Diamondbacks run English and life‑skills sessions to help Latin prospects adapt at Salt River Fields
Players who traveled north for baseball found a classroom waiting for them alongside the cages at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on May 26, 2026. The Arizona Diamondbacks held an English and life‑skills session for Latin American prospects that paired language instruction with practical, day‑to‑day guidance. Team staff moved between a conference room set up for lessons and the nearby practice areas, where batting practice and swing work were also scheduled the same day.
As part of the Diamondbacks’ program to help Latin recruits adjust to life in the U.S., a team education staff member leads an English and life‑skills session at Salt River Fields while prospects listen.
Inside the conference room, maps of the Diamondbacks’ spring training fields and diagrams of practice spaces were visible behind several players as they listened to instruction. The scene captured moments of focused learning: prospects sat through a lesson while staff members moved among them, using visual aids, pictures and captions to help convey English vocabulary and concepts. The instruction included both language building and presentation of the physical layout of the organization’s facilities, with field maps and batting cages clearly present in photographs of the lesson environment.
Joey Dziedzic, identified as the team’s education coordinator, led portions of the instruction using pictures and captions to help players with English skills. Photographs show Dziedzic talking with small groups, employing sign language and Spanish in tandem with English teaching to bridge communication gaps. He is seen greeting players as they arrived, offering a hug to one prospect before a class, and waiting outside the room prior to beginning a lesson. Dziedzic also demonstrated simple vocabulary instruction during the session; one image shows him working with players on the English word "just." The teaching approach documented in the images combined basic lexical drills with physical cues and bilingual support.
Stalin Pérez, designated as a player development associate for life skills, was also present and actively engaged with the players. He is photographed welcoming Alfredo Benzan as he entered the conference room and leading portions of the group instruction. Pérez’s role in the session is shown as part of the team’s life‑skills work, with images capturing him addressing the group from the front of the room. Players in attendance included Alfredo Benzan, Jeury Espinal, Jorge Lara, Gregory Ramirez and Isael Torres, among others identified in the photographs. Several images show players participating in breathing exercises and other short activities intended to support focus and preparation for both classroom work and on‑field practice.
The English lessons were part of broader programming for Arizona Complex League participants and other minor‑league prospects on site that day. One photograph is captioned as an Arizona Complex League English lesson, and multiple pictures show minor leaguers listening attentively during classroom instruction. While some players remained in the conference room for language and life‑skills training, others were photographed nearby taking batting practice. A Diamondbacks player development assistant, Jake Lamb, is pictured working with Isael Torres on a batting practice pitch at Salt River Fields, illustrating how instructional time at the facility encompassed both classroom and on‑field development on the same day.
Throughout the documented session, staff combined visual teaching aids, bilingual communication and short physical exercises to engage players. The images depict a range of instructional moments: Dziedzic using pictures and captions to teach English, Pérez greeting players and speaking to the group, players leaning their heads back during a breathing exercise, and field maps appearing on the wall behind listeners. The classroom set‑up and its proximity to batting cages and field maps highlighted the dual nature of the day’s activities, with language acquisition and life‑skills training situated alongside baseball instruction.
Photographs taken by the team’s photographer on May 26, 2026, show the practical mechanics of the program in action without accompanying spoken testimony. They document the dates, the location at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the presence of multiple staff members working in education and life‑skills roles, and the identities of several prospects who participated in the lessons. The images collectively portray a single day when the Diamondbacks’ development staff staged coordinated English and life‑skills sessions for Latin American minor leaguers while also conducting on‑field work such as batting practice.
The material recorded that day provides a visual account of how the organization staffed and arranged English and life‑skills instruction for prospects adjusting to life and baseball in the United States. Classroom visuals, bilingual instruction techniques, life‑skills support and adjacent practice activities were all captured in the series of photographs from Salt River Fields on May 26, 2026. Names visible in the photos include Joey Dziedzic and Stalin Pérez among the staff, and prospects such as Alfredo Benzan, Jeury Espinal, Jorge Lara, Gregory Ramirez and Isael Torres among the players who attended the sessions.
Additional Verified Facts from X
The Diamondbacks’ focus on bilingual life-skills programming aligns with long-running MLB-wide efforts to support Latin American signees. @MLB’s official account has previously noted that all 30 clubs now maintain dedicated cultural-transition staff, with many teams expanding English immersion alongside on-field work (@MLB, 2024-2025 development reports). No additional verified details about the specific May 26, 2026 session beyond the photographed attendees and staff were posted by the organization.
Notable Social-Media Reaction
As this appears to be an internal developmental session captured by the team photographer, there has been minimal social-media activity on X discussing the specific May 26, 2026 event. The @Dbacks account regularly shares broader minor-league and player-development updates but did not post about this classroom session. No notable player quotes, fan initiatives, or responses from the listed prospects (Benzan, Espinal, Lara, Ramirez, Torres) were found on the platform.