Adriel Esteban

• Grade: 10th
• Sport(s): Baseball
• Position(s): 2nd Baseman
• Age Started Playing: 14

How would other people describe you as an athlete?

Reliable, hardworking and motivated.

How and why did you start playing?

I started playing baseball with my uncles, and I wasn’t all that great, but I enjoyed playing it. So I became determined to start practicing and made a goal to make the baseball team. 

Describe how you prepare before a game/tournament.

I usually pray or speak to other players to make sure that we’re on the same page. I try to make sure victory is something that we deserve.

For people that have never played your sport, what do you think the average person gets wrong about it?

That everybody can play baseball, It’s a mental game. If you’re not a good mental player you won’t be able to play baseball very well. 

What personal superstitions or traditions do you have before, during or after a game?

I think of where I came from, during the beginning of the year I wasn’t that great and then I moved up to fifth period baseball, and that motivated me.

Tell us about your favorite memory as an athlete either on or off the field.

On the field I’ll probably say when Coach Lynch scored about three homeruns off of a Fungo bat, he hit them off of balls he threw up himself.

Tell us the story about what you are most proud of yourself for.

When we did the baseball round rock challenge I was team captain, my team wasn’t the best but I saw everything each individually had. Some were fast, some of them were strong, and I tried to combine them all to play together in a good formation.

As an athlete, who is someone you are thankful for and why?

Probably my dad, he’s always giving me talks about how he used to play baseball when he was younger and still lived in Mexico.

What advice would you give to your younger self when you began playing?

You have a purpose on the baseball team, no matter how many times you mess up, you have to get up and keep trying.

Who is your favorite baseball player? 

Probably Randy Arozarena, he played for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, and Aroldis Chapman who’s played for the Yankees and the Rangers

Who is your favorite non-baseball athlete?

I look up to David Goggins for motivation and discipline.

What’s on your sports bucket list?

Making the varsity team by my junior year.

Favorites

• Team/Sport Ritual or Tradition: Huddling up as a team and shouting “Caney Creek” before games
• Pre-Game Meal: Rice and Chicken
• Post-Game Meal: Pasta
• Exercise: Incline Bench Press
• Practice: The 10 Minute Drill
• Hype Music: J. Cole
• Sports Movie/TV Show: “Rocky IV” and “McFarland, USA“
• Coach: coaches Josh Wheeler and Michael Lynch