I had the great pleasure of sitting down to talk with Josias Manzanillo a.k.a. “Manzy” to discuss his baseball career, as well as life after baseball, his current interests including living in Ave Maria, Florida.

Manzy is from San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. This town has produced maybe more major-league baseball players than any other in the world! Manzy became a pitcher after being told that his dreams of playing shortstop might not work out. Despite the fact that he changed positions, he still made it to “the Bigs” at the age of 29 and pitched for 14 years with eight different teams from 1991 to 2004.

In 1997, Manzanillo suffered a grisly injury while pitching for the Seattle Mariners. Not wearing a protective cup, he was struck in the groin by a line drive off the bat of Manny Ramírez  (ironically from the D.R. as well!) which ruptured his testicles. Manzanillo managed to recover the baseball, throw out Jim Thome at home plate and sprint off the field under his own power before undergoing emergency reconstructive surgery.

That incident aside, we get into some of Manzy’s other baseball experiences, his time in the league as well asa Hispanic coming out of the Dominican Republic and his post MLB career. Manzy seems to love his living situation and helping youth with the game of baseball. We also chat about the current state of Major League Baseball.