Payton Tolle,<\/a> a mountain of a left-handed pitcher.<\/p>\nThat\u2019s why, in January, Arias was back in Charallave, working with youth ballplayers, and handing out new equipment to all. The event is chronicled on his Instagram feed. With help from New Balance and SSK Baseball, Arias handed out cleats, socks, gloves, and even new bases for the field.<\/p>\n
In every photo, Arias is smiling and wearing a Sea Dogs cap. In videos, he\u2019s there making sure every kid gets new gear, or he\u2019s signing autographs. He\u2019s passing the game along. Keep that passion for baseball, he told the kids. Keep a passion for something, and drive toward it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen other (players) do similar things, but I\u2019d like to give credit to my mom and my dad, the way we were raised, to be proud of the area that you\u2019re from, and to give back to the area that you\u2019re from. That\u2019s kind of the main inspiration,\u201d Arias said. <\/p>\n
As a player, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound Arias wields a slick glove and a fast bat. Brian Abraham, the Red Sox director of player development, praised Arias\u2019 offseason work to get bigger so he can take more impact swings. Sea Dogs manager Chad Epperson is impressed by how seriously Arias is starting to take the things off the field that help determine what happens on it, like the weight room and nutrition.<\/p>\n
Arias\u2019 first visit to the United States was when he arrived to play rookie ball in 2024. Tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela are perpetually high, but that\u2019s politics, not people.<\/p>\n
The people at every stop on his minor league journey, from Fort Myers, Florida, to Portland, are the reason the culture shocks that come with being in a country where you\u2019re learning the language are just mild tremors.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut human beings are still the same. You look out for everybody when you\u2019re at home. You have everybody\u2019s back. It\u2019s the same thing here. Even though the culture\u2019s different, we\u2019re still people. We\u2019ve still got each other\u2019s back,\u201d Arias said. \u201cThe same love I was feeling at home is the same love I\u2019m feeling in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arias got a taste of Double-A at the end of last season. In 10 games with Portland, he hit a pair of home runs and drove in eight. He saw Portland in its late-summer best. He missed the raw early spring games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see snow, but at the same time, I don\u2019t. I understand being in Boston, I may have to play in the cold,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I\u2019d rather see it now this year than all of a sudden see it at the big league level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The big league level is on Arias\u2019 radar. The main focus entering this season is to take advantage of every opportunity, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s No. 1. So play hard, play as well as I possibly can, but the goal for this calendar year is, can I push the envelope and become a big leaguer,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Venezuelan baseball is having a moment right now. A team that included Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu and first baseman Wilson Contreras won its first World Baseball Championship last month. The next WBC isn\u2019t until 2030. Arias would like to be in the lineup. He watched the championship game against the U.S. in Fort Myers with some Venezuelan teammates. On the Sea Dogs roster, he\u2019s joined by three countrymen: catcher Ronald Rosario, and infielders Marvin Alcantara and Ahbram Liendo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a unique moment. We celebrated and had a good time. It\u2019s a moment we really wanted to cherish,\u201d Arias said. <\/p>\n
When you\u2019re representing your hometown and country, there\u2019s a lot to cherish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home is important to Franklin Arias. Just 20 years old, he left Charallave, Venezuela, when he was 17…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,4,89,2543],"class_list":{"0":"post-663085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-bostonredsox","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-red-sox","14":"tag-redsox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116347554771217357","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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