This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CLEVELAND -- Eight-year-old Dalton gets ready for his games just like his favorite Major League Baseball players. He puts on his chains (he has multiple) and his fancy sunglasses. When he shows up to the field, he’s ready to dive and spin and do every slick play he’s seen Andrés Giménez make at second base.

“He loves Andrés,” his mother Shelby said. “I call him a little Andrés, because that’s how he acts on the field.”

So when there was a chance for Little Andrés to show off his skills in front of Big Andrés, there was no question he’d be there. For Dalton’s birthday in March, his family surprised him by entering him into Giménez’s annual youth camp that was organized with his partners at ProCamps.

It was a long three months, but Monday finally came. Giménez hosted boys and girls who are in first grade through eighth grade in Rocky River, Ohio, in a three-hour clinic. The day began with a quick introduction to Giménez, before the campers broke into stations to work on fundamentals of the game. When Giménez visited the ground-ball station, he met Dalton, who gave him a challenge.

“He [showboated] a little bit,” Shelby said, “and Andrés went, ‘Oh, that was too easy for you!’ And then he threw him a hard one.”

Despite Dalton’s efforts to dive for the hard-rolled grounder that had no chance of being stopped, he came up empty-handed. But he giggled from the playful exchange with one of his favorite players.

It’s these moments that made Giménez want to give back to his community -- both in the United States and his home country of Venezuela -- as soon as he signed a professional contract.

“When I was a kid, I had the chance to meet big leaguers,” Giménez said. “It made a big impact on me. It [stayed with me] the whole way. So I think for the kids, it’s just a huge opportunity to make a big impact on their life.”

There were popups to catch and pitches to be thrown. Other kids took turns hitting Wiffle balls off of Giménez, who was not shy about showing his fear of their vicious cuts. One boy hit a line drive right back at the mound that went into Giménez’s stomach. Giménez yelped in fear, but showed the ball, yelling, “I still caught it!”

He visited every station before a home run derby competition and other games broke out. And every camper got a picture with him before the day concluded. But this wasn’t just a day to get some pointers from one of the best defenders in baseball. This was tangible proof to these kids that dreams can come true.

“I think it’s amazing and it helps these kids go,” Shelby said. “[Dalton’s] goal is MLB. … That’s what he keeps telling us. So I said, 'I hope. Fingers crossed, kid.'”

“They are the next superstars of the game,” Giménez said. “For me, just to be able to come here and share moments with them, at the end of the day, that’s the thing they’re going to remember.”