The story of the Royals’ most powerful prospect begins in a pasture on the northwest coast of the Dominican Republic.
From the time he was 5, Seuly Matias milked cows for a local business. Often he was compensated with food — fresh milk or cheese, the sort of healthy fat he needed to help replenish the fibers in muscles strained by manual labor — that he would eat on-site and then take leftovers home to his family. Other times, they’d pay him small amounts of cash that he contributed to his mother’s coffers.
The routine remained for more than seven years.