Josue Peley leaves Quebec Capitales to be Spanish interpreter for Blue Jays

JosuePeleyjumped at the chance to become the Toronto Blue Jays first official interpreter.

In January, Major League Baseball made it mandatory for its 30 teams to hireSpanish translators for this year's season.

• Montreal unveils Baseball Action Plan before exhibition games
• Montreal finally gets a baseball team, but not the Expos

The Venezuela-born, Montreal-grown former baseball catcher immediately saw an opportunity to combine hislove for baseball with his knack for languages.

"It's something new of course but it's amazing," Peley told CBC Montreal's Daybreak. "I've been in that world with all the big leaguers and everything that goes withitit's unbelievable."

Peley, who is fluent in Spanish, English and French, decided to leave theQubec Capitales to pursue this role.

'I lived it'

After playing baseball for farm teams in the United States andfour years with theCapitales, Peleyleaned heavily on knowingthree languages.

• Red Sox farmhand inspired byOmarVizquel

Peleymoved toMontreal when he was youngand could only speak Spanish. He struggled to integrate and learn English and French.

"It's ledme to a lot of stuff now. I'm trilingual now. I can read speak, write, I can do everything with mythree languages," Peley said.

With the Blue Jays, he is tasked with interpreting and translating for players whose first language is Spanish,a reality he dealt with during his early adulthood.

"I lived it when I went to college in the United States and I didn't speak very good English," Peley said."It's a struggle when you can't understand."

The language barrieroften makes players shy and it can be frustrating both on and off the pitch, said Peley.

He often helped translate for teammates and was key in the Capitalesdecisionto forma roster of Cuban players.

With his new role, the Montrealerhopes his decision to hang up his equipment and work in the major league will be beneficial.

"It can lead to me a lot of things," Peley said. "I can do this job for two to threeyears and then this can lead me to a lot.I can become a scout or a coach later. And who knows? Maybe you'lll see me in the big leagues as a coach or as a something else."