Paulo Orlando was born in São Paulo, Brazil. His mother is a nurse. When Orlando was 12 years old, a Japanese-Brazilian physician who worked with Orlando\'s mother recommended that he try his hand at baseball, an obscure sport primarily played by the Japanese community in Brazil. Because baseball fields were so few, Orlando could only play baseball on weekends. He relied mostly on his speed and was not among the best players on his youth teams. However, as was typical in Brazil, most of his teammates abandoned the sport as they got older.\n', '

Growing up, in addition to baseball, he played association football (soccer). In his early teens, he also took up track and field. He ran the 200-meter sprint in 21 seconds and the 400-meter dash in 46.36 seconds for the Brazilian Youth Olympic team. In 2005, he quit track to focus on baseball; he began playing in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.\n', '

Orlando was discovered and signed by a Cuban scout for the Chicago White Sox in 2005. He was named the fastest base runner in the White Sox system for the 2006 and 2007 seasons, as well as best defensive outfielder for the 2007 season.\n', '

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