That this post is about Nate McLouth, who hasn’t played in the majors since 2014, already indicates that the information’s a bit old, but this video’s making the rounds now and I’d never seen it before, so whatever. McLouth, then with the Baltimore Orioles, did an interview with a Spanish-speaking reporter after a Sept. 1, 2012 loss to the Yankees. A white baseball player speaking Spanish isn’t that uncommon, but doing so with a natural Dominican accent very much is.
McLouth has it down, even with the dropped S’s:
McLouth mentions in the video that he had a lot of Spanish teachers—mostly Dominicans and some Venezuelans—in the minor leagues, but he first learned the language when he was a teen. In a Fox Sports Detroit interview from 2013, the then-Tigers player talked about having the option in high school to learn Spanish or German. He chose the former and never regretted it. Dominican teammates Pedro Strop and Alexi Casilla were quite impressed.
“I think it’s important for me, just for anybody really,” McLouth said. “If you look at how many Latin players are in the game today, there’s a ton of them. I don’t know what the exact percentage is, but there’s a lot. They’re great players, and it’s great for baseball. I’m just really glad I started in high school.”
[Remezcla]