Playing for Single-A baseball teams like the Dayton Dragons is not a career in and of itself, which is partly why there is not a player over the age of 23 on the field for the Dragons.
Dragons manager Jose Nieves knows what it is like for young baseball players to chase the dream of making the big leagues. Before his first MLB appearance, Nieves played for five different minor league teams in a nation foreign to him.
“For a young kid to have the desire to make it to the big leagues, you have to take one step at a time,” Nieves said. “If you are here in A ball, if your goal is to make it to the big leagues, you have to figure out how to master this league. It is the daily work that gets you where you want to go.”
For the 25 members of the Dragons, whose players range from ages 19-23, baseball is the easy part.
While playing for the Dragons’ parent club in Cincinnati for a few years could make a young man wealthy, the pay in Single-A is on a completely different scale. The league minimum for MLB players is $507,500. In the minors, players start out making as little as $5,500 a season.
With the transitional nature of the minors, by the time the ink dries on an apartment lease, players are off to the next city. To help, local families host players in their homes rent free. For instance, new Dragons outfielder Jimmy Pickens is staying in a Miamisburg family’s basement.
“It is good that the Dayton community does such a good job with host families,” Pickens said. “Now you don’t have to find rent and these host families are taking you in like a second or third child. They are providing you with some food and dinners.”
“It is good for yourself,” Kivel said. “You learn how to budget your money and grow up a little bit at a young age.”
The adjustment to professional baseball is even more challenging for the five foreign-born Dragons.
“I had to go through a lot of stuff to get to the states,” Nieves, a native of Venezuela, said. “You are coming from different latitudes and different culture, but the bottom line is you have to play the game the right way in order to get to your goal.”
When it comes to getting to the major leagues, the Dragons have met their goal dozens of times. Since 2000, 69 Dragons have played in MLB.
One reason for the success is players from Dayton get prepared in an atmosphere akin to MLB stadiums. The Dragons have played host to over 1,000 sell-out crowds since joining the Midwest League.
“The fans take a fundamental role in how motivated you can be,” Nieves said. “It is a big part of the challenges you have to face when you go the big leagues in front of 55,000 people. When you are in A ball facing these type of fans, it is great. It is that appetizer for when you get to the big leagues.”
