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He lived in a tropical Caribbean nation for the past year, but Melbourne teenager Robinson Smith wasn’t there to laze on the beach or go clubbing.

Instead, the 17-year-old spent most of 2025 training alongside some of the world’s best young baseball players, in the Dominican Republic.

Robinson Smith at the Pittsburgh Pirates’ baseball academy near Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with his mother, former Olympic swimmer Nicole Livingstone, and sister Ella Smith.

Hoping to one day play major league baseball in the United States, Robinson joined the Pittsburgh Pirates development squad in January as a pitcher, signing a six-year contract.

Since then, home has been the Dominican Republic, a Spanish-speaking nation 16,000 kilometres from Melbourne and in a time zone 15 hours behind.

Named after African-American baseball icon Jackie Robinson, the teen says he passed his spare time with friends, heading out to get fried chicken or pizza but otherwise going out only occasionally.

Sharing a room with three others at the training academy, players spent hours each day in the gym.

Robinson pictured training in Sandringham on the day he signed his Pittsburgh Pirates contract in January 2025.Credit: Dylan Burns Photography

From April to August, Robinson played baseball games, either against fellow Pirates or development squad players from other teams such as the Baltimore Orioles or Boston Red Sox.

There was a fair bit of downtime, he said. “Hanging out in our rooms, a lot of the guys play video games. I’ve been watching a lot of games on Netflix.”

Only a few recruits speak English, but Robinson says his Spanish is improving.

The son of Australian swimming legend Nicole Livingstone, he is one of four Victorians The Age is profiling for a Living Abroad summer series on locals who spent 2025 far from home.