EVHS junior got into baseball during COVID, while watching it on TV
Leroy Salazar gets emotional every time he sees his great-grandson Arcenio Rey Mtz. take the field for the Española Valley junior varsity baseball team.
“It’s fabulous,” he says. “I get tears in my eyes.”
Mtz., a junior, has autism, but that hasn’t curbed his appetite for sports. He also bowls in the Special Olympics and plays Smash Brothers for the Sundevils E-Sports team.
But baseball is something special.
“He’s just another kid who wanted to play baseball,” JV coach Mike Guinn said of his first thoughts when Mtz. came out for the team last year. “He just wanted to hang out in the grass and the dirt.”
A classmate encouraged him to first try out, Mtz. explained in a text message.
“Back in my freshman year one of the players who was in my PE class told me to join baseball and because the social worker mentioned about playing baseball …” he wrote. “But I decided to wait until my sophomore year to play because I felt like preparing first and I first got into baseball during the COVID pandemic by watching it on TV.”
When Mtz. came out for the team, Guinn said he had no qualms about him.
“He loves the sport of baseball and he came on out and has been part of the JV team for his second year” he said. “He comes out to practice and hangs out with the other players. We work on his fielding, hitting, that kind of stuff.”
Because of the nature of the sport, Guinn said he has to be careful how Mtz. is utilized, but he did get his first start this season, playing right field for the Sundevils.
And that made for a great memory, although there are others.
“This season when we played Moriarty at home because I got to start in right field and (Jamie) Wilder was watching me play defense and hit,” Mtz. said. “But my second favorite game is I think is when we went to Los Alamos this past Friday and that I got my jersey really dirty.”
He also gets to bat most games and that turns into a memorable occasion, as well.
“With his disability, we really can’t put him on the field (too much) for safety reasons,” Guinn said. “But before the game, myself and the other team’s coaches and umpires get together to talk about it. When he comes up, I toss a ball to him and he hits it and he runs around the bases and gets a home run, then everybody, both teams, celebrate with him. The participation from not only our guys, but all the other guys, has been amazing.”
His teammates appreciate what Mtz. is doing.
“He’s a good guy on the inside,” sophomore Aiden Guinn, the coach’s son said. “I enjoy his personality. He gets along with a lot of people well and a lot people like him. When I see him playing, I think, ‘Dang, he had a goal and he made that goal happen.’ I respect him for that. He didn’t let his challenges and problems stop him. He was able to get what he wanted and I respect that a lot.”
His mom, Crystal Martinez, said playing baseball has been good for her son.
“I love it,” she said. “He’s opened up so much and grown so much with this team. He’s come out of his shell quite a bit. Some of his teammates say they wouldn’t even have been there on the team if it wasn’t for him.”
Playing a potentially dangerous sport didn’t concern Crystal Martinez much, but she wondered how the team members would accept her son.
“I wasn’t worried about the sport itself, I was more concerned about how they would treat my son,” she said. “But they’ve accepted him wholeheartedly.”
Mtz. takes his baseball seriously and wants to see the team improve.
“I feel happy and sometimes I get nervous and I kinda get a bit frustrated at the end of the game because we lose and we haven’t won a game this season …” he said. “To be honest, I like coach Mike he has helped me thru the team since I have been on the team for like a year and a half now.”
As one of the older players on the team, Mtz. has even taken on more responsibilities for the team, Mike Guinn said.
“Last year, he was sophomore and there quite a few juniors on the team, so he was kind of following their lead a lot,” he said. “He’s a junior now and the team is mostly comprised of eighth graders so he’s taken it on himself to have a leadership role on the team.”
It’s rewarding to see Mtz. playing, Salazar, who never misses a game, said.
“I want to thank coach, Mike, his teammates and the other teams,” he said. “It’s a fantastic thing to see.”
But having a player like Mtz. is what high school sports is all about, Mike Guinn said.
“He isn’t just an autistic kid, he’s a Sundevil baseball player,” he said. “He bleeds red and gold through and through.”