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Paul Worley tutors Colorado Rockies prospects in English to aid their adjustment to life in the U.S. He is part of a program that supports non-English-speaking players in developing language skills.
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Paul Worley and Juan Mejia at Coors Fields in Summer 2025 | Paul Worley
This is the fourth installment in Purple Rowâs series on the Colorado Rockies Cultural Education & Development Program. Sam Bradfield described what the program does and how it got started. She followed that up with an article about its curriculum. This week, weâll be exploring how the Rockies help non-English-speaking players develop their language skills.
If you were a college student studying Spanish, youâd probably want to take a class with Dr. Paul Worley, whoâs a Professor of Spanish and World Literatures at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Heâs student-centered in his teaching and manages to juggle that with being the department chair, publishing books and articles, serving as the poetry editor for the âNorth Dakota Quarterlyâ â and a list of other academic projects.
Those other projects include working as a tutor with Colorado Rockies prospects who are playing with the High-A Spokane Indians. Worley is one of four teachers who help Latin American prospects adjust to life in the United States, and in April, he talked with Purple Rows about how this job found him and his work with future Rockies.
Paul Worley is a Professor of Spanish and World Literatures at Appalachian State University and tutors Colorado Rockies prospects to help them improve their English skills.
The program helps non-English-speaking players develop their language skills and adjust to life in the United States through real-world lessons and support.
The program provides tutoring and educational resources to help Latin American prospects improve their English and adapt to their new environment.
Improving language skills helps Rockies players communicate better on and off the field, enhancing their overall experience and integration into the team.
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A native of North Carolina, Worley spent five chilly years at the University of North Dakota before heading home to âcold I understand,â as he put it, and took at job at Western Carolina University. Thatâs when he began working with the then-Rockies affiliate Asheville Tourists. A friend mentioned to Worley that his neighbor taught English to some of the Tourists players during the summer, and she was looking for a co-teacher. He expressed his interest to Sherry Mahawald, and thatâs how it started. (This â he thinks â 12 years ago.)
(Read more about Mahawaldâs work with the Tourists here.)
Around 2020, Mahawald moved to other projects, so Worley began teaching the courses himself as an in-person project.
âOnce the season hit, I would teach class during the day, and then (my family and I) were at the park every night,â he said.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and MLBâs decision to realign the Minor League system, Worley found himself without that job â until Angel Amparo and the Rockies put their classes online and asked Worley to continue his work.
âI was happy to stay on with them,â Worley said.
Today, the instruction happens online with Worley and his family making a yearly trip to Hartford to see the Yard Goats and âconnect with the guys and meet with them in person.â
For Worley, âItâs been a really rewarding experience.â
In terms of the classes, itâs pretty much like any other educational environment â except the students are professional baseball players.
Worley begins by laying out the requirements of the course: âYouâve got to come to class. If youâre not going to come to class, youâve got to let me know.â
But heâs also aware that the playersâ English work is in addition to their day job, which is playing professional baseball.
âThis is an extra thing that these guys do,â he said.
His instruction is mostly one-on-one because, Worley explains, âFor me and my teaching style, I feel like that works a lot better than a group.â
This means that the sessions tend to be an âintense,â 25 minutes, which is something he cautions the players about early on.
But like any good teacher, Worley wants the assignments to have âa very specific product associated with them.â
Dr. Paul Worley
As a case in point, he cites an assignment that involves students making an advertisement.
âWe have an assignment that is basically you have to do an ad,â he said. âOne of the ways that all athletes make extra money is to create or to do endorsements, and so I walk them through everything from the language that you need and âWhat do you want to say?â âHow do you want to say it?â âHow you want to dress?â One of the things that we really emphasize is, âYou all need to remember that youâre always being looked at. Youâre a professional athlete. People are looking at you.ââ
This is an assignment that encourages students to consider where they should film, how they should present themselves and the product, and how they should talk about it â or vocabulary.
At the same time, Worley is committed â like the best teachers are â to making learning fun.
âI want them to have a good time,â he said. âThey need to be fun because the more fun theyâre having, it lowers the affective filter, and theyâre more comfortable. And the more comfortable they are, the more open they are to learning and even to making mistakes.â
In addition, the players make visits to schools, whether thatâs in person or via Zoom. Part of that involves players learning to provide community service; part of it is about players interacting with a new group of English speakers.
âItâs because kids tend to be less judgmental,â Worley said.
The students submit questions in advance so that Worley and the player can review them, but it leads to a 25-minute Q&A session â and itâs more challenging than you might think.
âItâs hard to operate in a language other than your first language,â Worley said.
There are also lessons that happen outside the classroom. After all, the primary goal of the cultural development program is for players to learn to navigate their lives in the United States.
Worley recalls a player he worked with who was traded to a team with a Florida spring training camp. When Worley went to visit him, the player said, âTeacher, I went, and I did my cellphone completely by myself!â which is a significant accomplishment for someone whose primary language is not English.
This has to do with the pragmatic focus of Worleyâs curriculum.
âYouâre going to go to this place. Youâre going to talk to this person. Whatâs the vocab you need? What do you got to practice? How you greet them? How do you walk through it?â Worley said, explaining his approach.
âHe was incredibly proud,â Worley added, âand he has every right to be proud because he took the English that we were using right in class.â
Besides, most players are committed to having more seamless interactions with those around them.
