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Salome, who moved to the United States with his mom when he was just 3, is a citizen of both his native and adopted countries and is completely bilingual, graduating in 2004 from George Washington High School (alma mater of Manny Ramirez) before being drafted by the Brew Crew in the fifth round of the First-Year Player Draft.

And from the moment he left his Washington Heights home for Milwaukee's Arizona complex nearly 2,500 miles away, he has done more than just rake -- a .322 career batting average in five seasons notwithstanding -- and develop as a catcher.

He's also served as a cultural touchstone for some of his Latino teammates, many of whom were still in their teens, who were still working on mastering the English language and the customs of a foreign country.

From Phoenix to Helena, Mont., to Charleston, W.Va., to Viera, Fla., to Huntsville, Ala., Salome took under his wing any young teammate who needed assistance, from helping them set up their utilities to lending them money for groceries to just being there for moral support.

While there has been less need for the real basics as he's moved up the ladder (he finished the 2008 season in Milwaukee), he has always let teammates know he was there if needed.

"You're always going to have some players who might speak a little bit of English, but don't feel comfortable with reporters," Salome said. "Sometimes they'll say, 'Leave me alone, Angel, I can do it myself, but just be right next to me in case I get in a little trouble.' And that's what I do. But I am just proud of them as they try to learn every day."

So Salome's participation in the recent one-day Latino Rookie Career Development Program session that preceded the "main event" was familiar territory, even though he probably didn't need to be there for his own purposes.

The RCDP dates back to 1991 and is perhaps the only program in baseball that is co-sponsored joyfully by the Players Association and Commissioner's Office.

The program, which takes place over a long weekend, brings together a handful of top prospects from each of the 30 organizations, players who have already spent some time in the big leagues or who their clubs think will be there very soon.

During the three-day event, players participate in interactive sessions, lectures and discussion groups that address challenges they will face when they reach the big leagues. They range from working with the media, protecting their careers from issues like gambling and drugs, knowing all the rules about performance-enhancing substances, maintaining their health and financial and fiscal responsibility.

In addition, the program utilizes a team of "baseball resource players," former Major Leaguers who take the time every year to share their own experiences, both in large group sessions and smaller breakout groups.

"I pretty much knew most of the things they were telling us, but it was different to have those players tell us that they'd been through these situations before and we would probably go through the same things," Salome said. "The main reason we're here is to learn to believe it."

The one-day Latino program, however, was not added to the RCDP until the last decade, when it became clear that to make it more meaningful and rewarding for Spanish-speaking players, an additional facet was needed.

Several of the clubs' top prospects, who had varying degrees of mastery of English, are brought in a day early and treated to a one-day crash course on many of the topics that will be discussed further over the rest of the weekend.

This session is conducted exclusively in Spanish and gives players an initial comfort level and familiarity with the subjects.

Then, when the other players arrived on Thursday evening to kick off the rest of the program, the Latino players could use headsets through which interpreters kept them apprised of all of the discussion.

In addition, players who had little or no English background were together in one discussion group, while those with more varying degrees were in another group with a few other bilingual players.

Among the speakers during the Latino program was Sal Artiaga, who has been involved in the game for more than 40 years, including a term as president of Minor League Baseball, and who serves as director of Latin American operations for the Philadelphia Phillies.

There are few, if any, people in baseball more devoted to trying to make the transition easier for these players than Artiaga, who has written a handbook just for that purpose that includes a Spanish-English glossary of baseball terms.

"There are approximately 8,000 professional baseball players, ranging from the Rookie leagues to the Majors," Artiaga explained. "Of that group, 3,500 or about 44 percent are foreign. And of that group, 91 percent are from Spanish-speaking countries."

For the most part, the Latino program follows the script, condensed though it is, of the regular program. But there are a few topics addressed that are exclusive to the one-day session, such as immigration laws, cultural differences and language barriers, the latter two of which are Artiaga's domain.

"There are a lot of things they do differently in the Dominican, that have to be taught," Salome said. "And you have to learn how to handle yourself, how to dress, how to say 'Hi' to the people, how to tip when you go to restaurants, just all the little things you have to do to get better."

Perhaps the hardest-working people over the course of the program, however, are the two women who sit in the tiny booth in the back of the ballroom and, in alternating 20-minute shifts, serve as interpreters: Susana Santangelo and Eva DesRosiers.

Santangelo, who hails from Argentina, and DesRosiers, who grew up in Ecuador, are self-employed freelance translators who spend most of the year working for such employers as the U.S. Department of Justice, State Department, foreign embassies and law firms.

They have both been regulars at the RCDP since the addition of the Latino program, and both say it is by far the job they look forward to most all year.

"This is the most fun job we have," Santangelo said. "Everything else in this area is either political or legal."

During the program, and especially during the role-playing skits performed by the noted Second City improvisation troupe, the language can get a little ... well, salty. So it might be disconcerting if players turned around and saw these two well-bred ladies rapidly translating what is being said.

But that aspect of the job doesn't faze either one of them.

"Sometimes you have to use vocabulary you wouldn't use in everyday life, but you get used to it," DesRosiers said. "Working in courts, we have to do that, too."

"I personally don't mind the street language and slang," Santangelo added. "The thing that is hard sometimes to interpret is the nitty-gritty of the game vocabulary or when they go into high detail about the plays."

That's where Artiaga's glossary was a huge help. And by now, both women are familiar enough with the terms that they rarely need to refer to it.

Angel Salome was the first catcher since Jason LaRue to win the Southern League batting title. (Photo courtesy Huntsville Stars)