[ Photoset ] ESPN Zone hosted catcher Wil Nieves yesterday in the Nationals Q&A series. He has a great sense of humor and answered questions about his walk-off homerun against the Cubs that sparked a MASN Defining Moment commercial (Who?). He also chatted about how he got into baseball, how he became a catcher and how impressed he is by his mom as president of the Boxing Commission of Puerto Rico. I think what struck me most was hearing him say Latin players’ names natively. Very cool!
On his mother:
I love baseball and I never followed it. My mom is the one who took me to every single game. I didn’t grow up with my dad so she’s the one who took me to every practice, every game. She didn’t know anything about baseball, she knows about boxing. My mom, she’s the first lady in the world to be president of a boxing commission. She’s the president of the boxing commission in Puerto Rico so she knows about boxing. But when I was young I used to grab a stick and swing at everything, so she took me to a therapist to see what was wrong with me and he said there’s nothing wrong with him, just put him in a sport where he can do that and that’s why they took me to baseball. [...] I’m real proud of my mom. It’s tough. It’s a men’s sport and she – being a woman in a men’s sport is very impressive. And they respect her.
On becoming a catcher:
When I was younger, I used to play every single position but catcher. When I was 14 years old we ran out of catchers on our team and they told me, “you know what? You have a good arm and you’re gonna be tall.” The tall part, they missed it, “and you should catch,” and I started catching. In the beginning I hated it. I was afraid of the ball. But God has a plan and I became a catcher and I love it. I love it. I’m {} behind the plate because I was a shortstop and I’m not a tall guy or a heavy guy. That’s the main reason because we ran out of catchers and they told me to do it and I did it.
On signing with Nationals (he definitely subscribes to Manny Acta’s philosophy):
I’m a real positive guy. I don’t care what I see around me, I’m always thinking positive. I’m a huge believer if you think positive, positive things are coming to you. If you think negative, negative things are going to come to you. So I’m real positive. If something else happened, it’s not because I went through my life with {}… so I’m here, I’m here now and thanks for the opportunity they gave me in the Dominican Republic.
On his walk-off home run against the Cubs last year:
That was a great thing, that was a great thing! When I hit it, I didn’t know it was gone (applause). Thank you thank you guys. I gotta do it again this year. I’m trying!
It was a great feeling. Like I said, I didn’t know it was gone until I stepped on first base and I looked into our bullpen and they were jumping. So yeah, they were jumping and clapping and I got all excited, so it was a great feeling. Great feeling. And being a walk off you know and rounding third base and seeing your teammates just waiting for you… I just took my helmet off because I know they hit you hard if you keep it on, so, I’ve seen a lot of guys do it. It was a great feeling, thank you.
I wasn’t thinking that was my first home run in the big leagues – later after that I did. I was just thinking we won the game.
Thanks, Wil! As if I didn’t like you enough already – now I know you have a sense of humor too!
Aww, I didn’t think I could like the guy any more, either. Thanks for the great report! Good for his mom, too!