By: J. Daniel Pearson
When Team USA participates in the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (WBSB) U-15 Pan American Championships in Ciudad-Jaurez, Mexico in two weeks (Sept. 13-18), the American side will be represented by St. Cloud’s Yariel Diaz.
Diaz, a pitcher/outfielder, was the only Floridan named to the 20-member team that was selected after an intensive five-day tryout at USA Baseball’s National Training Center in Cary, NC — where team hopefuls participated in workouts, practices and scrimmages under the watchful eye of national team head coach Casey Scott and his assistants.
“I was absolutely stoked to make the national team,” Diaz said. “Just to get invited to the tryout was an honor and there were so many talented players there. To be able to represent our country in an international competition will be awesome.”
It was not Diaz’s first experience with the National Team. As a 14-year-old he was a member of USA’s 13U/14U Developmental Program, where he participated in last year’s tryouts for the National U15 team.
Baseball has been Yari’s passion and dream since a young age. He is home schooled and does his baseball training at TNXL Academy in Ocoee – where his brother Tito is a coach. “From an early age, baseball is all that Yari has been interested in. His older brother pursued a baseball career and that is all Yari has wanted to do since a young age. It’s his life, his passion and his dream.”
Yariel is listed as an outfielder/pitcher on Team USA’s roster and national coaches consider him a viable player at both positions. “It is sort of funny, Yari loves playing the outfield probably more than pitching, but he appears to have more potential on the mound,” his father says. “Just guessing, I believe his future will be on the mound, but who knows what will happen as gets older and matures.”
“I just love baseball period,” he says. “But it does appear that the coaches believe I may have more potential on the mound. I feel I am pretty consistent there and have decent mechanics, but you always can get better, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get better.”
Whether his future is on the mound or as a position player, Diaz says the dream is to make it to the major leagues. He says he can’t imagine himself doing anything else. “It started as a toddler, tagging along to watch my brother play. I started playing when I was four and wanted to be a baseball player as far back as I can remember,” Diaz said.
Baseball is his life. He trains daily at TNXL, when he is not competing for them in tournaments from fall to spring. In the summer, he plays for the Canes, a high-level travel ball team based in Virginia that plays in national tournaments.
Playing and training year-round led to the decision for Yariel to home school and go the Academy route rather than the traditional high school path. “At the Academy, there are always bigger, older, stronger players that you are competing against. I love that competition and in the long run, it can only make you a better player.”
He credits his father and brother for his success. “I’ve always looked up to my brother, admired the way he played the game, and wanted to be like him” Yariel says about “Tito” who was a catcher and played at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. “I know my father and family have had to make tremendous sacrifices – both monetarily and with their time — to allow me to pursue this dream. Those sacrifices mean so much to me.”
The National Team will participate in an additional five-day training camp in El Paso, TX (Sept. 8-12) before traveling to Mexico for the start of the Pan-American in Mexico. Team USA will be seeking their seventh gold medal since the yearly competition started in 2022.
