Baseball Burgeons in Bhutan

Renegades host special night for 12 young players

The Hudson Valley Renegades, the New York Yankees High-A affiliate, put on a show Tuesday (Aug. 20) by welcoming 12 young baseball and softball players from Bhutan, a small country (pop. 782,000) nestled between China and India in the Himalayan Mountains.  

The game itself was a blowout as the ’Gades (59-54) overwhelmed the Wilmington Blue Rocks, 10-0, but the real story was in how the Bhutanese players ended up at the game at Heritage Financial Park just north of Beacon. 

Baseball wasn’t even played in Bhutan until 2010, when Matthew DeSantis, an American who lives there, and Karma Dorji, a Bhutan native in Australia, co-founded the Bhutan Baseball and Softball Association (BBSA). 

Within weeks, some 700 children had begun playing. That has since grown to more than 6,000. 

Bhutanese baseball caught the eye of the Renegades’ general manager, Zach Betkowski, after DeSantis posted a photo on social media of a game being played there on a stone surface before a giant Buddha. 

Photos by Ross Corsair

The result was Tuesday’s Bhutan Night, which brought the 12 teenagers from Bhutan to Dutchess County, all expenses paid. 

On Sunday, the Bhutanese players toured the Hudson Valley and the next day attended a baseball clinic led by Renegades coaches and players. 

At Tuesday’s game, the Bhutanese players each donned a gho, the traditional robe of their country, and took the field where Renegades players wore jerseys that featured the thunder dragon, an important element of Bhutan’s flag. They also were invited to throw out a first pitch, saw their nation’s flag flowing in centerfield and heard their national anthem echo through the stadium. 

To support the visit, the Renegades asked local businesses for contributions and auctioned off memorabilia, including a baseball autographed by Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole and the thunder dragon jerseys. In an on-field ceremony, the BBSA was presented with a check for $62,885.

On Wednesday, the Bhutanese ballplayers traveled to New York City to receive a VIP tour of Yankee Stadium, participate in batting practice with the Yankees and attend their first big league game. (New York fell to the Cleveland Guardians, 9-5.) 

In an interview with Major League Baseball, DeSantis said he could envision a day when a Bhutanese player reaches the professional ranks.