Pena’s Leap of Faith Paying Off
Apr 04, 2023 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
You ask what makes Kansas State baseball special. I'm going to tell you. It's about Roberto Pena. He's 23 years old. He plays first base. He's been at four different colleges in five years. He sits inside the team meeting room at Tointon Family Stadium. He wears a white uniform with purple pinstripes, a K-State ballcap, and eye black. He just knocked two balls out of the ballpark during a 10-6 loss to No. 24 West Virginia. But that's not the story.
"I feel like I'm at home," he says.
A year ago at this time, Roberto was in the middle of playing his second season at South Florida. Before that, he played one season at the College of Central Florida (a junior college). And before that, he played one season at Florida. He had never lived outside the state of Florida — except for the first 11 years of his life. That's when he lived in Caracas, Venezuela.
Roberto is grateful to be in Manhattan. It has that small-townish charm and mainly it's quiet — except when he hears cheers at K-State sporting events. He leads K-State with eight home runs. The sound of the ball hitting the barrel is sweet symphony. In the past week, he's come out of a funk. Over the past five games, he's gone 8-for-14 with two doubles, four home runs and 14 RBI. It's uncanny, really, how one week you can go 0-for-19, and another week you're darned near automatic at the plate.
"You just have to stay confident and positive the whole time," Roberto says.
Roberto's confidence and positivity has paid off. The 6-foot-1, 210-pounder on Monday was named Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Week and Big 12 Player of the Week. He is the first K-State player to earn regular-season weekly honors. The senior slashed .571/.636/1.571 on the week with an incredible 2.208 OPS. Roberto now ranks third in the Big 12 Conference with 37 total RBI.
They raise soccer players and baseball players in Caracas, Venezuela. Roberto played both sports. He swung a bat for the first time at age 3. He played for the Venezuelan National Soccer Team at age 8. That was the same year that his mother passed away. Sports got Roberto through so much. They got him through the sadness. They got him through the anger. They got him through the fear.
Roberto was better at soccer than baseball, but he loved the challenge of baseball. He decided to turn his full attention to the bat and glove. A young boy, he had already dealt with so much. Making the switch to baseball? That was easy.
Nothing prepares a young boy for the death of his mother.
Roberto moved in with his father Julio.
Shortly after, Julio was kidnapped for the first time.
"Venezuela is very dangerous," Roberto says, sitting in the K-State team meeting room in his eye black.
Caracas, officially Santiago de Leon de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela and the metropolitan region has an estimated population of almost 5 million inhabitants. It is filled with malls, banks and service companies.
Julio owned a communications center. Details are sketchy, but Roberto remembers everything was "getting way out of hand."
"The government was involved with all the mafia, so they tried to buy the company from my dad, and he said no, so they kidnapped him," Roberto says.
Roberto's grandparents told little Roberto that his father had taken a trip to Panama and they had been sent to take care of him. His father returned home two days later without saying a word.
Then Julio was kidnapped a second time.
"The second time, I was in school and waiting for him to pick me up, and he never came," Roberto says. "I didn't have a phone. The director of my school took me home. That's when I found out he was kidnapped. I was little and they were trying to keep it away from me, but I already knew. I grew up around a lot of that. As soon as they released him, he came back and said, 'Pack a suitcase. We're going on vacation.'"
They each packed a bag. But they didn't go on vacation.
Julio and Roberto fled to Miami, Florida.
"(My father) still didn't give up (his company), we came to the United States, they broke into my grandparents' house and tied them up, and he had to pay more money," Roberto says. "They just took it. They went into the company and said, 'It's ours now,' and they took it."
Julio and Roberto lived in a hotel. Roberto began elementary school without knowing a word of English. He says it was one of the biggest obstacles he's had to overcome in life, getting to the United States, meeting people, and learning to speak English.
"We had no family," Roberto says. Just me and my dad."
The days eventually became better. Roberto grew into a fine young man. Baseball remained his focus. He attended Flanagan (Fla.) High School from 2014-17 and was named a 2018 MaxPreps Media School All-America Second Team selection while helping Calvary Christian out of Fort Lauderdale to the 2018 4A state title, recording three RBI in the championship game. A two-way player, he hit .365 over 30 games as a senior with seven doubles, five homers, 31 RBI and 30 runs scored.
