Baseball standout Vincent Esparza misses his band of brothers - Los Angeles Times
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Season Interrupted: Vincent Esparza misses his band of brothers

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Throughout the spring, The Times will interview high school seniors whose athletic careers were cut short by the coronavirus outbreak.

Name: Vincent Esparza

School: Granada Hills Kennedy

Sport: Baseball, pitcher

Key stats: Member of the City Section all-star team that won a gold medal in the summer of 2019 at Chicago baseball tournament

Fall plans: Will attend Glendale College

A look at the high school sport standouts whose seasons were cut short by the coronavirus outbreak.

April 11, 2020

On the season being canceled:

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“I spent the beginning part of last season on the DL not being able to pitch. I was looking forward to this season starting off strong. At first I couldn’t believe it. It didn’t really hit me for a week or two. I realized all our hard work in the first half of the year was gone.”

On winning the gold medal team in the summer of 2019:

“That was one of the best experiences of my life playing with a lot of people I’ve seen and heard about. It’s a good group of guys. We still keep in touch.”

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On life without sports:

“It’s pretty boring. I’ve been trying to stay in shape so I’ll be ready when baseball comes back.”

On the new interests he’s discovered with his free time:

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“I’m doing a lot more cooking.”

His specialty:
“French toast.”

The Agoura hurler’s future plans took a hit with the logjam of college seniors who will return: ‘I just kind of take what’s given to me.’

May 31, 2020

How the sports stoppage has changed him:

“In the blink of an eye or randomly, everything can be taken away from you. That’s something the coronavirus has taught me.”

What he misses most:

“Being on the field with my brothers, spending all the time with them every day.”

On the lessons learned for class of 2020:

“This just shows how strong we are as a class with what we’ve been though. Everyone will come out stronger.”

Video interviews of each athlete can be found at latimes.com/sports/highschool.

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