A Sizzling Yordan Alvarez named ALCS MVP, carries Astros into the 2021 World Series
Yordan Alvarez is using the 2021 postseason to prove what the Houston Astros have known all along: The 24-year-old slugger from Las Tunas, Cuba, is one of the best young hitters in the game despite a rocky start to his career. A year after missing all but two games of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season due to surgery on both knees, Alvarez — the 2019 AL Rookie of the Year — is putting a bright, beautiful bow on his comeback campaign with a torrid postseason. He was named the AL Championship Series MVP on Friday after the Astros beat the Boston
David vs. Goliath: Altuve beats out Judge for AL MVP
Size doesn’t matter. At least not in baseball. Jose Altuve, the Houston Astros’ dynamic — and diminutive — second baseman, handily beat out Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees’ gentle giant, for the American League MVP honor announced Thursday night. But it was hardly a David vs. Goliath battle to see which of the two heavily-favored players would be the one to bring home the hardware for most valuable player. It was no surprise the 27-year-old Altuve, who is generously listed at 5 feet, 6 inches, um, tall — he’s the shortest player in the game — added his first
He finally put a ring on it: Beltran retires as World Series winner
Carlos Beltran was always a winner, but he went out a champion. After a formidable 20 year-career and enough stellar stats to get the Hall of Fame argument rolling, the Puerto Rico-born outfielder/DH decided to hang up his spikes after using his bat – and baseball brains –- to help the Houston Astros win their first-ever World Series championship this past season. The 40-year-old Beltran announced his retirement on Nov. 13, admitting he made the decision to call it a career during the middle of the 2017 season regardless of how far the Astros went in the playoffs. “At the beginning
Glove Story: Lindor, Arenado, Peralta among players who struck Gold in 2019
A player’s contributions on defense are often overlooked these days in baseball’s current homer-happy, offense-minded era. Thankfully, there’s the annual Gold Glove awards to remind fans that the best players are the ones who can flash some leather, too. Here are some of 2019’s winners, who were chosen by a vote of MLB managers and coaches plus a sabermetric index by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR): Catcher, American League Roberto Perez, Indians It was virtually impossible for a pitcher to get a ball by Perez, who didn’t allow a passed ball last season en route to his first
Carlos Carrasco wins 2019 Roberto Clemente Award
Carlos Carrasco’s remarkable comeback from a cancer diagnosis to take the mound again for the Cleveland Indians wasn’t the only feel-good moment in the right-hander’s roller-coaster 2019 season. On Oct. 25, the Venezuelan native received the 2019 Roberto Clemente Award, the annual honor named for the Pittsburgh Pirates icon from Puerto Rico killed in a 1972 plane crash while bringing aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. The award is given to a player who displays “extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions both on and off the field,” according to MLB, and the 32-year-old pitcher certainly lives up to
Star Spotlight: Miguel Cabrera
The 2022 season was the worst of Miguel Cabrera’s otherwise stellar career, but the Detroit Tigers slugger wasn’t about to let injuries and age force him to call it a day. Cabrera, 39, was limited to 112 games, during which the career .308 hitter and 500 home run club member only had 5 dingers and a .254 average. But the Venezuela native vowed to return in 2023 for the last year of his contract, hopeful that a return to health will equate to a solid year at the plate as he caps off a Cooperstown-bound career. Yet this past season,
A superstar is born: Juan Soto’s 2019 postseason
To watch Juan Soto do his thing on a baseball field in October is to witness a rising superstar having the time of his life on the post-season stage. And then you realize: This guy wasn’t even old enough to drink the victory champagne in the clubhouse after each of the three clinching wins that finally brought the Washington Nationals to the World Series. Yes, the new face of the Nats turned only 21 on Oct. 25, 2019, smack in the middle of a dramatic World Series against the Astros. And he has plenty to celebrate besides becoming an official
SEE IT: Video tour of Roberto Clemente exhibit in Guaynabo, P.R. (Part I)
The Robert Clemente exhibit of historic artifacts, artwork and other memorabilia that opened in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, to much fanfare in late February was unfortunately shuttered until further notice after the coronavirus pandemic struck. Luckily, fans of the late Pittsburgh Pirates icon who missed the short window of opportunity to check it out can see what they're missing in this recent report below from ABC Puerto Rico's "Primetime." Check back on LatinoBaseball.com regularly for details on the exhibit's planned reopening this summer, and click here for a behind the scenes look at the Clemente Museum in Pittsburgh, which provided many
