Fearless, prepared, passionate.” These are the characteristics Guilford’s baseball coach Nick Black ’02 says define his former player, Borja Jones Berasaluce ‘14. These qualities helped Jones Berasaluce as a four-year starting pitcher for the Quakers from 2010-2014, but would they help him represent his heritage as a pitcher for Spain’s national baseball team? Would they help him realize what he wants to do after earning his degree in sport management?
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| Borja Jones Berasaluce '14 |
Born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Thomas Jones and Ana Berasaluce, Jones Berasaluce gained Spanish citizenship through his mother. As a youth, Jones Berasaluce and his family visited Spain often—becoming as much Spanish as he was American. “He always took his Spanish heritage very seriously,” Black said. Following an extended hiatus from the country, Jones Berasaluce fulfilled his yearning to return as a graduation present in the summer of 2014.
While in Spain, Jones Berasaluce could not stay away from baseball after Guilford. He tried out for a local semi-professional team and earned a spot as a pitcher. Then he got lucky. The Spanish national coach attended one of his games to scout an opposing player. Instead, Jones Berasaluce caught the coach’s eye. When asked to play for Spain, “Of course I said yes,” Jones Berasaluce recalled. “When you get an opportunity like that, it’s just something you can’t pass up.”
In the following months, Jones Berasaluce played at various locations on his way to pitching for Spain in the 2014 European Baseball Championship. “An incredible jump,” he called it compared to his pitching days in Massachusetts and North Carolina. His first stop was Italian baseball week in a stadium near Venice, where he helped his team to victory against the Czech Republic and Italy. After this week of preparation, qualifying games for the championship began in Brno, Czech Republic. Spain’s success there allowed it to reach the championship series in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Here Jones Berasaluce experienced what he called a “reality check.”
In a quarterfinal game versus the Netherlands, Jones Berasaluce took the mound in relief with his team trailing 12-8. The bases were loaded. “I threw a great pitch in my mind,” Jones Berasaluce said, “and a big, chubby lefty-hitter put it right out of the park.” It was a reality check because Jones Berasaluce realized he may have got too caught up in the moment. “To [the Netherlands], it was just another game.”
The moment, the pinnacle of his baseball career, caused Jones Berasaluce to reassess his dreams. Along the journey to making the Spanish team, he played alongside teammates who signed with major-league teams as teenagers out of Latin American nations, but were later released. “Seeing these guys who were signed, maybe played a few years and were dropped, they don’t have an education to fall back on.”
Jones Berasaluce’s now sees an opportunity to perhaps help players like his Spanish teammates. “With my ability to speak Spanish, sometime in the foreseeable future I see myself going to law school.” And of course, the type of law of interest involves baseball. The most desirable scenario, according to Jones Berasaluce, would be contract law, where he aids Spanish-speaking teenagers find their way to the big leagues.
“I understand playing baseball won’t be the rest of my career,” says Jones Berasaluce, “but if I can watch it and be around it every day, I’d love to do that.”
by Jacob Kapp ‘15
While in Spain, Jones Berasaluce could not stay away from baseball after Guilford. He tried out for a local semi-professional team and earned a spot as a pitcher. Then he got lucky. The Spanish national coach attended one of his games to scout an opposing player. Instead, Jones Berasaluce caught the coach’s eye. When asked to play for Spain, “Of course I said yes,” Jones Berasaluce recalled. “When you get an opportunity like that, it’s just something you can’t pass up.”
In the following months, Jones Berasaluce played at various locations on his way to pitching for Spain in the 2014 European Baseball Championship. “An incredible jump,” he called it compared to his pitching days in Massachusetts and North Carolina. His first stop was Italian baseball week in a stadium near Venice, where he helped his team to victory against the Czech Republic and Italy. After this week of preparation, qualifying games for the championship began in Brno, Czech Republic. Spain’s success there allowed it to reach the championship series in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Here Jones Berasaluce experienced what he called a “reality check.”
In a quarterfinal game versus the Netherlands, Jones Berasaluce took the mound in relief with his team trailing 12-8. The bases were loaded. “I threw a great pitch in my mind,” Jones Berasaluce said, “and a big, chubby lefty-hitter put it right out of the park.” It was a reality check because Jones Berasaluce realized he may have got too caught up in the moment. “To [the Netherlands], it was just another game.”
The moment, the pinnacle of his baseball career, caused Jones Berasaluce to reassess his dreams. Along the journey to making the Spanish team, he played alongside teammates who signed with major-league teams as teenagers out of Latin American nations, but were later released. “Seeing these guys who were signed, maybe played a few years and were dropped, they don’t have an education to fall back on.”
Jones Berasaluce’s now sees an opportunity to perhaps help players like his Spanish teammates. “With my ability to speak Spanish, sometime in the foreseeable future I see myself going to law school.” And of course, the type of law of interest involves baseball. The most desirable scenario, according to Jones Berasaluce, would be contract law, where he aids Spanish-speaking teenagers find their way to the big leagues.
“I understand playing baseball won’t be the rest of my career,” says Jones Berasaluce, “but if I can watch it and be around it every day, I’d love to do that.”
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| 2015 Spanish National Baseball Team |
by Jacob Kapp ‘15
