KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Born and raised in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, catcher Jobduan Morales was first selected by the Miami Marlins in the 2009 draft.
Acquired by the Houston Astros in 2012, Morales is currently in Kissimmee, Florida for minor league spring training camp, entering his fifth year in professional baseball.
The 22-year-old backstop says he’s not nervous about being at camp and he is working on his game to try and make it to the majors.
“The first few years yeah I did (feel nervous); I felt a lot of pressure when I first started and I felt like I had to do more than everyone else, but now it’s all relaxed and I only come to do the job I know how to do,” Morales said, “Every day we work on receiving, blocking, we work with the pitchers in the bullpen.”
Having plenty of experience in the minors, challenges still come up for Morales and there is always room for improvement.
“Catching to me is the most challenging part of the game,” he said. “You have to be attentive, you have to be aware of your eight teammates, aware of the players on the other team, and be attentive at all times.”
Morales’ strongest attribute is his bat, though with a less-than-ideal average of .167 last season, he hopes to make it much better.
“For me, my strongest aspect of the game is batting,” Morales said. “I practiced that a lot this year, and I had a good year last year, my weak point I would say is the defensive, but we work on that everyday.”
Also, with the help of fellow Puerto Rican Yadier Molina, catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, Morales will develop into a better player ready for this upcoming baseball season. It also happens to be that Molina is one of Morales’ idols in baseball.
The future holds strong for Morales as he improves season by season, and being in his fifth year in the minors he has more than enough experience and skills to try and make it big.
“My goals are making it to the big leagues like every minor league player,” Morales said. “And I will keep on working hard, getting good numbers, and everyday trying to be better to make it to the majors.”
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