FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 21, 2019
CONTACT: Max Thoma
[email protected]

GARY, IND. - Most independent league baseball players simply hop in their car or purchase a plane ticket to head to spring training to join their teams. But for RailCats starting catcher Wilfredo Gimenez, who lives back home in Venezuela during the offseason, returning to Northwest Indiana was no such easy endeavor.

Gimenez has been playing baseball in the U.S. since he was drafted as a 17-year-old by the Florida Marlins in 2008. The Maracay, Venezuela native never experienced issues returning to the U.S. before; however, after playing for the Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan Winter league, Gimenez couldn’t get a visa to get to back to Gary.

“During that time there were problems going on with the Venezuelan government,” Gimenez said. “I had to fly to Colombia in order to get the visa, I spent five days over there waiting to get my appointment with the U.S. Embassy… I talked with them about my situation and how I had to be in the U.S. to play soon.”

Rising political tensions in Venezuela reached a boiling point when president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, declared himself acting president back on Jan. 23, 2019. This came as a response to the controversial re-election of President Nicolás Maduro, who was re-elected last May in an election in which many opposition candidates were barred from running and others were jailed or fled the country for fear of being imprisoned.

The U.S. plus over 50 countries recognize Guaidó as the legitimate president; because the election is seen by them as unfair, making Maduro a usurper to the presidency. Maduro has called Guiadós declaration a plot by the U.S. to oust him.

When pressures continued to rise and U.S. sanctions on Venezuela were being supplemented by visa cancellations at an unprecedented rate, Gimenez never lost his faith.

“I was always positive and calmed and always praying to god that everything was going to be okay,” the catcher stated.

And his faith was eventually rewarded.

After spending five days in Colombia waiting to meet with the U.S. embassy, Gimenez had to travel back to Venezuela, where two days later, partially thanks to the RailCats organization, he boarded a plane bound for U.S.

“They were very helpful in accommodating me in everything I needed to get here,” Gimenez said in reference to how helpful the front office was in facilitating his travel back to spring training. The RailCats backstop was especially glad to be back and playing the game he loves, “I’m very thankful for Greg Tagert for trusting me and giving me the chance to play in a highly competitive league… and also to bring back the hope to step back into affiliated ball and reach the dream to make it to ‘The Show’.

Venezuela hasn’t just faced political chaos and confusion; the country has been suffering from an economic freefall under Maduro and hyperinflation escalated to the point where the prices of every day goods were doubling every 19 days.

The turmoil in his home country has Gimenez thinking of his wife and son, “With the situation in Venezuela right now I can’t help but worry about their safety. But I keep in touch with them on a daily basis and they tell me they’re okay.”

Gimenez wants to have his family with him in Gary but his son, Noah, doesn’t have a passport yet. Noah is in the process of acquiring the paperwork it would take to get him to the United States and his dad said, “I’d love to bring him here to have him by my side.”

On the field Wilfredo Jose Gimenez is riding an eight-game hitting streak and is now fifth on the team with a .250 batting average. And while he isn’t a vocal leader, he is a lead-by-example type veteran who is among the most respected individuals in this organization from the top on down.

The 28-year-old carries a confidence with him on the field that few posses. His aggressive in 3-0 counts is a testament that he truly believes in himself as a hitter. He once told me, “If the count is 3-0 and I swing, it better be a home run, a foul ball or a whiff.” You will almost never see Gimenez without a smile on his face, and for someone who’s family is still enveloped in the quagmire that is Venezuela in 2019, that speaks volumes to who he is as a person.