Miguel Cienfuegos recognizes this. One day his belated but phenomenal progress could be the subject of a documentary. His friends have been telling him that since the Quebec native agreed with the San Diego Padres organization last week.
• Also read: Quebec Capitals: Miguel Cienfuegos gets along with the Padres
This treaty could hardly have come at a better time. Cienfuegos was playing in the Australian league with the Adelaide Giants for the winter when he received the long-awaited call-up. He quickly left Oceania to rest his arm.
But also to celebrate with loved ones.
After flights to Vancouver were delayed due to the weather, the Gunner was finally back in Quebec on Thursday.
“The holiday season will be an opportunity to celebrate this achievement that I’ve been waiting for for 25 years,” he said in an interview with Le Journal. It will be nice to be with the family, to be able to emphasize this with them. »
A line to his season
To say that three years ago, the left-handed pitcher unmotivatedly decided to draw a line under baseball’s season. But in truth, “Fuego’s” flame has always burned for his sport.
For this reason, the resident of Laval 2021 showed up at the training camp of Patrick Scalabrini’s Team Quebec, the Frontier League club born from the merger between the Capitales de Québec and the Aigles de Trois-Rivières, the time one of COVID-19 interrupted campaign .
With no certainty of making the club but aiming to show off his know-how.
A dozen offers
The sequel looks like a fairy tale. Or indeed a great premise for a documentary. On the mound, Cienfuegos went 9-6 in his debut season with the team.
Then he went on to have near-superhuman stats with the Capitals last summer: a 10-2 record, a 1.79 earned run average.
Those numbers have earned “Fuego” the title of Frontier League pitcher par excellence and the Claude Pelletier Trophy, which recognizes the top Canadian shooter playing independent baseball.
They also allowed him to receive nearly a dozen job training offers from around the world, including those of the Padres. That was Scalabrini’s declared goal at the beginning of the last campaign, he says.
Despite the years gone by, Cienfuegos always dreamed of getting his chance in affiliate baseball. Two years ago, when he was just starting at Team Quebec, he mentioned his ambition to our colleague Benoît Rioux.
persistence
The pitcher will have it now, in his mid-twenties. And despite all the confidence he exudes, he still finds it hard to believe at his 1.80m tall. “It’s all going through my head quietly,” he says.
“What explains my progress over the past two years is the persistence I’ve shown over the years,” emphasizes the Laval Pirates product in the LBJEQ. My background is completely different from everyone else’s. »
“But I was able to break through and believe in myself,” he adds, while emphasizing the contribution of the Capitals organization, including manager Scalabrini and pitching coach Robert Carson.
A Scalabrini who helped boost his confidence even further by naming him the franchise’s No. 1 pitcher last season, Cienfuegos said.
The perfect measure”
Quebec will always have “a place for life in its heart.” “Quebec got me back on my feet,” he smiles. I have everything to give to this city. »
But why did he choose the Padres among the dozens of offers he received? Because it “fitted perfectly”, explains the young veteran.
“I wanted a formation that would give me a chance to get into the pitchers,” he continues. They’ve made a lot of trades over the last few seasons – and even the last year – in which they’ve unleashed a lot of minor league prospects.
“So with my experience, it opens the door for pitchers my age,” says Cienfuegos.
Following the talks he’s had with the Padres, the Quebecer can expect AA-level action from the start of the season. But everything will depend on his performance in the training camp, where he will be ready “to break everything,” he says with a laugh.
A “Fuego Day” at the Padres?
And of course, Cienfuegos dreams that the famous “Fuego Day,” that concept popularized by the Capitals when he was the starter of a game, will one day be exhibited at Petco Park, home of the Padres.
Though he knows he still has to work hard to achieve his dream of becoming the ultimate baseball player.
“This is just the beginning,” he says. If you really want to make a documentary someday, there has to be something exciting. I have to keep climbing the ladder. »