Get To Know 'Em: Zaino Henriquez

If anyone has any questions for Zaino, leave them here. He told me he'd answer them.

 I'm always curious about adjusting to life as a 16/17 year old playing professional ball.  Do his parents move here?  How does that work finishing high school? 

He says he honestly has no idea where he'll play. He found his name on the GCL roster, but only Minier has skipped the DSL in the last handful of seasons.

His parents have no plan to move to the US.

If he reaches the majors, does he think he'll be known more for his bat, or his glove?

From Zaino: If i reach the majors it can be both cause I have a solid glove and I am a good contact hitter.

Message from Zaino:

I will do my best to describe our educational system

curacao has the same educational system as the Netherlands.

Therefore i finished 10th grade as you know it in the united states.

and there are 3 different levels of schooling in curacao/Netherlands

1 being the lower level finished in 10 grade so only 4 years of high school

2 being the slightly more advanced finished in the 11 grade 5 years of high school

3 being the advanced level right at the door of entering university finished 12 grade 6 years total of high school

i made the decision to go pro so i won't be going to school in the near future

i will put all my effort to better my game and to reach major.

i think i have all the tools i need to reach my goal

and that is my god given talent and the 4 languages i speak this of course will help me breach all communication barriers with manager/coaches/teammates and fans

in the future i don't exclude a degree in economics it might come handy down the road if you know what i mean and probably online of course

hope i have cover this part

as for the question about LLWS

the answer is no i did not have the privilege to be on a LLWS tournament

my island is divided in 3 districts namely: liga pariba / liga pabow and liga willemstad

i have always played for the underdogs liga willemstad and as a team we never stand a chance. in 2013 my family moved to the pariba district and that's how i ended up representing curacao in panama (latin america championship) and world series 2014 at bangor maine with liga pariba

If this were an elaborate hoax, you can call me Manti Te'o. But it's not. Zaino is real!

In case you're curious, here is a little more background:

Papiamentu is Zaino's first language. But in school, the teachers teach in Dutch. Growing up in Latin American, Zaino needs to know Spanish. And of course, he takes English classes in school.

How impressive is that? 

Could you imagine speaking one language at home, going to school and using another language, while learning another one... and then using a different language at the grocery store? Holy wow.

Before he told me that, I thought, "Wow, pretty good at English for it being his second language.."  But it's his fourth(!).

There is some rule that prevents non-Caribbean/Latinos from playing in the DSL.

Zaino let me know that his initial assignment will be in the DSL. He was really hoping he'd be in the GCL with their facilities and vows to work hard to get there. Should be a fun follow this summer.