BLUEFIELD — Bowen Field is a long way from the summer league fields of San Pedro in the Dominican Republic. But baseball is baseball, and Pedro Florimon Jr. knows how to play it.
The 19-year-old shortstop, in his first year in the Appalachian League, leads the circuit with a .463 batting average (19-for-41 in 12 games). He is also in the Appy League top five in walks, drawing a dozen free passes, and has struck out only six times this season.
That batting talent was on display as a teenager in his hometown of La Romano, which he described as a “medium-sized” town in the Central American nation.
“Somebody saw us playing in my town and took us to the Orioles to get a tryout,” Florimon said with the help of interpreter Giomar Guevara, a Bluefield coach. “Carlos Bernhardt signed me.” Bernhardt is the director of Latin American scouting for the Baltimore Orioles organization.
He remembers the date well: June 8, 2004.
Now, more than two years later, he said, things are going well. “I feel like I can play in the big leagues — not very soon, but in a couple of years, I guess.”
The hits came naturally for someone with a sharp eye for a pitched baseball, even though now they are being pitched in professional games.
Florimon said, “When I came here for the first time, after extended spring (training), I was concentrating and seeing the pitches good. So I’ve got confidence now. I’ve got confidence at the plate; I’m still swinging at good pitches.”
He is often called upon to provide clutch hits.
“When I get, like, a 2-2 count, I am able to concentrate more. With that kind of a pitch count, I kind of stay back, and try to hit the ball down the middle. That’s why I’m getting good hits — in good situations.”
Guevara said, “It’s a different level from when you’re playing in the summer leagues. When you get the guys from high schools and colleges coming here to play, it’s a lot of competition.
“I’ve seen that when Pedro plays the middle infield, he likes to see competition, so he can work hard and pull his (skills) to another level.”
Guevara said Florimon has great potential “if he works hard, and stays focused. The hard part is learning the plays, and the signs. But he has a good eye.”
Florimon said, “After this season, if I’m still hitting good, I might have a chance after this year to move up. But right now, we have so many guys here, and so many guys on the other (Oriole) teams, it’s going to be hard to move around.
“I’m just waiting for something to happen.”
Florimon, when asked if he had a favorite Major League Baseball player, quickly said it was a fellow Latin American shortstop, Omar Vizquel of the San Francisco Giants. Asked about his favorite team, he broke into a smile. “Baltimore, now,” he said.
— Contact Tom Bone at
tbone@bdtonline.com
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Staff photo by Eric DiNovo
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