Hialeah Gardens Looks To Rebound in 2014

Hialeah Gardens Manager Tino Burgos has started a youth movement for his Gladiators squad.

After struggling through the growing pains of being a hunted team, the Gladiators are eager to bounce back from a humbling 2013 campaign. Burgos returns a team full of underclassmen ready to make a name for themselves at the varsity level.

“I think they’re hungry,” said Burgos. “I think last year we didn’t understand that you go from the hunter to the hunted. So a lot of games we were in, we saw teams’ number ones and number twos, and there were ups and downs from that last season.”

The team graduated six seniors from a team that finished 8-15, including valuable outfielders David Lara and Peter Rodriguez. The Gladiators appeared to run into a wall towards the end of their season and could never bounce back. The team lost 10 of its last 11 games, all against teams with winning records, including a loss to Hialeah in the first round of the district playoffs.

Despite their struggles in 2013, a number of freshman gained valuable playing time and Burgos expects each of them back in 2014.

Gardens enters only its fifth year of existence and is still making its mark. The club will count on players like senior catcher Gary Garcia a Miami-Dade College commit who hit around .333 with 13 RBI, senior pitcher Chris Suarez (St. Thomas commit), senior infielder Alejandro Piedra (.333 B.A., 10 RBI), and HSBN All-District performer, junior second baseman Pedro Ravelo (.412 B.A., 13 runs) to all lead by example on the field.

“I’m really excited about my seniors, to be honest,” Burgos said. “I’ve got a really good group here and I’m excited to see what they put together.”

The key for the Gladiators, however, will be how many of the young guys step up this season. Sophomores like infielder Ricky Jimenez, pitcher Jeremi Garcia, shortstop Alejandro Vasquez, outfielder Damien Escandell, and pitcher Eddy Nodarse saw valuable playing time as freshman and will be expected to step into bigger roles this season.

“We have a lot of young guys that will play important roles on this team and we have of upperclassmen that have played ball before, so I think we have a lot of confidence coming into the season,” Escandell said.

The pitching staff will also receive a boost from big lefty, Edlider Tamayo and fellow southpaw Max Joseph. The team struggled on the mound and had eight games where the opponents scored 10 runs or more. Burgos believes his pitching staff will be instrumental in keeping the score down.

“If our pitching staff can put it together then we will be in most games,” Burgos said.

The Gladiators were one of the few teams that didn’t get shuffled around in district realignment. Gardens stayed in Class 8A and will remain in a district with Hialeah, Dr. Krop, and new foes Miami High and Miami Beach. Although Hialeah will be the favorite to win the district, the young Gladiators will be a scrappy team this season as they fight to make the playoffs. With the spotlight not shining as bright on Gardens this season, they look to prove they’re still a team to be respected in Miami-Dade County.

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