
他和團隊時，看重的是結果而非過程，即便多年來累積了無數聲望，只要在洋基球場經歷幾
個失敗的十月，這些好評都可能瞬間化為烏有
It’s a ruthless game, for executives, for coaches and certainly for players. Su
cceed, and you’ll be treated like a hero. Fail, and you’ll be cast aside. It’
s always brutal when a player fails to meet expectations and the harsh realities
of business take over, but it’s also the nature of the beast.
這是一個殘酷的產業，無論是管理階層、教練還是球員皆然，成功時你會被當成英雄；失敗
時，你就可能被拋棄，當球員未能達到期待而必須面對職業運動的現實時，總是令人感到殘
酷，但這也是這項產業的本質
When it comes to teenagers at the Latin Béisbol Academy, it’s not so simple. I
f they don’t make it