TRINITY, Fla. — One of the Tampa Bay Rays' brightest stars on the team took his baseball skills away from Tropicana Field to teach young players about developing their game on Monday at a high school in Pasco County.
Randy Arozarena hosted his first-ever youth baseball camp at J.W. Mitchell High School in Trinity as boys and girls in grades one through eight learned the fundamentals of baseball, received tips on how to improve their skills and got hands-on instruction from the MLB All-Star.
The young athletes were seen working directly with the 28-year-old and other local baseball coaches to learn new techniques and enhance their overall performance at the baseball camp.
Arozarena said he is happy to have created a youth baseball camp to give opportunities to young athletes that he never had growing up.
"[Growing up], I didn't have shoes to play, I didn't have gloves or people to play with," Arozarena said in Spanish. "The support of their [the children's] parents is important so they can continue growing in their career.
"They have a lot of talent, probably the same as we had in Cuba but with more resources."
Besides taking part in scrimmages and drills, participants also received a limited edition camp T-shirt, a souvenir autograph from Arozarena and a team photo.
There was also time for the young baseball players to meet, ask questions and receive feedback on their performance from the Cuban-Mexican outfielder.
A coach who was part of the baseball camp said Arozarena plans to host more similar events in the future.