It's a baseball drama set in the 2000s in the Dominican Republic, Arizona, Iowa, and New York City. It follows the experience of a young Dominican ballplayer's dream to be a successful professional player in the United States.
Miguel "Sugar" Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) is a 19-or-20-year-old Dominican ballplayer from a poor family. He's received a $100,000 signing bonus from the Kansas City Knights and is the hope of his fatherless family. He is also a skilled furniture maker.
The movie begins in the Dominican baseball academy sponsored by the Kansas City team. One of their scouts shows Miguel how to through a good knuckle curveball, making him an effective pitcher. It follows him to spring training in Arizona and his assignment to a Single-A team in rural Iowa. He is boarded by an elderly, very religious couple, Earl (Richard Bull) and Helen (Ann Whitney) Higgins. Their granddaughter, Anne (Ellary Porterfield), also shows an interest in Miguel.
Miguel, who is more subdued than some of his Dominican teammates, sometimes follows teammates into trouble, struggles with language issues in a foreign culture, and experiences a lot of isolation until he decides his future.
This is a low-key but well-done film demonstrating the challenges of many Latin American baseball prospects trying to make it in North America. However, I think it tried to compress a bit too much into one story. Miguel is actually a little too old for the story. I also think the number of Latin players in professional baseball means even Single-A teams would have someone on staff who speaks Spanish and relates to Latin players in Miguel's situation. So it felt a bit overdrawn. Nonetheless, it's a good attempt at an important story.
Miguel "Sugar" Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) is a 19-or-20-year-old Dominican ballplayer from a poor family. He's received a $100,000 signing bonus from the Kansas City Knights and is the hope of his fatherless family. He is also a skilled furniture maker.
The movie begins in the Dominican baseball academy sponsored by the Kansas City team. One of their scouts shows Miguel how to through a good knuckle curveball, making him an effective pitcher. It follows him to spring training in Arizona and his assignment to a Single-A team in rural Iowa. He is boarded by an elderly, very religious couple, Earl (Richard Bull) and Helen (Ann Whitney) Higgins. Their granddaughter, Anne (Ellary Porterfield), also shows an interest in Miguel.
Miguel, who is more subdued than some of his Dominican teammates, sometimes follows teammates into trouble, struggles with language issues in a foreign culture, and experiences a lot of isolation until he decides his future.
This is a low-key but well-done film demonstrating the challenges of many Latin American baseball prospects trying to make it in North America. However, I think it tried to compress a bit too much into one story. Miguel is actually a little too old for the story. I also think the number of Latin players in professional baseball means even Single-A teams would have someone on staff who speaks Spanish and relates to Latin players in Miguel's situation. So it felt a bit overdrawn. Nonetheless, it's a good attempt at an important story.