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BROOK JONES \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Goldeyes outfielder Roby Enriquez said it\u2019s a lot of fun being part of a club with so many different players from around the world.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Enriquez was born in the city of Carolina, Puerto Rico, and is now in his third season with the Goldeyes. The 29-year-old is acting as an unofficial tour guide to some of his new teammates who are experiencing Winnipeg for the first time. He believes this is an ideal city to serve as host for such a diverse squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a perfect place to have a team like that,\u201d he said, noting the wide variety of cultures and restaurants that are part of our DNA.<\/p>\n
In terms of sheer numbers on the Goldeyes, Americans lead the way with 13 players. Three of them \u2014 Minnesota\u2019s Max Murphy and California\u2019s Mitch Lambson and Kevin Garcia \u2014 now call Winnipeg home, joining five other born-and-raised Canadians on the club. In that sense, it\u2019s a 10-8 split for the North Americans.<\/p>\n
Things get downright tropical after that.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg has two players from Aruba in OF Jiandido Tromp and IF Ray-Patrick Didder, one from Bermuda (IF\/OF Adam Hall, who now resides in Ontario as is essentially a ninth Canadian), one from the Dominican Republic (P Willian Suarez), one from Japan (P Ryo Kohigashi), one from the Netherlands (P Arij Fransen) and Enriquez representing Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no question baseball is a global sport, with the World Baseball Classic serving up the latest reminder. Winnipeg\u2019s roster is, more than ever, a reflection of that.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t JOHN WOODS \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Winnipeg Goldeyes outfielder Jiandido Tromp said the club was recommended to him by fellow Aruban Dayson Croes, a two-time All-Star with the Fish who is now in the San Francisco Giants organization.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still trying to get to know all these guys. But we\u2019re talking in a lot of different languages,\u201d Tromp said with a laugh.<\/p>\n The 32-year-old slugger is in his first season with Winnipeg, which was recommended to him by fellow Aruban Dayson Croes, a two-time All-Star with the Goldeyes who won the league\u2019s rookie of the year title in 2025 and is now in the San Francisco Giants organization.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to be here,\u201d said Tromp, who had four RBIs through Winnipeg\u2019s first four games to lead the team. \u201cThis is a nice city. Big buildings. It\u2019s a good spot to be, and I\u2019m hoping to help the team win here.\u201d<\/p>\n It also helps his comfort level to have a fellow countryman on the team in Didder, who is back for a second season with the Goldeyes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels good to speak my own language. We can communicate a lot, help each other become better and have a good season,\u201d said Tromp. \u201cI\u2019ve played against him since I was like five years old. We\u2019re a small island, so everybody knows everybody. Now it\u2019s the first time we\u2019re on the same club team.\u201d<\/p>\n Tromp has never achieved his dream of reaching Major League Baseball, getting as high as Triple-A with the Philadelphia Phillies organization. Now, he\u2019s essentially playing out of a lifelong love for the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cMy body is good, my mind is good, and this is what I\u2019m meant to do,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to keep doing this as long as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n Although he\u2019s only been here for a couple weeks, Tromp has already enjoyed some of Winnipeg\u2019s worldwide cultural offerings.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been to a Colombian place, I\u2019ve been to an Indian place. I\u2019m for sure going to try to get to as many as I can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Filling the belly by going on a winning streak would also be a welcome development.<\/p>\n \u201cI think most of it is mental,\u201d said Tromp. \u201cWe have a good team. It\u2019s early. We know we have adjustments to make. We will make them, hopefully sooner rather than later. Every day is a new day. \u201c<\/p>\n Kohigashi, who hails from Kyoto, Japan, already has one year of Canadian baseball under his belt, having spent last season with the Quebec Capitales of the Frontier League. That\u2019s helped the 28-year-old lefty reliever make a quick adjustment to Winnipeg despite being so far from home.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to trying to advance my baseball career,\u201d said Kohigashi, who has rookie status in this league after previously playing several seasons in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a good, experienced league. They have some good hitters and have some pitchers with high velocity.\u201d<\/p>\n His hope is to follow in the footsteps of so many American Association players and land a contract with a MLB organization.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of miss the family (back in Japan), but I\u2019m used to it now,\u201d said Kohigashi.<\/p>\n Enriquez said one of the things he loves about the Goldeyes is how quickly you can feel at home in the organization.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the way they treat you here. The people are really nice, the fans respect you as a player sand root for you. And the front office, the people that work here, the players, the coaches \u2014 it\u2019s like a family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we have a great sleeper bus and hit the road a lot, so we get that bonding in together. I\u2019m blessed to be back here. I really love it, honestly. And the food. I love the food in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n Although the Goldeyes have stumbled out of the gate, Enriquez is feasting at the plate with a team-leading seven hits through four games. He believes it\u2019s only a matter of time before the team collectively figures it out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a great group of guys,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s by coming together that we\u2019re going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/mikemcintyre<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Mike McIntyre Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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