New Twins Draft Aims For Big Leagues To Fulfill Big Dreams
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Onas Farfan loves baseball. So much so, that his family moved him to the U.S. to play.
Farfan spent most of his youth in Venezuela, but at age 16 his mother and father decided to send to hime Minnesota to live with an aunt, and to chase the American dream.
"Age of 16 I came here. My mom, she wanted to best for me of course. My aunt was living here so she sent me here just for one reason, to study and play baseball," Farfan said.
Even with his family's blessing, he was still in a new setting.
"The language was a barrier of course. I didn't speak English when I came here back in 2010. But I got through it," Farfan said.
And he found what he hoped he would, a refuge on the baseball field.
Farfan quietly moved under the radar from Cooper High School, to the RBI program geared towards inner city kids, to Ridgewater Community College in Willmar, Minn.
"I'm proud of him and I'm excited for him. Cause I think coming out of high school, I think for me, I could see some things in him, some abilities, and he got over looked. Nobody was really looking for him to come to college," Frank White, from the RBI program, said.
It was at Ridgewater the left handed pitcher started to touch 90 on the radar gun.
"I had a great coach," Farfan said. "He really helped me a lot personally and baseball wise."
Then, last Saturday, He got the call he'd been waiting for.
He had been selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 21st round to play for their Golf Coast minor league team.
"Minnesota Twins we select Onas Farfan from Ridgewater College, I was like 'Oh my god'," he said. "I was jumping around and hugging my host brother."
When he reached his parents Venezula, because of the time difference, he woke them in the middle of the night.
"Two o'clock in the morning. They just were in tears. They were in tears because they were the ones that put me in baseball. Since I was little the motivated me to play baseball. Thanks to them, that's why I'm here," he said.
A victory not just for him, but for the RBI program as Farfan was the first local drafted out of it.
"This is also a success, because I think it now says to other kids looking for an opportunity to play that RBI is a way that you can get there," coach
Eventually Farfan wants to make Target Filed his home field.
"Just give my best, 300 percent of myself every day. Mentally and physically. Of course there are going to be some struggles; its baseball. Nothing is perfect in this life, that's what I've learned in the last few years. Just make it to the bigs, that is my last dream,"he said.
But he has one more dream for his Venezuelan family.
"He wants to make it to be a major leaguer, and a part of that goal is so he can bring his family here. An that's important for him," said White.