Sugar

Like many young men in the Dominican Republic, 19-year-old Miguel "Sugar" Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) dreams of winning a slot on an American baseball team. Indeed, his talents as a pitcher eventually land him a slot on a single-A team in Iowa, but culture shock, racism and other curve balls threaten to turn Sugar's dream sour.

In the Dominican Republic at the Kansas City Knight’s Professional Baseball Academy in Boca Chica, several young men train diligently in hopes of being selected by a team in the United States. Nineteen year-old pitcher Miguel Santos, who is nicknamed Sugar is surprised when a coach demonstrates an unfamiliar spiked curve ball. In addition to training and physical workouts, Miguel and the other athletes receive daily English lessons based on baseball terminology. Before a big game, a nervous Sugar vomits on the field, but then pitches well, only to be pulled when he throws the ball directly at a cocky batter. Reprimanded with the catcher later, Sugar is then surprised to learn that he has been selected for spring training at the Knight’s camp in Arizona. Sugar and several other academy ballplayers make their first airplane flight and are met in Phoenix by fellow Knight’s player, Jorge Ramirez. Over the next few days, Sugar’s pitching solidifies and he becomes friends with Brad Johnson, a well respected athlete who played college baseball at Stanford University. Weeks later, one of the Dominican Republic players, Antonio, learns that he is to be sent back to Boca Chica, while Sugar finds out that he, Jorge and Brad have been selected to move up to the Knights’ minor league affiliate, The Swing, in Bridgetown, Iowa. That night, Sugar telephones his mother to relate the good news. A few days later, in the unfamiliar lush Iowa farmland, Sugar moves into the home of Earl and Helen Higgins, an elderly couple devoted to the Swing who annually offer lodging to a young aspiring player. Settling into the season, Sugar grows closer to Brad, who teases him for not being familiar with historical baseball greats, including Puerto Rican legend, Roberto Clemente. One day, instead of taking the team bus to the away game, Sugar hides, then takes a public bus to New York City. With the team looking for him, Sugar finds a dingy room in a hotel to stay in. Days later, Sugar offers to do any clean-up work for free at a carpentry shop so that he could use some equipment to make his mother a small table. Through Jorge, Sugar joins a neighborhood baseball team, the Bandidos, who play in Robert Clemente Park. Happy to be on the field again, Sugar contentedly accepts his fortune and looks forward to whatever his new life has in store for him.