When Bryan Sornas began playing baseball nearly 10 years ago, he was one of a few Brazilian players in the Martha’s Vineyard Little League. Today, at just 17 years old, he is representing his home country on the international stage as a member of the UA-18 Brazilian national baseball team.

“You can’t not feel intimidated being surrounded by the talent,” he said. “But you just have to remember you earned your place along with everybody else.”

An all-purpose infielder with a batting average consistently above .350, Sornas is one of two Americans on the Brazilian national team, which has drawn players from around the world in an attempt to grow the sport’s presence in a country all but synonymous with soccer. His rise to the national ranks began on the Vineyard with the Little League Sea Dogs and most recently as part of the Expos Baseball Club in Boston, a premier club with national clout.

He first caught the eye of the Brazilian team when he was 16, but an injury prevented him from signing on. This year he officially joined the team, traveling to Brazil to practice and Argentina this fall to play in the South American tournament. The team placed second behind Venezuela, the returning champion.

Sornas holds a dual citizenship between the U.S. and Brazil, but he has lived on Martha’s Vineyard his entire life. Growing up, Sornas idolized the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks, first attending games as a spectator and then becoming a bat boy for the team at age 11. It was there, he said, that he learned the secret to staying sane at high levels of play.

Bryan Sornas at home in Chilmark.

“They take the game seriously, but at the same time they love the game,” Sornas said. “They act like kids when they’re out there, and that’s the thing — it’s a kid’s game. You want to have fun when you’re playing it.”

Still, he admits the pressure can be intense when playing in stadiums filled with tens of thousands of fans. When it gets to be too much, he turns to his father, Fabricio Sornas, who played on the Brazilian national volleyball team in his youth. Whereas many teenagers might rebuff the advice of their parents, Sornas has someone who understands completely.

“There’s not much you can say to him,” Sornas with a smile. “He’s been there before.”

In those moments, Sornas works with his dad to slow down his breathing and, in a way, “slow down the game.”

“We practice together in a batting cage in the backyard,” Fabricio said. “I always tell him, ‘Forget all that other stuff and just do it like you do when we’re hitting out back.’”

Bryan with his father Fabricio, who was on the Brazilian national volley ball team. — Ray Ewing

Since Bryan was young, Fabricio knew he wanted his son to learn the lessons of team sports, the same ones he learned as a nationally-ranked volleyball player. He also wanted every young Brazilian kid to be able to choose the sport that best suited them.

“When people think of Brazilians, they just think soccer,” Fabricio said. “I wanted Brazilians to know they don’t have to live in that stereotype... They can play soccer, they can play hockey, they can play baseball.”

When Bryan immediately took to baseball, Fabricio went all in, joining the Little League and hoping to forge a path that other Brazilian Americans could follow. Once Bryan got older, Fabricio started hosting clinics for the younger Brazilian players, of which there are now many.

“It’s important that they see him doing it and know that it’s an option,” Fabricio said. “If they see him doing it, they can see it for themselves.”

While Bryan Sornas’s roots remain in the Vineyard’s Brazilian community, his burgeoning baseball career has taken him to the mainland for school. In the same period that he joined the national team, Sornas started a new school at Worcester Academy, boarding there five days a week and returning home on weekends. There, he says his commitment to baseball resembles something like a full-time job on top of his regular academics. It’s common for his teammates to monitor their sleep patterns and follow a strict exercise and nutrition plan, he said, and he averages three protein shakes a day in addition to his regular meals.

It’s a level of rigor Sornas said he is happy with because he is representing his country on the national stage. But it’s coming back to the Island on the weekends, he said, that helps him reconnect with a normal teenage life.

“Going to Worcester [Academy], the focus is that you’re there to chase your dream,” Sornas said. “It’s really calming to know that I can come here and just be with my family and hang out with my friends...It takes my mind off the whole baseball thing for a little bit.”