Senior Angel De La Cruz is a first baseman for the UTRGV Baseball Team. De La Cruz is from Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from The High School of Enterprise, Business and Technology. He holds a bachelor’s degree in multidisciplinary studies and is pursuing another in communication studies.
Q: What do you do for fun outside of baseball?
A: “Outside of baseball, I just hang out with my teammates, with the fellas, and we just play board games. We just play card games and we just watch sports together and just spend time enjoying each others’ presence.”
Q: Who is one of your role models?
A: “One of my role models has to be my father because, as a child, I watched him wake up at 3 in the morning, four days a week and just try to get money and try to put food on the table and try to pay rent for us. He’s definitely a big role model.”
Q: What motivates you?
A: “What motivates me is the sacrifices that my parents went through to get us here. I was the first one out of all my family members and all my siblings to be born in the United States. Just to have that privilege is just motivation that I use to just keep pushing forward every day.”
Q:When did you begin playing baseball?
A: “When I was younger, I would always walk by the park. I’m talking about when I was a baby, like, 2, 3 or 4 years old. I would always see everyone play Wiffle ball or baseball, even sponge ball. I always told my parents to sign me up. … Then, one day, they finally did and ever since that day I fell in love with the sport. I played baseball ever since I was, like, 5 years old up until now, every single summer, every single season. All or nothing, basically.”
Q: What do you like about UTRGV and the Rio Grande Valley?
A: “Ever since I got here, everyone has just accepted me. Everyone accepted me with open arms. I feel like everyone here is really nice. I feel like the crowd we attract every game really reaches out to us. I feel like everyone here is one big happy family. The food here is amazing, also. Everyone is even better. Great weather, also.”
–Compiled by Jose Medina
