Millersville University's The Snapper profiles pitcher Daniel Ross, a senior for the Marauders and a 39th-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019.
Ross was excited to be here in Pennsylvania around his family, but it was also important that coach Jon Shehan sold him on the program. The toughest adjustment, however, was that he was from Japan and there were some major language barriers.
“There was a lot of language barriers and cultural barriers that didn’t click in immediately, but the language barrier kept me away from knowing people more and it was harder to understand people more,” Ross said.
Ross was concerned that the fact that he was still learning English might be a challenge or make it harder to get along with his teammates. But his language barrier wasn’t just holding him back off the field, it created on the field challenges as well. There are things about baseball that are universal, but Ross says in Japan players think differently.
“It’s a little bit different like how people think, baseball was a little differently. I don’t have any quick examples, but everything didn’t make sense or click for me right away,” Ross says.