Hudson Valley Renegades' Bhutan Night shows that baseball is truly a global community

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. -- Fourteen years ago, they were playing on a small stretch of concrete in Bhutan, the small, mountainous country to the south of Tibet otherwise known as "The Last Shangri-La."

This week, they were playing on the finely groomed turf at Heritage Financial Park, home of the Hudson Valley Renegades, High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. Here, 12 Bhutanese baseball and softball players -- six young men and six young women -- took the field under instruction from the Renegades coaches and nearly half their roster of players; here, in the small hamlet of Fishkill, N.Y., they got to see professional baseball and step on a real baseball field for the very first time; here, they got to see the Renegades don uniforms inspired by the Bhutanese flag and throw out the first pitch while dressed in the traditional robe known as a gho.

It's a dream that the Bhutan Baseball and Softball Association co-founders Matthew DeSantis -- an American, who has been living in Bhutan since 2010 -- and Karma Dorji -- who originally hails from Bhutan but currently lives in Australia -- could never have fathomed. When they began teaching baseball in Thimpu, it wasn't with thoughts of worldwide trips in mind. It was simply a sport they wanted to share with the youth of the country.

"We had this idea just to bring the kids to the field and to teach them baseball," DeSantis said. "It was meant to be six or seven days, and we played day to night. The kids just picked up the game so quick and loved it. So, we decided to play another week, and a few hundred kids showed up. By the third week, we had 600-700 kids showing up. The love for the game was there and we had to keep playing."

The sport has exploded in popularity in the country, with over 6,000 children now playing baseball or softball, and that number continues to grow. Kids see clips spread on TikTok or social media and want to try it out.

"Baseball is relatively new in Bhutan, however, we are very, very happy to share that it's a popular sport," Dorji said, a sly smile spreading across his face. "If you look at our social media following, we are number three amongst the 20 sporting organizations that have existed over the last 15 years. We are humbled. It's a very cool sport in Bhutan, so a lot of young kids come in with that mindset of having the cool jersey, having the cool hat -- it comes with a cool vibe."

That the association was able to come to America was thanks to the vision and hard work of Zach Betkowski, GM of the Renegades, and Joe Vasile, the team's director of media relations. After DeSantis' photo of baseball being played in front of the iconic Great Buddha Dordenma went viral, Betkowski reached out to the organization. His first goal was simply to send some Renegades caps and shirts out to the players.

"Take a photo, post it on Facebook, get a lot of engagement and everyone's happy," Betkowski said with a laugh.

But after a quick phone call with DeSantis, the plan grew much larger. What if the Renegades hosted a Bhutan Day, bringing athletes for a cultural exchange trip, offering them a once-in-a-lifetime baseball experience in idyllic Dutchess County? It wouldn't be cheap: Lodging, flights, food and so much more would need to be put together.

The team partnered with local companies to field donations and auctioned off special edition Bhutan jerseys. Autographed baseballs and other memorabilia that had been collected over the years were added to the pot.

In the end, the trip nearly didn't happen, but it had nothing to do with funds.

"We didn't really find out it was officially happening until two weeks ago when they got their visas from the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi," Betkowski said. "But we're thankful. Everything worked out. It was certainly meant to be. ... When they saw the field for the first time, they were just in awe. They were stunned to see a professional baseball field. They don't have playing surfaces like this in Bhutan, they really play on concrete slabs or just grounds of dirt."

On the group's first full day with the team, the Bhutanese players grabbed their gloves and took to the field. There, coaches and players ran them through drills to teach them baserunning, fielding, pitching and catching.

"That one drill, you know, scooping [balls out of the dirt], I really didn't know," Kinley Gyeltshen, a catcher in Bhutan, said. "There's another catcher's mitt which helped with that. I got that knowledge only yesterday. Before I didn't know it actually existed."

"We weren't really sure what to expect, but catching them in bullpen yesterday, they're filling up the strike zone," Renegades pitching coach Spencer Medick said. "They had some good splitters that they showcased. It was really fun. I think they impressed on that side of it, for sure."