âIâve never had a student who wasnât aware of (the cultural integration piece) and didnât want more and better interactions with folks in the stands, folks at the grocery store.â
Itâs part of the programâs focus on developing the player as the whole person.
Worley is clear about the challenges his students face.
âI think the way that Iâve described this â both in teacher meetings and to folks I know â is that the only way I can conceptualize what these players do as students is itâs kind of the worldâs most-intense study abroad,â Worley said.
âThey come to the United States. Theyâve had English classes down the Dominican Republic, and then theyâre up here. So letâs just say itâs like a second- or third-year language student from the United States who leaves. But the catch is that every night theyâre going to be doing something professionally in front of a few thousand people.â
In addition to the pressure from the crowd comes the need to communicate with teammates.
âYouâre under the microscope in front of a couple thousand people, and your teammates that you were interacting with as colleagues a little bit ago, now, everybodyâs yelling at each other to do something in English, and youâve got to do it right. And so that, I think, is a real challenge.â
An additional challenge is scheduling because baseball players lead busy lives, which has led to Worley teaching â whether in person or virtually â in some unusual classrooms.
âFor example, Iâve done English class at a barber shop. Iâve done English class at the mall because they very intentionally make time for English class,â Worley said. âSometimes, Iâll get a message, and theyâll just say, âTeacher, I have to go to the bank,â and you canât be mad and say, âListen, I need you in your apartment doing English.â A playerâs got to go to the bank, and Iâm not going to ask why.â
For Worley, teaching virtually has its benefits and its challenges.
âIt makes us more flexible,â he said, but he also understands the value of face-to-face interaction.
There are also times when a student is missing class, and Worley has to intervene, but such is the nature of teaching.
Generally speaking, though, these are dedicated young men who see the big picture.
âGiven how international signings happen, theyâre super focused,â Worley said. âI think part of that focus is recognizing on a certain level that, long-term trajectory, on top of everything else, whether thatâs hitting off-speed stuff or working on a changeup, they also have to learn English. And it is an awesome extra thing for them to have to balance.
âAll of them, I think, are envisioning a future for their families, and I think that is a weight that a lot of them carry,â he continued. âThey are powerfully intrinsically motivated to do the things that theyâre doing, and English, class becomes a part of that for lots of them.â
Cole Carrigg got the game off to brisk start by hitting a home run (4) in the first inning. However, the lead was short-lived after Carlos PĂ©rez answered with a three-run homer at the bottom of the inning. In the third, the Space Cowboys extended their lead with a CJ Alexander RBI-double, making the score 4-1. The âTopes started their return in the sixth when Braxton Fulford hit a two-run double (5) that scored Vimael MachĂn and Chad Stevens. Fulford doubled (6) again in the eighth inning, scoring MachĂn and tying the game. Finally in the ninth, Nic Kent struck out swinging but then advanced to first on a wild pitch, which allowed Chad Stevens to score the winning run.
The Isotopes are 23-16.
Zach Kokoska got the scoring started in the second inning, hitting a two-run homer (5) that allowed Cole Messina to score. The Rumble Ponies answered back in the bottom of the inning when Eli Serrano III doubled to score Matt Rudick. Following that, Diego Mosquera scored on a throwing error by center fielder GJ Hill. In the third inning, Messina was hit by pitch with the bases loaded, and Dyan Jorge tallied the Yard Goats third run. Then, Kokoska singled to score Andy Perez. Roc Riggio hit a homer (6) in the fifth, and that finished the scoring for the day. Starting pitcher Connor Staine went five innings, allowing two runs, both earned, on two hits. He struck out six and walked three.
The Yard Goats and Rumble Ponies played two, making up for a missed game on Saturday â and it was all Goats, so much glory. In the second inning (again) Zach Kokoska homered (6), scoring Aidan Longwell and Bryant Betancourt. Then, still in the second, Dyan Jorge singled on a ground ball to score Conner Capel. Following that, Andy Perez singled, bringing home Jose Torres. And that was it for the scoring.
The Yard Goats are 16-16.
Kevin Fitzer got the Indians on the board early by hitting a homer (5) in the first inning. A Matt Coutney homered in the second tied the game followed by an Anthony Scull home run that gave the Dust Devils the lead. In the bottom of the second, Fizter homered again (6), this time a grand slam that scored Jacob Hinderleider, Juan Castillo, and Caleb Hobson. In the third, Hinderleider also homered (3), scoring Kevin Hildago. Scull answered back with another homer in the fourth, but the Grizzlies never looked back. They scored on a wild pitch in the ninth for their final run.
Starter Yujanyer Herrera went four innings, giving up three runs (earned) on three hits. He also walked two and struck out two.
The Indians are 13-20.
The Giants struck first in the third inning when Cam Maldonado whacked a two-run double. But then, the Grizzlies entered the chat. In the third inning, Jack OâDowd singled to score Roldy Brito, and the game was 2-1. In the fifth, the Grizzlies tied things up with a Clayton Gray single that scored Carlos Renzullo. Following that, Cameron Nelson doubled (3) and scored Gray, giving the Grizzlies the lead. When the fifth inning was over, the Grizzlies had a 5-2 lead. They scored in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings as well. OâDowd went 3-for-5, including two RBI.
Starter Ethan Cole went four innings, giving up two runs (both earned) on three hits. He struck out two and walked one.
The Grizzlies are 19-14.
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