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7.2/10
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Dominican baseball star Miguel "Sugar" Santos is recruited to play in the U.S. minor-leagues.Dominican baseball star Miguel "Sugar" Santos is recruited to play in the U.S. minor-leagues.Dominican baseball star Miguel "Sugar" Santos is recruited to play in the U.S. minor-leagues.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 7 nominations
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSome of the last names of the Swing of the Quad Cities players in the film were those of actual players on the team. However, they were not portrayed by the real Swing players. During filming, the real players were still in their regular season and then post-season.
- GoofsWhen Miguel is pitching to the Loons in the top of the fifth, the scoreboard already shows 0 runs. The score for a half inning is not registered until the half inning is completed.
- SoundtracksLos Que Me Esperaban, Llegue
Written by Tony Sugar
Performed by Yoan Soriano
Courtesy of Mambo Media, LLC
Featured review
Demonstrating the challenges facing many Latin American baseball prospects
It's a baseball drama set in the 2000s in the Dominican Republic, Arizona, Iowa, and New York City. It follows the experience of a young Dominican ballplayer's dream to be a successful professional player in the United States.
Miguel "Sugar" Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) is a 19-or-20-year-old Dominican ballplayer from a poor family. He's received a $100,000 signing bonus from the Kansas City Knights and is the hope of his fatherless family. He is also a skilled furniture maker.
The movie begins in the Dominican baseball academy sponsored by the Kansas City team. One of their scouts shows Miguel how to through a good knuckle curveball, making him an effective pitcher. It follows him to spring training in Arizona and his assignment to a Single-A team in rural Iowa. He is boarded by an elderly, very religious couple, Earl (Richard Bull) and Helen (Ann Whitney) Higgins. Their granddaughter, Anne (Ellary Porterfield), also shows an interest in Miguel.
Miguel, who is more subdued than some of his Dominican teammates, sometimes follows teammates into trouble, struggles with language issues in a foreign culture, and experiences a lot of isolation until he decides his future.
This is a low-key but well-done film demonstrating the challenges of many Latin American baseball prospects trying to make it in North America. However, I think it tried to compress a bit too much into one story. Miguel is actually a little too old for the story. I also think the number of Latin players in professional baseball means even Single-A teams would have someone on staff who speaks Spanish and relates to Latin players in Miguel's situation. So it felt a bit overdrawn. Nonetheless, it's a good attempt at an important story.
Miguel "Sugar" Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) is a 19-or-20-year-old Dominican ballplayer from a poor family. He's received a $100,000 signing bonus from the Kansas City Knights and is the hope of his fatherless family. He is also a skilled furniture maker.
The movie begins in the Dominican baseball academy sponsored by the Kansas City team. One of their scouts shows Miguel how to through a good knuckle curveball, making him an effective pitcher. It follows him to spring training in Arizona and his assignment to a Single-A team in rural Iowa. He is boarded by an elderly, very religious couple, Earl (Richard Bull) and Helen (Ann Whitney) Higgins. Their granddaughter, Anne (Ellary Porterfield), also shows an interest in Miguel.
Miguel, who is more subdued than some of his Dominican teammates, sometimes follows teammates into trouble, struggles with language issues in a foreign culture, and experiences a lot of isolation until he decides his future.
This is a low-key but well-done film demonstrating the challenges of many Latin American baseball prospects trying to make it in North America. However, I think it tried to compress a bit too much into one story. Miguel is actually a little too old for the story. I also think the number of Latin players in professional baseball means even Single-A teams would have someone on staff who speaks Spanish and relates to Latin players in Miguel's situation. So it felt a bit overdrawn. Nonetheless, it's a good attempt at an important story.
helpful•00
- steiner-sam
- Feb 22, 2022
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Untitled Dominican Project
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,082,124
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $60,140
- Apr 5, 2009
- Gross worldwide
- $1,144,438
- Runtime1 hour 54 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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