Relatives of Nolan Arenado try to follow him to major leagues

Every minor-league baseball player has the same dream.

Yet, only about one in 10 minor leaguers will reach the major leagues. And only a small percentage of those will become All-Stars, like Colorado Rockies third baseman and former Modesto Nut Nolan Arenado.

Those odds haven’t deterred San Jose’s Jonah Arenado and Modesto’s Josh Fuentes, the younger brother and cousin, respectively, of Nolan who, by virtue of being in the same family, probably have had their odds diminished even further. After all, if it’s so difficult to reach the big leagues, what are the odds of three players from the same family making it?

But they don’t see it that way.

“We talk to each other during the season, about what we’re feeling,” said Jonah Arenado, a 6-foot-4, 230-pounder who splits time between first base and third base. “Especially when it’s going downhill … we’re struggling. We’ll talk to each other about, ‘Hey, what are you thinking, what are you feeling right now?’ ”

“We always hit in the offseason together, us two and Nolan,” said Fuentes, a 6-2, 215-pounder who also plays first and third. “Even during games, if I’m at first and he hits a single, I’ll tell him, ‘Hey, way to stay back on that pitch,’ or something like that.”

Having a cousin roughly the same age – Fuentes is 23, and Jonah Arenado is 21 – playing in the same league is an advantage. But a brother/cousin who’s an All-Star, a Gold Glove winner and a legitimate MVP candidate, well, that’s a luxury.

“The minor leagues aren’t easy,” said Jonah Arenado, who is hitting .251 with six homers and 27 RBIs in 54 Cal League games this season. “You really don’t know what’s going on. But to have a brother go through it, you have an idea before you get here of what’s going to happen and how it works and how to go about your business.”

“You struggle so much in the minor leagues,” added Fuentes, a non-drafted free agent who signed with Colorado out of NAIA Missouri Baptist in 2014. “Having him to turn to to give you some confidence and some little tips … it’s been huge, for sure.”

And that’s, perhaps, the biggest advantage being related to a big leaguer. The confidence that comes with being able to say, and believe, “If he can do it, why can’t I?”

“We work out together and we hit together and we have the same regimen in the offseason,” said Fuentes, who’s batting .222 in 10 games for Modesto after hitting .398 in 28 games with Class-A Asheville earlier this season.

Jonah Arenado agrees.

“Oh, 100 percent,” said Jonah Arenado, a 16th-round draft pick by the Giants in 2013 out of El Toro High School in Lake Forest (Orange County). “Everything he does, from what he eats to how he takes batting practice, if it’s working for him, why not incorporate into my own routine and apply it?”

Perhaps the best piece of advice Nolan Arenado gave his younger cousin was the scouting report he provided about life in Modesto.

“He says it’s going to get hot, dry,” said Fuentes, “and that the ball doesn’t fly here.”

This story was originally published June 12, 2016 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Relatives of Nolan Arenado try to follow him to major leagues."