Jose Cordero has always been well liked by his Grand Prairie AirHogs teammates, but until recently the pitcher wasn't really well-known.

"Had no idea," said AirHogs manager Pete Incaviglia. "I mean just in awe, just slack-jaw."

What his teammates and coaches didn't know was that like thousands of Cubans, Cordero defected from the Communist country by boat to the Florida coast. He survived shark-infested and stormy seas.

"It was incredible because I felt like, 'man this is my last day of my life, I'm going to die,'" Cordero remembers.

Five other ball players made that trip with Cordero, including Atlanta Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar. Their story was featured in a recent edition of Sporting News magazine.

Cordero's AirHogs teammates couldn't believe what they were reading.

"Even Edwin Maldonado, who played with him in Laredo last year, started crying," Incaviglia says. "I mean he didn't even know and he played with him all year the year before, it's just an emotional thing."

"Right now this not my team, it's my family," Cordero says.

The 24-year-old right hander was drafted by the Twins in 2005, but released two years later. Now he's trying to keep his big league dreams alive.

"If you're doing bad yesterday don't worry about yesterday, just live the present," Cordero says. "You cannot do nothing about yesterday. Nothing."

Although playing for the AirHogs is a long way from his desired destination of the big leagues, if there's one thing you need to know about Jose Cordero it's don't count him out.

"I wouldn't count this guy out of nothing," Incaviglia says. I wouldn't be surprised if you see this guy in the big leagues some day he's just a tremendous individual."

"That's why I always smile," Cordero says. "I left the past in the past."