In a previous article I included a brief sketch of Pedro Montero who was promoted to the Tulsa Drillers for the 2019 season serving as the Drillers bench coach. As mentioned, Montero is a high energy, excitable young man who has an infectious effect on the players he coaches. In fact, with any young players with whom he makes contact. It is difficult to see him without a smile on his face.
Known as, “Petie”, he had a very brief baseball career as an infielder- primarily at shortstop – playing two seasons in an independent league. In 2008 he played for the Long Beach Armada and in 2009 for the Victoria Seals. Both teams were part of the now defunct Golden Baseball League.
Following that he was out of baseball but not out of contact with baseball. During his time away from the game he worked with the Monterey Park Fire Department and trained as a paramedic at the UCLA Paramedic School. His connection to baseball was with Reggie Smith Athletic and the Reggie Smith Academy where he trained as a youngster and served as an instructor for many years. The two forged a lifetime relationship even sharing rides to the facility in Encino, California.
As a sidelight to his time with Reggie Smith, his mentor had a special request for him back in 2010. A Spanish speaking youngster by the name of Roberto Ramos came to the academy and Reggie was is need of a translator. He asked Montero to help out with a strapping youngster from Hermosillo, Mexico who had come to attend high school in the United States. Montero and the young first baseman hit it off on first meeting.
That young man was/is Roberto Ramos who played with the California League Lancaster JetHawks in 2018 before his transfer to the Rockies AA franchise in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the same Ramos who took the 2018 California League Home Run Derby prize beating out Rylan Bannon who was then with the Quakes
However, the Home Run Derby is not the story. Montero had Ramos live with him for over a year while in the US so he could help him with his English, mentor him in baseball, and adjust to a new culture.
Roberto Ramos explained.
“Petie is one of the reasons why I am here, along with Reggie. He basically took me under his wing and took care of a young kid that was in a different country and away from his family. He made me feel comfortable. I owe him a lot.”
Montero did not go unnoticed and in 2017 was hired by the Dodgers as a coach working both with the Dominican Summer League Dodgers and the Arizona League Dodgers.
During the 2018 season he served as the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes bench coach, coached first base during offense as well as being in charge of defensive charts and positioning of defenders. Before his transfer to Hartford, Roberto Ramos and Petie Montero could be seen in a single photo during Lancaster/Rancho Cucamonga games. Roberto playing first base for the JetHawks and Petie, his mentor, coaching at first base for the Quakes. Beyond those incidental meetings on the field, they have stayed in close contact.
Montero speaks both English and Spanish fluently but has another unique characteristic. He could be described as hyper in his motivation before games and during games. He is the master of the hand shake, high five, fist pump and other derivations of all three that are specific to individual players. Those more exclusive handshakes are developed to fit a certain player based on personal characteristics or baseball incidents.
Brian Brown of CSUF asked Montero which handshakes were his favorites during the 2018 season.“
“My favorite one is the squat with Eric Yaveronne [Minor League Performance Coach] I think that’s the number one because the boys, they’re all about it. It’s kind of one of those energy boosts for them. The other is the one with Omar Estevez. We kind of added to it as the year has gone along and there’s a whole thing behind it with Gibbs from NCIS and giving him a smack on the head with Dinozzo and it’s kind of where we added to our handshake.”
Petie Montero will start his third season in the Dodgers organization in 2019 moving along with some of the players he coached with the Quakes during the past season. A season in which they won the California League Championship together. He learned of his promotion last fall much as his close friend Jeremy Rodriguez did when he learned of his promotion to the OKC Dodgers as their bench coach.
“I was in instructional league when Brandon Gomes came up to me and we were at the cageson the major league side at Camelback Ranch. He said “I just wanted to let you know that you will be going to Double-A to be the Bench Coach”.
How did he feel about the announcement? I expect it might have come as a bit of a surprise to Petie but not to his mentor Reggie Smith. Was there a special handshake? We don’t know but more are on the way to go on full display during the 2019 season with the Drillers.
“Very excited to continue learning new things, especially on the analytical side that I can bring to our players and staff to continue our preparation and growth. It is still amazing to be able to wear the hometown jersey that I grew up being a fan of. Especially with the history of this organization and wearing the same uniform Reggie once wore. I know how important the Dodger way is!”
Discussion (40)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Bobby – I’m a big fan of Toles and hoping he could find a platoon spot in LF…
Right on with your proclamation of a big week in L.A…
Took me awhile to go back to the Rams after that woman packed up her bags, killed her old man and split to St. Louis… All that being said I don’t bet against the Pats…
A.D to the Lakers ??? Lonzo can go but I’d hate to lose Kuzma…
16 daze till P & C report…Sweet
MJ.
