A series to share #smiles across our community through the achievements of our local youth, brought to you by Olsen Orthodontics.
(Santo Domingo, DR) – The only player from Wyoming, JJ Majdic, of Riverton, was asked to play on the USA 13U baseball team for the Latin America Baseball Classic in the Dominican Republic earlier this month.
This was JJ’s second year playing for the USA team. He went to tryouts two years ago, made the team, and was invited back this year.
The tournament happens in August every year. Many of the teams are from the Dominican Republic, and this year, a team from St. Croix and two USA teams in JJ’s 13U age bracket also played.
“Prior to COVID, there were teams from a lot more Latin American countries, Venezuela, Cuba, and so on, but COVID kind of halted that a little bit, so there’s fewer teams from other countries showing up,” explained Jerry Majdic, JJ’s dad.
JJ played pitcher and first base.
“I really like pitching, and kind of like really controlling the game up there,” JJ said.
They played six games in the tournament and went five and one. They lost the championship to the other USA team, earning them second place.
JJ had the same coach as last year, and the coach knew that pitching him in the championship game was okay.
He got the award for being his team’s most improved player last year to this year.
“Lot of fun being down there,” JJ noted. “A lot of good players from the Dominican and also across the U.S. So fun meeting them and fun getting to play with them. Make no mistake, that St. Croix team is amazing. That’s who we played in the semi-finals. They were extremely good.”
Baseball is a big-time sport in the Dominican Republic, and starting last year, the families of the USA teams were asked to bring down extra equipment for the young players.
“They asked us to bring extra baseballs and stuff to give to the kids,” Jerry said. “It’s a very, very, extremely poor area, and this year, we went down with quite a bit of baseball equipment, and we handed that out. So we took a bunch of bats with us, and, you know, socks and belts and baseball pants and gloves and, you know, everything you could think of. We brought a lot of that down, as did a lot of other people who have been there before. And so, you know, the kids pass those out and stuff like that. And, you know, it’s extremely well received. The kids are just ecstatic to receive that.”
In the U.S., JJ plays for Premier West Cardinals in Denver, a travel baseball team. Most of the games are in the Denver area, but they have a few tournaments out-of-state. Games begin March 1 and go through October 31, with around 100 games played.
“I kind of want to go pro, but I’m just taking it one season at a time right now,” JJ noted.
