Personal Statement
My name is Luca Pastor, I am a 18 year old and a catcher from the Dutch national baseball academy and Dutch National Baseball team u18. The academy is a full-time program where you train to become a professional baseball player, initially as a college player aspiring to one day make it to the majors.
I have already played 3 European Championships and 2 World Championships with National teams in the last 7 years.
Currently I am based in Amsterdam where I live, work, practice and went to school with the other members of the program. We train nine times a week (consisting of four baseball-specific practices, three gym sessions, mental training and other alternative training formats).
During the past four years, I learned how to be mentally strong, not to give up, and work my butt off, which pushed me to become the person I am today. I’m a team player, focused, ambitious, passionate and my trainers tell me I’m a hard worker who is adaptable and well coachable.
Last season I played for the Amsterdam Pirates (also known as L&D) and made my debut in the Dutch MLB while catching a perfect game that I was calling myself. At the end of the season we won the Holland series (Dutch MLB finals) with the Amsterdam Pirates. During the summer I played with the Dutch National u18 team and won the European Championship in Italy.
After four years of hard work at the full-time training facility of the Dutch National Baseball Academy in Amsterdam and graduating last summer I am ready to take the next step in my baseball career: College Baseball! In college, I want to become a better baseball player, work on my bachelor’s program, and find my way into the US culture.
To me, the US sports culture is all about passion, hard work, pride and competition.
I want to become a part of that!