Yes, we do. I know that you like me, likes Andrew Toles. I believe Toles could have brought a lot to the Dodgers game last year that was very much missing. I hope he gets the chance to prove himself this year, and I think the Dodgers would greatly benefit from it.
MJ,
IMO he is more than likeable.
Compare his last year’s line with Bryce Harper’s and tell me who you’d rather have in the game. To me it’s Max all day.
Yes I like Super Max.
My biggest worry for next season is Seager’s recovery time. So far no one is talking about it. The latest report I saw is that he is still hitting off a tee and hasn’t made any throws to first. I think there is a good chance he isn’t ready to start the season and may not be back to helping the team for a while.
The main thing we need from Corey is his bat so even if he has to play another position – like 1st base – he is still very valuable. I’m wondering if the Dodgers might be thinking about Machado as insurance for Seager.
Damn I thought 59 was done ranting, raving and needlessly throwing in a douche bag comparison!!! Nope, no chance… Back on the Doc or Kersh did it diatribe… Put the glass dick down and move away from the table…
I was driving in to work today and listening to SiriusXM today and they were talking about the Padres stacked Farm system. They currently have 10 guys in the top 100……that’s 90%. The Dodgers have dealt from a position of strength and I may be a little greedy, but I want more than our 4 in the top 100. We do not have a GM right now and instead of Raul Ibanez, how about Logan White? I am sure he left to get a pay raise, however he helped built us up to the product we have on the field today. Bellinger, Kershaw, Joc, Seager, Kemp, Gordon, Martin and etc why not bring him back? We did a professional courtesy to draft his son 2 years ago.
Interesting predictions, but I doubt that more than a couple of them can be carried out ..
I hope you all have a great start to the week
Good morning / afternoon
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2817340-mlb-offseason-1-bold-prediction-for-each-top-free-agent-trade-target#slide8
Dodgers, my bad lmao
I’m sorry I’m trying to stay positive but I do not feel the daughter’s are going to make an impact whatsoever with Harper or JT sorry it’s just what I feel, any thoughts??
Everyone is crazy about the 25 man roster and the CBT. So much so, that we aren’t always giving credit when credit is due. The Dodgers are instilling an organizational culture as a way to develop players successfully and instilling in them the right way, the Dodger Way, to play baseball as previous generations of Dodgers were taught.
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When I was a kid, one of the books we had on our bookshelves was this one…
https://www.amazon.com/Dodgers-Way-Play-Baseball/dp/B0006ATQBS
Although I don’t remember all the details, and at the time I didn’t understand the significance of it, over the years I recall many references to the Dodgers Way.
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Mike Scioscia instilled the Dodgers Way into the Angles for years. They were well known for at least one aspect of the Dodgers Way, and that is smart and aggressive base running. It seems the Dodgers are trying to get back to their roots. I really like the fact that they picked up Dino Ebel as he represents another return to these roots and is often credited for the Angels base running. This is maybe another reason why Puig is gone. They are going to make sure they have guys that can get behind the program.
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Anyways, this off season has been great. We didn’t yet get that generational talent free agent. But, we did replace a knuckle head with a heady, aggressive and gritty, right handed bat and center fielder. We didn’t get another closer, but we did get a gamer that throws fire, will pitch at the back end of games, or anywhere else and for multiple innings if need be. We resigned our own generational talent and ace. We brought back another sometimes devastating lefty starter on a QO. We added under the radar possible future pen aces with high upside. We didn’t sign a veteran second baseman as many wanted, but it turns out that we have a top 5 at the keystone already on the roster. We’re still trying to improve at catcher, but have a suitable bridge to our most stacked minor league position.
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The point is, there’s a lot to like about this team and they are always trying to get better. The point is, they are being smart and not pulling knee jerk moves. The point is they are instilling a way to play baseball and getting players to buy into that way.
This is shaping up to be a huge week in LA!!
1) Rams in the Superbowl
2) Dodgers still after Realmuto and/or another stud
3) Lakers pursuit of Anthony Davis
We had some formatting issues this morning. It wasn’t DC – it was the site and I think it is fixed.
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I listened to an interview with Raul Ibanez of the Dodgers and it is easy to see why he is held in such high esteem. I wonder if Friedman might be considering making him the GM? This is a very, very smart guy!
Another great read. The Dodger Way is alive and well.
Nice post DC! It,s encouraging to see the Dodgers have men like Petie work in the organization. Junkyard dogs with a smile and enthusiasm! Thanks for providing us with the deeper insight.