10/16/2009

How do you spell confidence?

T-R-I-U-N-F-E-L!

There is much more to the story below than the snarky headline of this post. Click it and read about the development of the ex-Rattler.

Top prospect Carlos Triunfel to Mariners fans: 'I'll see you up there soon'
Carlos Triunfel struggled to catch his breath as the guy standing in front of him barked out another order.

"Let's do one more, Carlos! One more!" James Clifford shouted to the sweat-drenched shortstop prospect. "Are you ready to do another one?"

Hunched over, hands-on-knees in the baking sun, Triunfel could only nod before joining the Mariners' minor-league strength and conditioning coordinator on a grueling side-to-side shuffle exercise, designed to improve the agility of a leg he badly injured last April.

That Triunfel, 19, plucked from the Dominican Republic sandlots three years ago, could even understand what was being said indicates growth by one of the team's brightest prospects.

Learning to understand, if not speak, English has been a major breakthrough for the team's most-hyped Latin American prospect since Felix Hernandez. As he works to get back on the field, Triunfel admits he had growing to do away from it.

"I've learned the discipline of baseball," Triunfel said in Spanish, with interpreter Rafael Colon doing the translation. "I've learned how to behave. How to be a professional."
Good.

No comments:

Site Meter