Name: Jermaine Guzman
Nickname(s): Jguzzy or guzzy
Birthdate: 3/1/85
Birthplace: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Team: Santo Domingo Rush
Position: CF
Age: 21
Height: 6’3
Weight: 202
Jermaine was born in one of the few hospitals in Santo Domingo to his mother Tyra and his father Felipe. Jermaine was the second and last-born child in the Guzman family. Jermaine has one older brother named Miguel who is currently 23 years old in the Florida Marlins farm system. As a baby, Jermaine was always crawling around and making noises. Jermaine was a wild child who was always doing something. When he learned to walk and talk, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and his first word was “ball” along with the obvious ones “momma” and “daddy”. While Jermaine’s father was at work during the hot Santo Domingo days, his Mom (was a house mom) watched over him and often played games with him. His mother kind of started him up playing baseball and taught him the game. When little Jermaine was only 3 years old, the Guzman family was struggling with money issues. Jermaine’s parents decided that they would have to move and that meant 5-year old Miguel and 3-year old Jermaine would be finding a new place to play sports. With the money issues in their household, Felipe’s brother’s family helped them move way north to Minneapolis, Minnesota. When they arrived, the moved into an apartment building and were the next door neighbors of their relatives. Jermaine soon found a new play mate with his 4 year old cousin, Shammond (player on Great Britain). With the “guzzy” cousins living together, they became basically brothers and had the beginning of a great childhood.
Jermaine and Shammond had a great childhood in Minneapolis and they spent most of their time together playing sports. They played basketball, football, and baseball with the other kids in their apartments. Sandlot baseball was the way of life for the boys whenever the weather was permitting. Since they didn’t have a backyard because it was an apartment building where they lived, the kids played in a huge vacant lot with one end bordering the street and the other against a wall from a nearby building. Jermaine recalls that sandlot baseball was some of the most enjoyable times he’s ever had in his life. Jermaine and Shammond were the two best, so they were rarely on the same team, which disappointed the two boys. Most of the time, they were two captains who chose teams and once the games started they turned from best friends to bitter rivals. Each boy was the leader of their own teams and games sometimes got very heated. Even though Jermaine and Shammond are position players in the WBL, they were so athletic that they were the pitchers, too. Shammond was a year older and usually led his team to the victory. After the games full of argument, the two Guzman boys always regained their friendship.
Besides baseball, football and basketball were other sports that came naturally to Jermaine. Jermaine had always told his family that he was going to be a professional football, basketball, and baseball player when he grew up. Jermaine’s main p buttion was always baseball, though. Jermaine’s childhood was filled with laughter and fun that he was fortunate enough to share with Shammond. During these years, Jermaine found out that he really loved sports and really wanted to become a professional. He told his Mom that he would be a proffesional sports player and buy her everything she wanted.
These years were very enjoyable, but also very tough at times. When Jermaine was thirteen years old, his father was shot coming home from work in a drive by shooting late one night. Jermaine was absolutely devastated that he lost his father whose life was took for no reason. Jermaine was then only in the 7th grade, and he wanted his life to be over if his father’s was. For the next couple of years, Jermaine quit playing sports, started to ignore Shammond, and his grades dropped to the point where he had to go to summer school in the summer after 8th grade. These were probably the toughest times of his whole life for Jermaine. Losing a father is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a boy. Sons look up to their fathers for quite a few things and want to model their life after them and be just like their dad. Jermaine really needed a father figure to help him through these tough times.
Jermaine was down in the dumps until his brother Miguel really took him under his wing. Sure, Miguel was crushed inside too, but he realized that life had to go on, and they could remember their father along the way. Jermaine pushed Miguel away for the first few times that he tried to help, but one day, Jermaine realized he needed another male role model in his life, and he turned to Miguel. Miguel was a great role model who excelled in sports, and academics achieving a 3.75 GPA throughout High School. Jermaine soon strived to be just like Miguel and his grades started turning around and his friendships began to re-form. Jermaine soon was back to his normal self, and he promised to himself that he would be a professional athlete and have success for his father’s sake. As a sophomore, Jermaine made the varsity football, basketball, and baseball teams at Minneapolis North High School . Jermaine also was in the top 10% of his high school class but throughout the four years he attended the school. Even with his great academics, Jermaine really stood out on the sports fields in his sophomore, junior, and senior years. In football, he was an all-conference wide receiver on the team that Shammond quarterbacked. Shammond and Jermaine turned out to be one of the best QB-WR duos in the state. Top-notch football schools including FSU, MINNESOTA, and Michigan State heavily recruited Jermaine. In basketball, Jermaine was the leading scorer in the state and received many alley-oops from his point guard, Shammond. Jermaine and Shammond led the team to two state basketball championships. Basketball was the sport where Jermaine could shine together because there were only five players on the court compared to baseball's nine. Jermaine and Shammond always stood out with their playing ability and they seemed to have a connection on the court.Even with Jermaine’s success, basketball wasn’t his favorite sport and he decided not to play college hoops. Even with the success of Jermaine’s other two sports, he shone the most on the baseball diamond. As a senior, Jermaine was considered one of the best baseball prospects in the nation. Jermaine played centerfield and hit third in the batting order for the Minneapolis North Tigers and received the States MVP award in his junior and senior seasons, while Shammond earned the award when Jermaine was a junior.
After his High School days were over, Jermaine was faced with a tough decision. Should he enter the MLB draft, or attend college and play football and/or baseball. With many people supporting his decision, Jermaine decided to enter the June 1st MLB draft. The eighteen year old Jermaine was selected 11th overall by his hometown team, the Minnesota Twins. It was a dream come true for Jermaine after the little kid in Minneapolis told his mother he would be a pro baseball player and buy her everything.It was an emotional day for Jermaine especially when he thought of the vow he made as a middle schooler that he would become a professional in honor of his fatherand to fufill his promise to buy his mom items she never had the luxury of having. Jermaine reported to the Minnesota cl butt A affiliate in Fort Meyers, Florida as a nineteen year old.
For the next two years of his life, Jermaine spent time in the Minnesota Twins farm system. Those two years were hard times for Jermaine and he soon realized that the MLB wasn’t the place for him. Jermaine made some great friends in the minors who he still talks to even today. Even with those long BUS rides, crammed shuttles, fast food, cold hotel rooms, cold water, and all the other struggles minor leaguers go through Jermaine still managed to make some friends. But with the friendships came hard times on the playing field. Not getting playing time, getting bounced around in the field and batting order were just some of the things that made the minor leagues a tough time for Jermaine to handle. Jermaine knew it was time to move on in his baseball career, and he went out searching.Hearing about Shammond’s success in the WBL, Jermaine wished that he could have the same fame, too. Jermaine decided to cancel his contract and look for his other options. Jermaine was most likely going to attend college and play football, but then his childhood friend Shammond called him up. Shammond said that Jermaine should consider the WBL and it was a great league with great fans and players around the league. Jermaine decided to check out the league, and soon discovered that he loved it. Jermaine went to spring training workouts with Great Britain and Santo Domingo, and signed a $500,000 deal with Santo Domingo after impressive showings in spring training. Jermaine was back home in Santo Domingo, and he moved his mother back to Santo Domingo with him. Jermaine’s mother was excited to her old friends that she had to leave behind long ago. It was a happy reunion and Jermaine was excited to start his rookie season. Jermaine made the Rush’s active roster as the fourth outfielder and worked hard to gain a starting job, and he took over the starting centerfield job only a few games into the season. So far Jermaine is playing great, and he’s enjoying his time in Santo Domingo and is making some new friends along the way. Jermaine has a very bright future ahead of him.
