SEATTLE — A skill that once helped his immigrant parents navigate a new world has now brought Freddy Llanos to the big leagues.
Llanos has spent five seasons working in public relations for the Seattle Mariners and helping translate for the team’s Spanish-speaking stars.
It wasn’t a straight path to get there, but it’s work Llanos has spent his whole life preparing for.
As a child, he would translate for his parents who immigrated from Mexico.
“Kids that I grew up with (in the Tri Cities), same thing,” he said. “Being pulled out of school or not even going to school that day, because my dad has to go to a government office, or one of them has a doctor’s appointment.”
Still, translating for some of baseball’s biggest players was never part of Llanos’s plan.
He originally went to school to study mechanical engineering, as the first in his family to go to college.
“Me sitting there, just doing math all day, I was like, this is not what I want,” Llanos said. “This isn’t my American dream.”
Llanos did love soccer and was particularly drawn to Spanish-language announcers who bring high energy to their work.
“I switched over and wanted to become this soccer sideline reporter,” he said. “I wonder if I can do that for the English side. That was my goal: bring that energy over to the English side.”
It didn’t take long for Llanos to land his first gig: a TV news reporting job in the Tri-Cities where he grew up.
“My mom’s like, ‘you’re on TV now, but I don’t understand you,’” he said. “That hit me, that really did.”
Llanos pivoted over to Spanish-language reporting and said that’s when he realized his “Spanish wasn’t really that good.”
Practice makes perfect though, and after years reporting in the Tri-Cities and in Oklahmona, the Mariners bit.
“They saw something in me, brought me in, and have taught me everything so far,” he said.
What started as a typical public relations job snowballed quickly into so much more.
“Two months in, we trade for Luis Castillo,” Llanos said. “The biggest arm in the market at the time.”
Castillo needed a translator full-time, and quickly, Llanos was called up from the bullpen. Now, he’s on the road constantly with the team, helping Spanish-speaking players with media interviews and more.
“Some of these players, a lot of them come here at 17, 15 years old,” Llanos said. “They talk to me about like, ‘When I first got here, I would go to Chipotle, and I just point to what I wanted.’ They weren’t able to convey that message. So me be able to step in and help them with that, because it hits so close to home, it’s very rewarding for me.”
Over the last few years, he’s formed strong bonds with players, including Andrés Muñoz who is from Mexico.
“We both started our careers at the Mariners kind of the same time,” Llanos said. “We kind of grew there together.”
Looking forward, Llanos is focused on enjoying the ride.
“They’re ready for a World Series,” he said.
Embracing the future, but never forgetting his past.
“They’re proud,” he said of his parents. “They’re proud.”
Llanos said they bought a “giant map of the U.S.” to follow his travels around the country.
“Oh, Freddy’s in Cincinnati, or Freddy’s in New York,” he said. “But yeah, they’re very proud. And just been following my journey.”
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