The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

BEFORE leaving to begin spring training camp in Tempe, Arizona, centre fielder Trent Deveaux took the time out to spend Saturday, giving some instructions to players in the Mario Ford Baseball Camp as they returned to Windsor Park.

Deveaux, who was home for the Christmas holiday and to participate in the Don’t Blink Home Run Derby, said there’s nothing like spending time boating and enjoying the fresh air with family and friends.

At the same time, he visited his long-time coach and mentor Mario Ford. After spending some time instructing the youngsters on how to be more productive as players in the sport, Deveaux made a donation of wooden bats and other equipment to help them in achieving the things he instructed them to do.

“I can’t be home and not come out here and help out coach Mario and the camp,” Deveaux said. “It’s just good to be here.”

Having spent some considerable time at the Mario Ford camp, Deveaux said he’s just delighted to see him continuing to work with the youngsters, exposing them to the basic fundamentals before they head off to further enhance their skills in the leagues at Freedom Farm and the Junior Baseball League of Nassau (JBLN).

Ford said when he got the call from Deveaux, he gladly accepted the opportunity for him to come in and share his knowledge.

“These kids are hungry and eager to learn the game,” Ford said. “Everyone has a different style of playing, so once we can continue to give them the basic fundamentals, it’s easier for them when they move on.

“But it’s hard to compete out there because these kids in the major and the minor play baseball year round. They might take a break or two for the holidays, but they continue to play the game. So we have to continue to encourage our kids to do the same. That’s why I do my programme nine months out of the year.”

And after a brief hiatus where he had to go to Columbus Primary to conduct his clinics, Ford said it’s good to be at their base on his home ground of Windsor Park just opposite his family home structure where he grew up playing the game, along with cricket.

“We’re still waiting for the park to be reopened, but right now, we’re making it work,” Ford said.

One of those players who took advantage of the opportunity to hone his skills while waiting to resume league play at JBLN is Derryus Rolle. He said his father, Member of Parliament for South Beach, Bacchus Rolle, enrolled him in the game at the age of four and he fell in love with it.

“I want to play it all the time,” said Rolle, who is developing as one of the bright young pitchers to watch as he follows in the footsteps of his father, a former baseball/softball player and current head coach of the University of the Bahamas Mingoes men’s basketball team.

If there’s not enough pressure to succeed, his mother, Kimberly Rolle, is a former outstanding female basketball player who is now the athletic director at UB. And he has an older brother, Deuce, who is presently off to school in the United States playing basketball.

At nine years old, Derryus, a fifth grader at Queen’s College, can also play on the infield at third or first base. He said he was inspired to see players like Deveaux as a professional because he never got to see what his parents went through as athletes. He only heard about their stories.

Deveaux, 21, is expected to remain in Arizona for spring training until March when he will get his next assignment.

Now in his fourth season as a pro, Deveaux said he has gone through his ups and downs, but it’s his job and he has to make the sacrifice to get to the next level. “I’ve been working hard to ensure that when I get back, I am in tip-top shape to perform,” said Deveaux, who used the time over the break to engage in some training activities with some of the other professional baseball players in the country.

“This year, I want to have an even higher average and a lower strikeout rate, so I’ve been working on that. I think if I can continue to improve that, I can continue to move up the ladder and hopefully get closer to making it to the major league.”

Last season, Deveaux closed out play in the Arizona Complex League with the Los Angeles Angels’ rookie affiliate, but he’s not sure where he will start this year. During his past season, he did get to play with D’Shawn Knowles in the Angels organisation, and against Zion Bannister and Keithron Moss, both in the Texas Rangers organisation, as they both play in the west coast.

In 22 games, Deveaux made 67 plate appearances with 20 hits, including a double, a pair of triples, while driving in eight runs and scoring 11 times. He also stole two bases, was walked seven times and struck out on 16 of his trips to the plate.

With this being his fourth year in the minor league, Deveaux said it’s interesting to watch how the players, especially in the Dominican Republic, don’t attend school, but rather dedicate their lives to becoming a professional baseball player.

“That’s why I wanted to share my knowledge with these players in the camp, who want to go on to become professional players too,” he said. “Once they start young like this and they put in the work, they can do it too.

“With players like us coming home and sharing our knowledge, they know that they can achieve it too. When you have living proof like Jazz Chisholm, who is doing his thing in the majors and other players like myself in the minors, we can inspire the next generation of baseball players.”

With Chisholm as the seventh Bahamian to crack the majors during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Deveaux said it was a treat to watch him in a complete season with the Miami Marlins this year.

It gave him “goose bumps” seeing him perform and motivated him to try even harder to follow in his footsteps and the path that was paved before him through the pioneers of the sport in Andre Rodgers, Tony Curry, Ed Armbrister, Wenty Ford, Wilfred Culmer and Antoan Richardson.

And with the new Andre Rodgers Stadium near its completion, Deveaux said once they can gain access to the facilities whenever they come home, it will help to develop even more young players to excel in the sport because the scouts will be coming to see who the next talent is available in the Bahamas.