Jon Paley, a 2008 Washington University in St. Louis graduate, released his first documentary film called “Ballplayer: Pelotero.”
In what started out as an undergraduate research project here at the university, Paley traveled to the Dominican Republic with friends and future film directors Ross Finkel and Trevor Martin in order to answer one question: “Why are Dominicans so good at baseball?”
“Ballplayer: Pelotero” follows the dramatic stories of two young ball players in the Dominican Republic, Miguel Angel Sanó and Jean Carlos Batista. Over the course of one year, Sano and Batista deal with complicated situations, corruption, and unregulated coaches/agents in their quest to be signed on July 2nd, the first day of Major League Baseball’s International Draft. The film is currently available on iTunes and will be shown in select theaters around the country. To learn more about the film and to watch a trailer, visit the “Ballplayer: Pelotero” official website.
Paley, Finkel and Martin have been getting a lot of press for their project, partly because the film has Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine listed as an executive producer and partly due to the somewhat negative response Major League Baseball has taken. The Boston Globe, New York Times, Huffington Post, LA Times and Sports Illustrated have also written about the film.