PITTSBURGH -- With Venezuela rocked by political turmoil and social struggles, Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli is among those having trouble compartmentalizing what they need to do on the field, while their thoughts are with family and friends back home.
"Every day I get messages from friends and family who have no food, who have no medicine for their little girls, who have no diapers," Cervelli said. "I don't recognize this Venezuela. It's really difficult. The very first thing I do every single day is look at my phone to see what has happened. It's extremely critical what's happening back home."
"My friends ... my brothers that I grew up with ... they are going through a really tough time. Every day they take out to the streets to wave a flag, which is all they have. With all that danger. With bullets buzzing around them. It's crazy. Every day I am deeply saddened to see that."
Anti-government protests demanding that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro step down have turned deadly in the capital of Caracas. Protesters accuse Maduro of not upholding democratic values and blame him for an inflation rate that is the highest in the world.
Maduro has sent the Venezuelan military onto the streets to maintain order, which has resulted in the death of a number of protesters.
Venezuela, once one of the richest countries in South America, now is experiencing shortages of milk, flour, toilet paper and medicine. Violent crime has risen sharply, as has the country's unemployment rate. Rolling blackouts have also been commonplace.
"I am not suffering as much as those who have taken to the streets, but I am suffering with everything that's happening," Cervelli said. "I also suffer seeing that nobody does anything within the international community, with a government that is only making fun of people who are protesting in the streets with a Bible in their hand, with no clothes on, with no weapons, and they are asked to step aside and don't let them be able to express themselves the way the law says they can.
"It's a joke to them. This hurts my soul. It's driving me crazy."
Other Venezuelan-born players -- there are nearly 80 on active rosters throughout the majors -- have taken to social media to express their emotions about what is happening.
"It is terrible the situation that is living my country and my Venezuelan brothers," Texas Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos posted on his Instagram account: "I lived this situation personally last year when I went to play baseball. What Venezuelans live every day. Fear of insecurity that rob you or kill you, lack of essential products, lack of medicine. ... I want a change of government because the one we have today in power has forgotten the people."
Omar Vizquel, who managed Venezuela during the WBC and is a first-base coach for the Detroit Tigers, echoed those sentiments.
"I keep worrying about this situation we're living in. We can't ignore the suffering of our friends and relatives who are back in our homeland, where we grew up and became men," Vizquel said. "All I do is pray for the health of each one of those people who are on the streets exposing themselves because they just want to be heard. What I feel right now is very feel difficult to put into words."
Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez also described his emotions in an Instagram post written in Spanish.
"I LOVE YOU my #venezuela," Perez said in the post. "It hurts me to see all that is happening to you, it's enough already with so much violence, hungry children, lack of jobs, GOD please take care of all those people !!!"
Perez specified in his post that he was neither a "Chavista" -- a supporter of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez -- nor an opponent, "but it hurts me for me to see this."
Maduro served under Chávez as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2013 and as vice president of Venezuela from 2012 to 2013.
And while Pérez and many other Venezuelan players prefer not to align their views with anti-Chávez politics, Cervelli bluntly said he is no longer afraid.
But while Cervelli has been able to bring most of his family to the United States, other players have been unable to do so.
"Thank God I had the opportunity to get them out, but it took me a long time," Cervelli said. "Every time they called me -- 'Fran, I can't get medicine. Fran, I can't do this anymore.' It affected my dad and my mom, too. But we have to keep fighting. We have to keep standing up for the values that we learned in our home.
"I grew up in another Venezuela. I know two types of Venezuela, and the one that has been around for the last 18 years is not the one I want. I would like to raise my children in Venezuela. I would like to have a house in Venezuela. I would like to go back to my country when the baseball season ends."