CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Our second KRIS 6 Hooks Kid Reporter, 7-year-old Ava Peralta, sat down in the dugout with Astros' Double-A center fielder Zach Daniels. Peralta is one of seven kids selected this summer to interview and get to know a Hooks player at Whataburger Field.
To sign up to be a KRIS 6 Hooks Kids Reporter, click here. This interview is split into two videos.
Ava Peralta: Who first taught you how to play baseball?
Zach Daniels: That's a great question, so my dad loved baseball, but my grandma loved baseball as well. She's from New Jersey. She came down when I was in elementary school to live with us, and every day after school we were out in the backyard playing wiffle ball. I feel like it was more of a family effort, but the love for baseball came from my grandma for sure.
Ava: What's your favorite Taylor Swift song?
Zach Daniels: My favorite Taylor Swift song, I'm not too sure. What's your favorite Taylor Swift song?
Ava: Love Story.
Zach: I've heard of that one. That is a good one. My sister loves Taylor Swift.
Ava: What was your favorite TV show as a kid?
Zach Daniels: My favorite TV show as a kid was Curious George. I love Curious George because he always had something on his mind that he wanted to figure out, and there's this big whole world to go figure out so I just loved watching that and the big man with the yellow hat.
Ava: Curious George is a good one. I have a book about him.
Ava: Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Zach Daniels: Definitely an early bird, but I have to be a night owl because we play all of our games at night. In the offseason, I do love waking up early, seeing the sunrise, and just starting my day that day. What about you?
Ava: I usually stay up all night.
Zach: Really? Me, when COVID happened, I was in bed at 8:30 p.m.
Ava: The latest I've ever stayed up is 6 a.m.
Zach: The latest I've ever stayed up was probably 4 a.m. and that was not by my choice. That was just bus trips.
Ava: Would you rather have a teammate as Donkey Kong or Sonic?
Zach: I'm going to say Donkey Kong because he's strong. We have a lot of lot of fast guys on our team, but Donkey Kong is smart and witty too, because he'll throw the bananas to slow everybody down. Did you see the new Mario movie? They're able to build those carts, so in this heat I'd like to ride on the cart.
Ava: What's your favorite topping on pizza?
Zach: Pepperoni. Just pepperoni. What about you?
Ava: Pepperoni and black olives.
Zach: Ohhh fancy. That's fancy.
Ava: What's your favorite cookie?
Zach Daniels: Chocolate, regular plain chocolate chip. I love chocolate or like double chocolate. Like the chocolate with the chocolate chips.
Ava: Do you like to go fishing?
Zach Daniels: Yes I do like to go fishing, so me and Colin Barber on this team when we're in spring training down in Florida we go fishing usually like twice a week. Just pass the time, get outside and relaxing. I usually don't catch that many fish. Barber catches more fish than I do, but do you fish?
Ava: I do fish, but not as much because we don't live that close to the water.
Ava: Are you good at rock, paper, scissors?
Zach: I would say I'm about average. Not the best, but I'm pretty good. Are you better than me?
Ava: Probably.
Zach: Probably? You want to go for it? Usually, I'm not this good. I promise you. I promise.
Ava: Usually, I'm better than this because I usually beat everyone.
Zach: You usually beat everybody. Your sisters and your mom? Ooooh, uh oh she's calling y'all out.
