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It wasn’t until mid-June of 2004 that he finally was allowed to leave the Dominican and play for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings.

His visa was strict, giving him one entry to the United States and one exit. 

When the Red Wings play the Lynx in Ottawa, he has to stay in Rochester. If not, he won’t be able to get back into the United States or the Dominican.

Such is Diaz’s surreal life: He can’t get into Canada, but he managed to get out of Cuba.

He literally is a man without a country, because he has yet to establish citizenship in the Dominican.

Juan misses his family. Other than a trip back briefly when his father died, he has not been with them for many years.

In Rochester, Diaz spent about $300 each month calling home. He dials someone in the Dominican Republic, usually his wife, and they start a three-way hookup with Cuba.

He enjoyed his time in the United States, butit still bothers Diaz when he sees people throw away food and other items.

“Where I come from, people don’t have a chance,’’ he says. “They need cars, clothes, shoes, and they haven’t anything.

Diaz counts T-bone steaks, The Cosby Show and rappers Jay-Z and Usher among his favorite American things.

Adding Injury to Insult

If the immigration problems weren’t insulting enough, Injury visited Diaz once again at the end of 2004.He broke his left fibula when he tripped over second base in a game at Moosic, Pa., on Aug. 7 against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

He finished with a .270 average, 11 home runs and 24 RBI in 39 games for Rochester.

The combination of problems has been enough to drop Diaz from the major league radar.  He did not return to the Twins this spring.

Over the winter, farm director Jim Rantz commented that the Twins would not re-sign Diaz because of his chronic visa problems, saying "We're not gonna go through that again.''

Epilogue to a Tragedy

Diaz sightings have been popping up from sources in the Dominican and the Mexican leagues. He may possibly be playing for Monclova.  MLN has been unable to confirm his status.  He still has an opportunity to connect in independent baseball, which gets underway this month, but, thus far, there are no signs of him in their camps, either. 

Juan’s age, injuries and his numbers work against another run at a major league career.  In spite of some bright and promising days, Juan Diaz’ baseball odyssey seems to have come to an end, the hero of the story too mortal to overcome the wrath of the gods.

 

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