SEATTLE -- From his smile to his charm to the way he plays the game, Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt is a smooth operator in almost every sense of the word.

He's slick. He makes plays, almost all plays, look routine and he does so with such grace that he leaves fans, sportswriters and opposing players alike wondering where exactly this guy came from. He's proud. Betancourt is not shy about telling anyone within earshot that the women in his life, mother Maura and grandmother Maria, have made him who he is today.

Maura and Maria live in Cuba. Betancourt, who defected from the country in 2003, talks to them by phone almost every day, but tries not to think about the fact that he may never see mama or abuelita again.

"I hope that one day they will be by my side and I hope one day I will have the opportunity to see them, but I don't know," Betancourt, 24, said. "What can I say? There are no words to describe what it feels like to be far away from the people you love, what you are used to and the country where you were born. But we Cubans are survivors, everybody knows that."

Baseball, even at the highest level in the world, is the easy part for Betancourt. He is hitting .291 with 30 RBIs for the Mariners this season and is emerging as one of the top young players in the game. Life, on the other hand, has been anything but a walk in the park. Yet, he continues forward and does so with a smile on his face.

Just like he always has.

"Everybody has a goal to get better, to get higher and be the best," Betancourt said. "In Cuba, you get to a point and you can't get any higher. You can stay at the same level for years and you get comfortable. You don't use everything you have because sometimes you don't need it. You can play on 80 percent of your ability and do well. Here there is no limit to how much better you can get because the best players in the world are here."

No matter how you look at it, "here" is a long way from home.

Betancourt was born in Santa Clara, Cuba, and said he can't remember a time when he was not playing baseball. He jokes that you can't be a real Cuban if you don't play baseball from birth, or shortly after, because the sport is the country's national pastime.

Put in those terms, Betancourt is a real Cuban.

"I played everywhere," he said, "The street, the fields, with friends, everywhere. I played all the time."

Betancourt's parents divorced when he was young and although he admits to still having a good relationship with his father and his father's new family, he was raised by Maura and Maria. They were his support group. They still are. Betancourt also spends a lot of time on the phone with his sister, who also lives in Cuba.

"My mother always encouraged me to be my best and use what God gave me," he said. "She always said to follow my dreams."

He did.

Tagged as one of the elite players in the country as a teenager, Betancourt rose to fame and shined as the shortstop for Cuba in the World Junior Championships in 2000. He continued to progress as a player, but hit a roadblock in 2003. While playing with Villa Clara in Cuban League play, he was moved from his normal position to second base to make room for Cuban star Eduardo Paret. Betancourt didn't like the switch, but remained calm.

After all, he had respect for Paret.

But Betancourt's impatience and frustration increased when he was not selected to play for the Cuban National team that year. He wondered if his omission had anything to do with the fact that he had a cousin who lived in the United States and if it did, why was that so? At that point in his life, Betancourt was not a threat to defect.

That changed. Leaving the island was now an option.

"I had traveled with the [Cuban Junior] team since I was a teenager and it was my time to play for the national team," he said. "They didn't take me on the national team and that was hard. I believed I was ready. After that, I said, 'I'm out of here.'"

It was easier said than done. At 2 a.m. on Nov. 28, 2003, Betancourt met at a secret location and set sail on a raft with nine others, including longtime friend Saydel Beltran, a left-handed pitcher who recently signed with the Mariners organization. The journey across the ocean to Mexico was treacherous, so dangerous in fact that the party made a stop at a remote island along the way to avoid death when the waves became too rough.

It was a perilous ride, but four days after he left Cuba, Betancourt and company landed in the Mexican city of Cancun on the northeast tip of the Yucatan peninsula. At last, they were free from Fidel Castro's communist country. They were also scared.

"I did not tell anybody I was leaving and I wondered what was happening to my family," Betancourt said. "Nobody knew that I was going to go because I didn't want them to worry. I didn't want my family to have problems. Like they say, it is very personal. Every person has their tale, every person has a history. Mine is that I left Cuba to follow my dreams."

Details of the escape and journey remain a mystery, in part because Betancourt says he does not want to get anybody in trouble and he knows people are still likely using the method to leave the island. He also avoids talking about Cuba's government and Castro in general because of family concerns.

This much is certain. Upon his arrival in Mexico, Betancourt split time in Mexico City and Culiacan. He kept in shape by working out with Culiacan's Mexican League team, the Tomateros, and won praise from scouts in the Mariners organization. Seattle had heard of Betancourt since his days with Cuba's Junior National team.

Betancourt participated in individual tryouts for the Braves, Cubs, Dodgers, Mariners, Mets, Red Sox and Yankees in 2004, and eventually signed a four-year, $3.65 million contract, with the Mariners on Jan. 26, 2005.

He started last season with Double-A San Antonio and made his Major League debut with the Mariners on July 28. He went on to hit .256 with 11 doubles and five triples in 60 games for Seattle in 2005. Betancourt's first big-league hit was a triple.

"It's amazing when you think about the things he has had to overcome to be the player he is today," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "He's a very natural and gifted athlete. I don't know if there is a better defensive shortstop in the league."

Betancourt is determined to be the best. He lives in Miami, but spends part of his offseason training in Tampa with White Sox pitcher and fellow countryman Jose Contreras. Contreras, who defected from Cuba in 2002, is not only Betancourt's training partner and good buddy, he also acts as his big brother.

"You can't do anything in life if you don't try," Betancourt said. "If you don't follow what is in your heart, you will not be fulfilled. Part of my goal has been accomplished. I have helped my family and now my goal is to see them. It might not be today or tomorrow, but maybe in the future."

The women in his life hope so.