When it came time to select a college, Roberto stayed in state at Florida (2019), College of Central Florida (2020) and South Florida (2021-22), where he posted a slash line of .236/.381/.478 with 14 doubles, four triples and 17 home runs over his two years with the Bulls.
Then fate stepped in.
"I know Hal Hughes, Coach Hughes' son, and my best friend is really close with Hal and we were playing summer ball together in south Florida," Roberto says. "I was playing well in the summer league and Hal called and said, 'Would you like to go to Kansas State?' I said, 'Yeah, dude.' Coach Hughes flew out to watch me and I decommitted from Stetson to come out here."
Roberto arrived in Manhattan without knowing a soul outside of the Hughes family.
"I'm a pretty outgoing guy," he says. "I didn't find it hard to talk with new people. I like building relationships. No lie, I was the most nervous I've ever been transferring because I'd never been outside the state of Florida, but I'm glad I did."
K-State teammates voted Roberto as a team captain. Roberto preaches for his teammates to be brothers. He strives to become close to all his teammates.
"Most of the guys are going to be going to my wedding one day," he says. "It's a good feeling."
You ask what makes K-State baseball special. I'm here to tell you. It's about guys like Roberto, guys who dive headfirst into the positive culture that Hughes and K-State and the community of Manhattan provides young men. The list of young men who've come to K-State in the twilight of their careers to better themselves as people and players is virtually endless.
Roberto, yeah, Roberto is a special story.
"Sports are very important to me," Roberto says, sitting in the meeting room. "It's what's gotten me through all my adversities and everything I've gone through. It's always been there for me. Baseball and my dad have always been there for me. Those are the two things in life that I really appreciate the most."
Today, he also appreciates being a senior leader for the Wildcats. He took the leap. He left his loving father, the comfort of Florida and the beaches that he loves. His father, and the beaches will be there, he knows, along with that constant reminder under the cloudless blue skies of the faraway land, when things were out of hand, when things were tough, the life he left behind, and the 23-year-old man that he's become.
You ask what makes Kansas State baseball special. I'm going to tell you. It's about Roberto Pena. He's 23 years old. He plays first base. He's been at four different colleges in five years. He sits inside the team meeting room at Tointon Family Stadium. He wears a white uniform with purple pinstripes, a K-State ballcap, and eye black. He just knocked two balls out of the ballpark during a 10-6 loss to No. 24 West Virginia. But that's not the story.
"I feel like I'm at home," he says.
A year ago at this time, Roberto was in the middle of playing his second season at South Florida. Before that, he played one season at the College of Central Florida (a junior college). And before that, he played one season at Florida. He had never lived outside the state of Florida — except for the first 11 years of his life. That's when he lived in Caracas, Venezuela.
Roberto is grateful to be in Manhattan. It has that small-townish charm and mainly it's quiet — except when he hears cheers at K-State sporting events. He leads K-State with eight home runs. The sound of the ball hitting the barrel is sweet symphony. In the past week, he's come out of a funk. Over the past five games, he's gone 8-for-14 with two doubles, four home runs and 14 RBI. It's uncanny, really, how one week you can go 0-for-19, and another week you're darned near automatic at the plate.
"You just have to stay confident and positive the whole time," Roberto says.
Roberto's confidence and positivity has paid off. The 6-foot-1, 210-pounder on Monday was named Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Week and Big 12 Player of the Week. He is the first K-State player to earn regular-season weekly honors. The senior slashed .571/.636/1.571 on the week with an incredible 2.208 OPS. Roberto now ranks third in the Big 12 Conference with 37 total RBI.
They raise soccer players and baseball players in Caracas, Venezuela. Roberto played both sports. He swung a bat for the first time at age 3. He played for the Venezuelan National Soccer Team at age 8. That was the same year that his mother passed away. Sports got Roberto through so much. They got him through the sadness. They got him through the anger. They got him through the fear.
Roberto was better at soccer than baseball, but he loved the challenge of baseball. He decided to turn his full attention to the bat and glove. A young boy, he had already dealt with so much. Making the switch to baseball? That was easy.
