Baker Proud Spring 2017 - 22

BAKER PROUD | Spring 2017

Jeff Diskin, '92, is putting his English literature

degree and high school teaching experience to use as
coordinator of cultural development for the Kansas City
Royals. Diskin prepares the team's young Latin players
for life in the United States by teaching English, character
development, leadership skills, decision-making skills,
and improving their baseball knowledge, and providing
support once they reach the U.S.
"As a coach, I took my team to the Dominican Republic in 2008 and gained some exposure to its world of
professional baseball. Most of the kids playing at MLB
academies are high school aged, so the coaches were
essentially working with kids who were the same age
as the kids I coached. During fall of 2008, I sent a letter
to Dayton Moore, whom I had never met, giving him a
little bit of my
background,
and asked if
I could go to
their academy
for a summer.
While there,
I helped the
players with
English classes
at night while
observing,
taking notes,
and helping out wherever I could during the baseball parts
of the day. It was an incredible professional development
opportunity. Fortunately, the Royals liked the idea, and I
ended up spending parts of four summers there."
Diskin was tabbed for his current position in 2012.
"Since I had already spent time at the academy, had
grown to know many of the Latin players, and had an
English-teaching and baseball background, the Royals
thought I would be a natural fit. I began in June 2013."
Then, he was part of the 2015 World Champions.
"Taking part in the championship parade when 800,000
fans packed the streets of K.C. was pretty memorable. As a
Royals fan, that probably is my most memorable moment,
but as an employee, my proudest moments [have to do
with] the creation of our service projects in the Dominican
Republic and the relationships we have developed and
nurtured with an orphanage and a batey [a rural community that grows and harvests sugar cane]. The memories
these relationships create are what life is all about.
In that respect, Diskin personifies what it means to be
a member of the Baker community.
"What I learned from my baseball coach, [former Athletic Director] Dan Harris, was to care about people. He
truly cared about everybody he came into contact with

and did things off the field-writing recommendation
letters, submitting names for scholarships, and helping me
years later with my career-that many people consider
a hassle so they do not take the time to do it. He taught
me to care for people and to go to bat for people, no pun
intended.
Diskin said he greatly admired his Spanish professor at
Baker, Pablo LaRosa, who reconnected with him and further tutored him after he accepted the multicultural position with the Royals. Baker's commitment to whole-person
development
and learning "Taking part in the championship
is something parade in which 800,000 Royals
Diskin hopes
fans packed the streets of
to pass on to
downtown K.C. was pretty
his players.
"We
memorable."
have really
worked on developing a plan B program for [our] players.
The numbers tell us that only 1 to 2 percent of the players
at our academy will ever play in the big leagues, [so] we
have to help them develop skills to use after their playing
careers are over. Around 20 to 30 percent of our players
have graduated high school and most have little or no other professional skills. Because of this, we have implemented a trade school, and we are working on enrolling some
of our players in an online GED program," he said.
"We have also drastically increased the amount of
service work that we do in the local communities. We
sponsor an orphanage in Santo Domingo Este, where
we've built playgrounds and donated clothes, toys, sporting equipment, and other necessary materials.
While 2017 is still young, Diskin and his team have already worked with Royals Charities to donate $15,000 to a
local Dominican Republic community in order to rebuild a
baseball field where they hope to host youth clinics upon
completion.
"The Royals are in the process of building a [Kansas
City MLB] Urban Youth Academy that will serve the core
of the city. The project is part of Major League Baseball's
goal to grow the game. There will be educational, vocational, and baseball components to the academy. My
goal is to play an integral role in the development of the
academy and to make the Royals' academy-both in the
classroom and on the field-the benchmark that other
organizations will use.
It's clear that Diskin's commitment to helping others
continues to be the driving force in his career.
"The biggest part of my job is to help develop a whole
person. Our organization strongly believes that players
who have their lives in order off the field will perform
much better on the field."

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baker Proud Spring 2017