大略翻一下
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https://goo.gl/Zp2NCC
Before he could develop, Steven Souza Jr. had to grow up
By Zach Buchanan Mar 5, 2018
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – For most people, it would have been good news.
The email was from the football program at the University of Washington, just
half an hour from where Steven Souza Jr. grew up. The Huskies had received his
inquiry, it said. Yes, they were interested in bringing him in for a tryout.
華盛頓大學美式足球哈士奇隊寄信給Steven Souza說他們有興趣給他機會測試。
(華盛頓州的)
It was late 2011. Souza stared at it, contemplating a response. Instead of
elation, he felt uncertain. Earlier that year, he’d walked away from baseball,
quitting on his teammates and the Nationals organization that had drafted him
four years earlier. He was 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, and football seemed like an
enticing new chapter.
當時是2011年底，
Souza正在徬徨是否要回信，
那年稍早他放棄棒球，離開隊友跟華盛頓國民農場，
6呎4吋、255磅的他可能很適合打美足
For all he knew, baseball might have been done with him, anyway. On his way
out, Souza had set fire to enough bridges to make a return trip difficult. But
as the idea of a football career became less and less abstract, so did his
doubt about it. A question kept nagging at him.
他在離開棒球之前，破壞了很多關係，讓他的回歸困難重重
他的腦中一直思考著一個問題
Am I really done with baseball?
我真的不打棒球了嗎？
The email sat there. He never did respond.
那封郵件一直躺在那，Souza不曾回應。
***
A return to baseball was going to require an admission of guilt and an apology,
and Souza now freely admits he had much for which to atone.
Souza知道他需要懺悔，要贖罪
He was selfish. If he was playing poorly, he took his frustration out on his
teammates—and to that point, there’d been plenty of poor play. The Nats took
him in the third round out of high school, but he was now 22 and hadn’t
advanced beyond A ball. He’d topped out with a .738 OPS in 2010, a season that
ended early when Souza tested positive for an amphetamine and was banned 50
games.
他是那麼的自私
打得差就找隊友出氣，在場上打得很爛
國民用三輪選他，但22歲的他仍然在A
他在10年打出OPS.738，但他因為安非他命陽性被禁賽50場
It was Ritalin, and he’d taken a pill or two out of a bottle in a teammate’s
locker. He felt embarrassed for his parents when his name scrolled across the
bottom of the screen on ESPN, but even that experience didn’t shock him back
into line.
那是他從隊友那邊拿來的利他能，他吃了一兩顆
(一種中樞神經系統興奮劑，被廣泛應用於注意力缺陷多動障礙和嗜睡症的治療)
他覺得很丟臉，自己的名字出現在ESPN節目的最下面一排
但這次禁賽並沒有讓他退縮
“I needed to get to the big leagues, and that’s all that mattered in my life,
” Souza said from his locker in the Diamondbacks' spring training clubhouse.
“If you got in my way, then I was going to let you know you were in my way. I
broke a lot of relationships with that.”
「我需要打到大聯盟」Souza說「如果你擋我的路，我會讓你知道」
「我因此破壞了許多關係」
He wasn’t irredeemable, according to those who were around him. Plenty of
people called him to the carpet, and some even sporadically managed to
penetrate the wall that he’d built around himself. One was then-Nationals
shortstop Ian Desmond, who reproached Souza not with fiery bluster but with
calm questioning.
他並非無可救藥
有許多人試著念他
有的人試著打破他築起來的那道牆
Ian Desmond就曾經用溫和質詢的口氣找Souza談話
Why do you think people dislike you? Desmond would ask. Why do you think you’
re always butting heads with your teammates? Instead of chastising the jerk in
front of him, Desmond talked to the good person whom he sensed was inside.
為何覺得其他人討厭你？
為何要跟人家發生衝突
Desmond不是在責罵這個垃圾咖，他感覺到Souza內心是個好人
Souza remembers those conversations, but he also remembers feeling a nauseating
paranoia. Everyone was out to get him, he’d decided. They were backstabbers,
the bunch of them. He’d accept no one’s help.
但Souza是個偏執狂
他覺得大家都要對他不利
他不接受任何幫忙
Late in the season, he had a sickening realization that only confirmed his
feeling of isolation. His girlfriend had cheated on him with a teammate, an
actual betrayal to add to all the others that Souza had been imagining for
himself. Yet he found no sympathy.
當時他孤立無援
他女朋友戴他綠帽，跟隊友亂搞
但沒人替他感到同情
“This is really crazy to say, but when that happened, nobody felt sorry for me
because I was such a jerk,” Souza said. “It was almost like, ‘He deserves
that.’ ”
「因為我很垃圾」Souza說
A month later, Souza had it out with his manager in the batting cage, decided
he’d had enough and left the team. Doug Harris, then Washington’s farm
director, told him to not bother coming to instructional league in Florida
after the season.
一個月後他跟教練吵架
他決定離隊
農場總監Doug Harris說他不用回來打IL了
Souza instead headed home to Everett, Wash. Neither he nor Harris knew if he’d
be returning.
Souza回去西北的老家，沒人知道他是否會回來。
***
Even those who love Souza can tell you how he left a bad first impression.
Harris first saw him when he was scouting for the Indians. He was mesmerized
by Souza's physical gifts in batting practice. Then, he struck out in his first
at-bat.
Souza常給人不好的第一印象
Harris還在印地安人的時候看過Souza打球
他很喜歡Souza的tool
但當Souza第一打席被三振之後...
“And he lost it on the umpire,” Harris said. “I mean, lost it. He quickly
was excused from that night’s ballgame. So he goes back in the dugout, and he
blows the dugout up.”
