After completing another one of his sparkling fielding plays, Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor often flashes a broad smile that reflects how much fun he’s having playing the game.
That infectious attitude has permeated through the Indians clubhouse and helped make him a fan favorite in Cleveland, where his arrival was eagerly awaited since the club made him the eighth overall pick in the 2011 draft.
His was by no means the typical tale of a talented player who rises to the upper echelons of his draft class, and while Lindor’s trajectory from his native Puerto Rico to a Florida prep school is well known, the sacrifices he and his family made along that journey tend to get overshined by that radiant smile.
However, they’ve had a major impact on the player Lindor has become, the runner-up in the 2015 American League rookie of the year race and one of the majors’ emerging young players.
Such lofty status was far from his mind on the summer day in 2006 when Lindor, then 12, took a flight by himself from Puerto Rico to Orlando so he could attend the Montverde Academy, a private school 25 miles outside of town. He was leaving his mother, siblings and friends behind in search of better academic and athletic opportunities, exposure to a new culture and enhanced medical services for his step-sister, who has cerebral palsy.
His father, step-mother and their two daughters would meet him in Orlando, but for the frightened kid with no knowledge of the English language, this was just the first step of a daunting, life-changing experience.
“I had some long nights and long days,’’ said Lindor, who boarded at the school most of his five years there. “At first I would cry and call my mom, tell her I couldn’t do it, that I didn’t understand (English). I couldn’t get used to sleeping in the same quarters with a classmate I didn’t know and who didn’t speak my language.
“It helped me grow up, become more independent and appreciate my family and the few things I had. It helped me become a better man.’’
And eventually one of the Indians’ cornerstones, a player on the cusp of stardom at 22.
After batting a surprising .313 with 12 homers and an .835 on-base plus slugging percentage last year, Lindor again ranks as one of the league’s most productive shortstops, going into Tuesday’s games with an identical .313 average and a .787 OPS. Among AL players at his position, that figure is topped only by the Houston Astros’ Carlos Correa (.868) and the Boston Red Sox’s Xander Bogaerts (.833).
Lindor is also drawing acclaim as a fielding wizard – his 15 defensive runs saved led AL shortstops last year even though he played in only 99 games – while taking over the No. 3 spot in the lineup for the second-place Indians.
His impact has been felt off the field as well, as Lindor’s energy and enthusiasm filter through to some of his teammates.
“He’s got a natural spark, a very attractive personality,’’ pitcher Trevor Bauer said. “He’s fun to be around. It helps keeps things lively in the clubhouse. You watch him play the game, he has a lot of fun. That makes it easier for other players to show they’re having fun. A lot of times in baseball there’s kind of a status quo that you have to act a certain way or have a certain body language. It’s good to have some positive body language and, when you make a great play, be happy about it.’’
These are indeed happy times for the Lindor family, which has settled in the Orlando area after Francisco used part of his $2.9 million signing bonus to buy houses for his mother and father, who divorced when he was a kid. Lindor also has brought in some of his siblings and dreams of buying a tract of land and building four or five houses for his relatives. As it is, his mother, Maria Serrano, spends the season with him in Cleveland.
“God has blessed us, and Francisco especially with his ability to play baseball and adjust to a completely different life than what he had in Puerto Rico,’’ his father, Miguel Lindor, told USA TODAY Sports in Spanish.
Knowing hardly anybody in Orlando, the family initially lived for months in a $100-a-week hotel while Miguel’s wife, Mari, worked as a front desk clerk at a Disney hotel and he took care of the daughters, 1 and 9 at the time.
Francisco spent the first year taking English-as-a-second-language courses and required tutoring at the academically demanding school, where financial aid covered his tuition but still left the family strapped to pay for other expenses that could mount into the thousands of dollars. The uniform shirts cost $50, so Lindor only had two that got constantly washed.
“We spoke clearly to him: You can’t have these things because we don’t have the money,’’ said Miguel Lindor, who used to work for the mayor’s office in the Puerto Rican capital, San Juan. “Such-and-such kid may have this phone, and like any young person he wanted one, but we couldn’t afford it. He understood.’’
Baseball made the transition easier because several of the players spoke Spanish, and Lindor’s skills – honed through daily practices with Miguel while growing up in his native town of Caguas – always stood out.
While in Florida, Lindor got reacquainted with Javier Baez, whose family left the island under similar circumstances and settled in Jacksonville. The former youth-league opponents were drafted back-to-back – Baez going No. 9 overall to the Chicago Cubs – but it’s with Correa, yet another Puerto Rican shortstop, that Lindor is most frequently linked these days.
Correa, regarded as an MVP candidate entering the season, edged out Lindor for rookie of the year honors, and the current Indians-Astros series drew extra attention because of their presence. The previous Friday, both made the highlight shows with stellar defensive plays. They were even traded for each other in the Puerto Rican winter league.
“They’re both really good for baseball,’’ Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “They like to play, they’re young, they’re enthusiastic, they’re very talented. The future already got here for both of them, but they’re going to be some of the faces of baseball for years to come.’’
And they’re already the subject of some debate in Puerto Rico regarding which one will start at shortstop for the island’s entry into next year’s World Baseball Classic.
The team’s manager, former Florida Marlins skipper Edwin Rodriguez, said the two young stars – who had lunch together Monday – would probably figure it out themselves.
“Whatever the team needs,’’ Lindor said. “If the team wants me to play short, I’ll play short. If the team needs me to play another position, I’ll play another position. I’m more concerned with winning than anything else.’’
Said Correa: “I don’t think pride will get in the way because it’s more about representing our island and trying to win the Classic. Whatever is best for the team, that’s what we’ll do.’’
It figures to be a challenging but pleasant decision for Rodriguez and team general manager Alex Cora, a major league infielder for 14 seasons. At 6-4, Correa stands five inches taller than Lindor and has more power potential, but his defensive skills don’t quite match those of his countryman.
Lindor has continued to polish them through offseason sessions the last two years with Hall of Famer Barry Larkin. The physical aspect focuses on footwork with grounders and lots of repetition, but the biggest objective is building mental strength.
“When it’s cold and raining, you need to know you can do it, that you will do it. Stay positive,’’ Lindor says of the message of their sessions. “When it’s hot and you’ve already had 700 at-bats, and it’s the 161st game of the season and you’re hitting .301, are you going to sit on it? Or are you going to want to play the last two games, regardless of whether you hit .299 or .305?’’
For anybody who knows about Lindor’s journey, the answer is clear.
