Players who sing: Our favorite pelotero musicians
Every November, the Latin Recording Academy celebrates music created by Latinx artists from all genres and tastes at the annual Latin Grammys ceremony. Depending on your perspective, last night belonged to either Jorge Drexler, Maná or Alejandro Sanz. But the future is definitely in the hands of Ángela Aguilar and DREAMers.
While the U.S. record industry celebrates us in the fall, we celebrate the music of Latin America all year long, as do peloteros from all over Major League Baseball.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that while musicians want to be ballplayers, ballplayers also all want to be musicians. From the worlds of Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube, we’ve seen players trade their bats for microphones and other instruments in search of the perfect jam. We’ve showcased more than our share of them in our Tuesday Tunes videos.
Whether it’s heading off to see Bad Bunny perform live in Seattle, shouting out Ozuna at a Miami show, or simply choosing a certain song as a walk-up track, Latino ballplayers are not shy about showing off their musical love.
Perhaps no one perfected the musician-ballplayer dichotomy better than Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams, whose retirement from the field led him to pursue his other passion: the guitar. Williams was even nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2009 for his second album, Moving Forward (the title a reference to his change of careers).
While none of the pelotero musicians on this list can claim to have a nomination like Williams, these three current-day stars could attempt the same style of post-baseball music pivot after their careers on the diamond are up. As we thought about this more and more, we realized that social videos can’t contain the talent on display below, so we took a look at what they sang (la canción), why they sang it (su corazón), and perhaps most interestingly, what they should sing next (su proximo).
El cantante: Nelson Cruz
La canción: “Mal Educado” by Antony Santos. From Santos’ 2018 album La Historia de Mi Vida, the track is dripping in romance and longing, as most of Santos’ Bachata bangers are.
Su corazón: If the Dominican Republic has an iconic claim to fame in the music world, it’s likely that of bachata. A genre that began as a reaction to the death of Rafael Trujillo, the 20th century dictator whose rule over the island was as brutal as it was isolated, bachata allows for an expressive style of song that celebrates the DR’s freedom. From the movement, many a legend rose up to soundtrack the island, including Antony Santos, who helped turn bachata into a more romantic genre.
Su proximo: We’d love to see Nelson Cruz tackle a song from another bachata singer of a similar name: Anthony Santos, best known as Romeo Santos, one of the new leaders of the genre. While his old group Aventura’s hit “Obsesión” seems like a home run for Cruz, we’d actually like him to tackle something from Romeo Santos’ last album, Golden. Perhaps he can recruit two of his pelotero friends and do a rendition of “Bella y Sensual,” the Latin trap-borrowing hit with Nicky Jam and reggaeton supernova Daddy Yankee.
El cantante: José Altuve
La canción: “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. A song as timeless as frosted tips, the Backstreet Boys’ best song (yeah, we said it) has harmonies all over the place, and is one of the songs that will surely transform a karaoke bar into a group singalong, no matter the situation.
Su corazón: Altuve is a child of the 90s and perhaps no one best exemplified the 90s than the Backstreet Boys. Even to this day, the influence of songs like “I Want It That Way” still ripples through pop culture; just this week, Kanye West himself tweeted out a photo of him and Mark Zuckerberg allegedly singing the jam at karaoke. It’s not surprising that Altuve would have a soft spot for the song, which was a top 10 hit worldwide.
Su proximo: Since he does such a good job with “I Want It That Way,” we’d love to hear Altuve’s take on another 90s boy band classic: *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” While technically released in 2000, the song is as 90s as they come, and if we could get Altuve to also do the iconic dance, then we’d have a video as magical as the diminutive Venezuelan’s baseball skills.
El cantante: José Reyes
La canción: “Bate Roto” by Jose Reyes. It’s a power move to start your own music label, but to do so in the middle of your successful baseball career is on another level. Luckily, Reyes brings the heat on his baseball-adjacent debut single from 2011.
Su corazón: Growing up in the Caribbean, Reyes was at the ground floor for the reggaeton movement of the 1990s. While the genre has its origins in Puerto Rico, it quickly moved across the sea to Reyes’ native Dominican Republic. His love for the music of the islands shines through in both his own recordings and his dancing to other hits, captured in a handful of clips.
Su proximo: While Reyes has his own sound—a sound that he’s shown off everywhere from the booth to CONNECTED AM, a Canadian sports show—we’d love to see him step up to one of the modern classics being put out by the genre’s contemporary stars. Everyone has pretty much gotten as much as they can out of “Despacito,” but perhaps we can get Reyes on the mic for a cover of J Balvin’s Beyonce-assisted “Mi Gente” remix?
Featured Image: La Vida Baseball