Early in spring training, it is foreseeable that Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire will watch a pop fly drift toward second base as middle infielders Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Alexi Casilla track it down.
Gardenhire may not hear either one call for it with the traditional, “I got it!”
The familiar phrase could be replaced by “Watashi wa sore o motte!” or “Lo tengo! Lo tengo!”
Photo: Reuters
“The communication thing is going to be interesting,” Gardenhire said with his usual grin. “I don’t understand either one of them.”
Nishioka joined the Twins this offseason from Japan, while Casilla, from the Dominican Republic, is getting another chance to be an everyday player for the Major League Baseball organization he joined in 2005. Nishioka only knows a few words of English and Casilla is much more comfortable speaking the Dominican dialect of Spanish, so one of the most important aspects of spring training for the Twins this year will be to get the two to find a way to communicate.
“My Japanese is working fine,” Casilla quipped. “His Spanish? No. Real bad. It’s like my English.”
Nishioka was asked later about Casilla’s Japanese. He chuckled and said: “We’ll make another different new language between the two of us.”
Gardenhire and his coaches are bracing for that.
“As [hitting coach] Joe Vavra said, he’s got his Spanglish down and now he’s got his Japanglish down,” Gardenhire said. “So we’re working on it.”
Casilla and Nishioka will be the starting middle infielders for the Twins on opening day, but Gardenhire has not decided who will play at second base and who will be the shortstop. Either way, they will have to bridge the language gap.
Baseball is baseball in any language, but there’s no discounting the importance of middle infielders being able to communicate during games. From who covers second base on a steal to where to go on relay throws from the outfield to who has the best angle on a fly ball, all sorts of talking has to happen.
The Twins are pairing Casilla and Nishioka in the same group for batting practice and fundamentals to help them get on the same page.
Nishioka has an interpreter with him at all times in camp, including when he is on the field for defensive drills.
“Casilla’s been playing with the Twins for much longer than me,” Nishioka said through his interpreter, Ryo Shinkawa. “So for him to guide me through the practices, that will be something that will be very helpful and appreciated.”
“Our interpreter is going to be the biggest influence in the infield right now,” Gardenhire joked. “We’ll work our way from there.”
Then there’s first baseman Justin Morneau, a native of the Vancouver area, who likes to say that he speaks Canadian.
“All [Nishioka] has to learn how to say is ‘eh’ and we’ll be all right,” Morneau said.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was