Nothing prepares a young boy for the death of his mother.
Roberto moved in with his father Julio.
Shortly after, Julio was kidnapped for the first time.
"Venezuela is very dangerous," Roberto says, sitting in the K-State team meeting room in his eye black.
Caracas, officially Santiago de Leon de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela and the metropolitan region has an estimated population of almost 5 million inhabitants. It is filled with malls, banks and service companies.
Julio owned a communications center. Details are sketchy, but Roberto remembers everything was "getting way out of hand."
"The government was involved with all the mafia, so they tried to buy the company from my dad, and he said no, so they kidnapped him," Roberto says.
Roberto's grandparents told little Roberto that his father had taken a trip to Panama and they had been sent to take care of him. His father returned home two days later without saying a word.
Then Julio was kidnapped a second time.
"The second time, I was in school and waiting for him to pick me up, and he never came," Roberto says. "I didn't have a phone. The director of my school took me home. That's when I found out he was kidnapped. I was little and they were trying to keep it away from me, but I already knew. I grew up around a lot of that. As soon as they released him, he came back and said, 'Pack a suitcase. We're going on vacation.'"
They each packed a bag. But they didn't go on vacation.
Julio and Roberto fled to Miami, Florida.
"(My father) still didn't give up (his company), we came to the United States, they broke into my grandparents' house and tied them up, and he had to pay more money," Roberto says. "They just took it. They went into the company and said, 'It's ours now,' and they took it."
Julio and Roberto lived in a hotel. Roberto began elementary school without knowing a word of English. He says it was one of the biggest obstacles he's had to overcome in life, getting to the United States, meeting people, and learning to speak English.
"We had no family," Roberto says. Just me and my dad."
The days eventually became better. Roberto grew into a fine young man. Baseball remained his focus. He attended Flanagan (Fla.) High School from 2014-17 and was named a 2018 MaxPreps Media School All-America Second Team selection while helping Calvary Christian out of Fort Lauderdale to the 2018 4A state title, recording three RBI in the championship game. A two-way player, he hit .365 over 30 games as a senior with seven doubles, five homers, 31 RBI and 30 runs scored.
When it came time to select a college, Roberto stayed in state at Florida (2019), College of Central Florida (2020) and South Florida (2021-22), where he posted a slash line of .236/.381/.478 with 14 doubles, four triples and 17 home runs over his two years with the Bulls.
Then fate stepped in.
"I know Hal Hughes, Coach Hughes' son, and my best friend is really close with Hal and we were playing summer ball together in south Florida," Roberto says. "I was playing well in the summer league and Hal called and said, 'Would you like to go to Kansas State?' I said, 'Yeah, dude.' Coach Hughes flew out to watch me and I decommitted from Stetson to come out here."
Roberto arrived in Manhattan without knowing a soul outside of the Hughes family.
"I'm a pretty outgoing guy," he says. "I didn't find it hard to talk with new people. I like building relationships. No lie, I was the most nervous I've ever been transferring because I'd never been outside the state of Florida, but I'm glad I did."
K-State teammates voted Roberto as a team captain. Roberto preaches for his teammates to be brothers. He strives to become close to all his teammates.
"Most of the guys are going to be going to my wedding one day," he says. "It's a good feeling."
You ask what makes K-State baseball special. I'm here to tell you. It's about guys like Roberto, guys who dive headfirst into the positive culture that Hughes and K-State and the community of Manhattan provides young men. The list of young men who've come to K-State in the twilight of their careers to better themselves as people and players is virtually endless.
Roberto, yeah, Roberto is a special story.
"Sports are very important to me," Roberto says, sitting in the meeting room. "It's what's gotten me through all my adversities and everything I've gone through. It's always been there for me. Baseball and my dad have always been there for me. Those are the two things in life that I really appreciate the most."
Today, he also appreciates being a senior leader for the Wildcats. He took the leap. He left his loving father, the comfort of Florida and the beaches that he loves. His father, and the beaches will be there, he knows, along with that constant reminder under the cloudless blue skies of the faraway land, when things were out of hand, when things were tough, the life he left behind, and the 23-year-old man that he's become.
Players Mentioned
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