他對裁判發飆
然後被趕出去
之後在休息室大鬧
Brent Lillibridge got his bad impression second-hand. It was after the 2008
season, and Lillibridge and Travis Snider were starting a workout group for
ballplayers in Everett. Souza had played high school ball against Lillibridge's
younger brothers.
Souza的貴人Brent Lillibridge也曾經聽過他不好的傳聞
Lillibridge跟Travis Snider在Everett發起訓練營
而Souza曾在高中跟Lillibridge的弟弟對陣過
They did not offer good reviews.
“They were like, ‘Nah, nah. He’s horrible,’ ” Lillibridge said.
「他們對Souza的印象很糟糕」Lillibridge說
Still, something prompted Lillibridge to invite Souza along, and they worked
out together four times a week over the next several offseasons. And though he
could see Souza’s immaturity, he could see a decent person as well.
Occasionally, he’d try to playfully redirect Souza’s bad behavior.
不過他還是找了Souza
Souza在後來幾個休賽季都有來練習
他看到過Souza的不成熟，但他也能看Souza是個不錯的人
But something was different about the winter after the 2011 season. In his
aimlessness away from baseball, Souza says, he’d entered a depression and also
picked up a drug habit. Lillibridge could tell his workout partner needed
something to anchor his life.
2011年
當時Souza充滿絕望，染上藥癮
Lillibridge覺得Souza需要某個東西來引領他的生命
Lillibridge was a regular churchgoer, but in four years never had asked Souza
to join him. It wasn’t in his nature to be pushy about his faith, but that
winter something told him it was the right time. Still, Lillibridge agonized
over it, as if he was asking a crush on a date.
Lillibridge很常去教堂，但他不會一直跟別人傳教
但他認為這是個正確的時間
不過他還是有點困擾，就跟約妹子約會一樣難以啟齒
To both of their surprises, Souza accepted.
出乎意料的，Souza接受了。
“I never knew it was going to be a thing that started moving him toward
something totally different,” Lillibridge said.
「我不知道這會是讓他重新向前的事物。」
***
Souza can’t remember anything the pastor said that day. He just stared at the
church bulletin. Among the list of hymns and scripture lessons was a message
asking congregants if they wanted to be baptized. Something stirred Souza to
check the box next to it and turn it in.
Souza不記得那天聽了什麼講道
他只記得自己在看受洗的資訊
他填了
His baptism came a month later, and he began to shed the hard exterior he’d
carried with him for so long. He’d once believed that apologies are for the
weak, but Souza felt compelled to call Harris and ask for forgiveness and
permission to return to the organization. Harris’ response has stuck with him
since.
一個月後他受洗
然後開始改變
他打電話給Harris請求原諒跟同意回歸球團
“You’re not a bad kid. You just made some really bad choices,” Harris told
him. “We’d love to have you back.”
「你不是個壞孩子，你只是做了些錯誤的決定」Harris說
With a caveat, of course. In 2012, going into his age-23 season, Souza was
demoted back to Low-A. He remembers a teammate there expressing concern about
adding Souza’s volatility to the clubhouse. Souza had a lot of minds to
change.
作為懲罰，他在低階1A開季
他記得隊友擔心他反覆無常的個性
但他改變了
Steadily, he put in the work to change them. He let himself relax with
Hagerstown and earned a promotion to High-A by the end of the season. He
finally began to realize his potential, recording a .938 OPS and 23 homers
between the two levels. Even now, Souza calls that year his most enjoyable in
baseball.
他以行動改變了這些看法
然後在季末升到高階1A
在兩個階級打出OPS.938、23轟的成績
Souza依然認為12年是他打棒球以來最有趣的一年
Souza has been telling his tale of personal redemption ever since, before and
after he was traded to the Rays as part of a three-team deal in 2015. He got
married that year — Lillibridge was the best man — and a year later became a
father. But it was only in 2017 that his professional development caught up
with his personal growth.
2015年他被交易到光芒
他在那年結了婚，Lillibridge是他的伴郎
隔年他成為父親
而2017年，當他長大成人之後，他的職業生涯也逐漸成熟
His first two years with the Rays were disappointing, with injuries limiting
him to a combined 230 games. When healthy, he hit just .237/.310/.405, a line
that marked him just below the major-league average. He’d conventionalized his
swing, but it didn’t seem to be working.
他在光芒的前兩季受限於傷勢只出賽230場
打擊三圍略低於聯盟平均
他試著讓自己的揮棒變得跟一般人差不多，但沒用
Before last season, he worked to un-tweak things with hitting guru Robert Van
Scoyoc, now the hitting coordinator with the Diamondbacks. He raised his hands
back over his head and bent his knees more. He wound up posting a .351 on-base
percentage and smacking 30 home runs, a performance strong enough for the
Diamondbacks to acquire him last month as their replacement for J.D. Martinez.
去年球季前，他跟打擊大師Robert Van Scoyoc一起調整
(RVS這季被挖來響尾蛇擔任打擊策略)
他將他的手高舉過頭
然後膝蓋彎得更多
結果他打出.351上壘率、30轟
然後他在上個月被交易到響尾蛇
The 28-year-old is as close as he has ever been to a finished product, as a
ballplayer and as a man, even if he took the long route.
儘管他繞了遠路
但28歲的他已經逐漸成為一個成熟的棒球員跟男人
“We had a lot of growing pains,” Harris said, “but I couldn’t be prouder
of who he is as a person and what he’s accomplished.”
「成長伴隨著很多痛苦」
Harris說
「但我對於他的成熟跟成就感到驕傲。」
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