Medick even helped show off the Yankees' patented slider grip, hoping to teach the Bhutanese youth the sweeper that has taken over the Majors.

"We'll see if they take it back and -- it's going to be a terrible pun -- be a sweeping craze over there in Bhutan," Medick joked.

The kids then got to step into the cage and, thanks to the Renegades' Trajekt system, which can accurately mimic any pitcher's exact release point and arsenal, bat against Shohei Ohtani. Facing 98 mph fastballs and darting curves may humble even the most talented Major Leaguers, but these young athletes managed to foul off a handful of pitches from baseball's very best.

"When there was a ball that was put in play or fouled off, seeing everybody getting excited all together and really celebrating their friends and their teammates, was pretty cool to see," Renegades outfielder Garrett Martin said.

"Honestly I think they understood the game at a deeper level than we did," first baseman Josh Moylan added. "I think they really took it to heart, the game of baseball. It was really special to see."

The players even showed off their athleticism on some practice home run trots. Forget bat flips, how about front flips?

"They were working on their pimp jobs on home runs, and there were a couple flips and cartwheels mixed in there," Moylan said. "I think if we pulled that out in the game, there might be some consequences, but it was really cool to see that and just see them really enjoying themselves."

On Tuesday, with the Wilmington Blue Rocks in town, the Renegades officially hosted "Bhutan Night" and took the field in their special uniforms, which featured the "Druk," or Bhutan's iconic "Thunder dragon." The Bhutanese flag flew in center field beside the American flag and fans listened as the country's national anthem played over the loudspeakers.

"I'm very honored to be here, especially today for Bhutan night, so I'm very excited for the event," softball player Tandin Bidha Dorjee said before the game. "It's wonderful [that the professional players] are wearing our Bhutan jersey. I feel very emotional."

"I'm feeling very happy because I'm Bhutanese and we also value our culture," fellow softballer Tenzin Dolkar said, "I'm feeling proud seeing them wear the Bhutan jersey."

"It's their first time just being in a stadium, the joy they showed just being taken through warm-ups, catch, play, everything," Medick said. "Especially in August in a Minor League season, it can be a grind, but it's one of those nice refreshers, to show you how grateful you are to be in the position that you are. Across the world, how many people dream of being where we are."

"It's really cool to see that people from all over the world are playing the same game, and everyone can enjoy the same game," Martin said. "There's universal skills that everybody can learn. It doesn't really matter who you are, where you come from, we can all do the same things and play the same game."

Far more important, though, is the idea that the baseball world is a large community. On the same night that the Renegades honored Bhutan baseball, there was an announcement thanking an employee who was working her final night before heading to college.

One of the young Bhutanese players later managed to snag a shirt from the T-shirt cannon and, rather than keeping this souvenir from their first professional baseball game, opted instead to hand it to a group of teenaged fans who had been hoping to snag one.

"Baseball is a very large community," Betkowski said. "There are 120 Minor League teams, there are 30 Major League teams. There are Little League teams all over the country and across international baseball. But in a lot of ways, it's such a small percentile of the human race. Baseball is truly one game, and our goal is to grow the game of baseball at a grassroots level, here locally, but also grow it internationally. We have an obligation as a brand that represents professional baseball to do our due diligence to grow the game of baseball."

That idea of community connects back to Bhutan's guiding principle of Gross National Happiness, which focuses primarily on the well-being of the country's citizens.

"Baseball is an engagement where a group of kids come together, they teach each other, they learn from each other," Dorji said. "They build and develop brotherhood. They're not only taking care of themselves physically, but participating in camaraderie. And that is directly in correlation to [Gross National Happiness.]"

The trip isn't over for Bhutan yet, either. On Wednesday, they will head to New York City and take a tour of the MLB league offices. Afterward, they will get a VIP tour of Yankee Stadium, take the field for batting practice and watch their first Major League game in person.

"This is just the beginning," DeSantis added. "These kids are going to go back and share their wisdom that they've gained here over the past week. And someday, there will be a Bhutan Day, and there will be a Bhutanese baseball player on this field, and there will be Bhutanese fans and it will be because these kids, this year, created this pathway."