Brady North immersed himself in Spanish. It gives him a leg up with Orioles hitters.

Brady North has always been able to laugh at himself, so he was well equipped for what was to come when he began living in a house with three people of Dominican descent. He’s a self-described “white guy born in Nashville,” but in that house with three roommates in 2011, North committed to learning Spanish.

And not just learning it. He committed to immersing himself in the language.

Little did North know his decision as a teenager to try and fail and try again with a new language would open many doors in his life.

He met his wife, Yaidi, by speaking Spanish. He grew close with his roommates and helped some of them learn English, in turn. He found a role with the Orioles as an assistant hitting coach capable of overcoming a language barrier with some of Baltimore’s key hitters.

It began with changing the language on his phone more than a decade ago. Although he clicked many wrong buttons initially, he slowly learned — mastering a second language that would prove imperative for his career and personal life.

“An easy one was contacts: contactos,” North said. “Understanding, like, I just learned a word by changing my phone, that simply.”

He began watching English movies and shows with Spanish subtitles, and vice versa. Driving around with his close friend and roommate Josciel Veras, they listened to Veras’ father’s Bachata music, and North began to understand the love stories described in the lyrics.

The two years North spent at Hillsborough College in Florida set him up for a future in Major League Baseball.

“The form in which I speak it, the flow and the accent, where it tears down a barrier, it seems like I’m a native speaker, and that helps with the trust building at a pretty rapid pace,” said North, who speaks Spanish almost exclusively at home with his family. “I’ve thought about that many times, like, if I didn’t have this skill, I don’t think I’m sitting next to you right now, just because I don’t know what else separates me besides that ability to be one of them with how I speak.”

To get to this point, North made mistakes. He’d laugh them off and try again. It took fearlessness to immerse himself in Spanish, and Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo and outfielder Leody Taveras recognize the time and effort North put in when he was younger to be able to talk hitting with them more easily.

Basallo and Taveras both understand and speak English. But in the high-pressure environment of a game, and when discussing the intricate details of a swing, North’s ability to converse in Spanish makes everything easier.

In the first text messages North, 35, sent to Taveras and Basallo, he wrote in English. But, upon reaching spring training, he surprised both with the fluidity with which he speaks — and how he does it with a Puerto Rican lilt, courtesy of his wife’s influence.

“I was surprised, because his last name,” Taveras said. North, after all, isn’t a traditional Latin American surname. “I was like, ‘Oh, come on, bro, where’s that Spanish come from?’ Then he starts talking to me and it was nice.”

With the influence of Puerto Rico on his Spanish, players began calling North nicknames common to that country, such as Bori and Nene.

“I fully embrace that,” said North, who coached hitting in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rican winter leagues in 2021, 2024 and 2025.

Basallo heard North’s Spanish and immediately recognized the benefit of having a Spanish-speaking hitting coach as he adjusts to the majors.

“I think sometimes I face some difficulty when I would speak to other hitting coaches in English sometimes,” Basallo said through team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “But it feels great knowing I can speak to him in Spanish and knowing that he really understands what I’m trying to say and what we’re trying to accomplish.”

They’ve found success together. Basallo lifted his fifth home run of the season Sunday, and Taveras is off to his best start in years. And during the heat of the moment, when games require rapid instruction, North can deliver it.

“It’s something we have a lot of respect and admiration for,” Basallo said. “It also helps being able to communicate one to one, right, and not always needing a translator or having someone to facilitate in the middle, because sometimes it doesn’t come across the same way as it does when you’re able to communicate with someone one on one.”

When North and Yaidi had their first child in 2018, they decided to lean into Spanish as their primary language. The couple figured their kids, Hanley and Kenley, would learn English from their peers and in school, but they hoped to form a base of Spanish early in their lives. After all, North realizes how valuable bilingualism is.

His kids picked it up even before entering school. When he was a coach with the Tampa Bay Rays, North’s kids spent time in the Tropicana Field day care. Right-hander Shane McClanahan occasionally asked the boys if they had picked up English yet.

One day, in 2024, both kids replied in English.

“It’s like a light switch now, where they can be talking with Basallo, and then they go off to Gunnar [Henderson],” North said. “It’s pretty amazing.”

Part of the appeal for North learning Spanish was to break down barriers, and first baseman Pete Alonso followed a similar path. When Alonso grew up his grandfather spoke Spanish, so he developed a base as a child. He committed more to it upon reaching the majors, though, and Alonso will call out to Spanish-speaking players in their own language.

He’s not perfect. When he doesn’t know a word, North said, Alonso will look his way for help. But it’s not about flawless Spanish. It’s about trying.

“I think trying shows a lot,” Alonso said. “Because we’re all a team, we’re all trying to accomplish the same goal, it’s a sign of respect, and also, too, wanting to reach out, wanting to connect and caring.”

North agrees.

“Half of this is your willingness to embarrass yourself, but you’re showing the other person you’re connecting with that, hey, I’m trying to connect and speak your language,” North said. “And I’ve seen some of the best Latino guys I’ve had, they try fearlessly to speak English with their American teammates, and Pete’s one of the American guys who tries to speak fearlessly in Spanish. It’s huge. It means the world.”

Taking the leap into Spanish in 2011 opened the door for North to become more than a hitting coach. He’s a mentor and friend. He’s a listener of Joe Veras, his friend’s father. And none of that would’ve been possible if he hadn’t accepted the risk of misspeaking during his pursuit.

“I feel that’s probably where I’ve had my strongest footing in this game, my ability to build relationships and connect with guys,” North said. “Whether you’re from Dominican, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico or America, it doesn’t matter.”