How Armando Alvarez Found Out He Would Make His MLB Debut
Oakland A's third baseman Armando Alvarez got word that he'd be making his big-league debut while preparing to take his fourth at-bat against the Tacoma Rainiers on Friday night. He was pulled back and told, "You're not hitting." Alvarez was confused. With a lefty on the mound, he should definitely be hitting. "No, you're going to the big leagues" his manager told him. Alvarez told reporters, "That works too."
The first call he made upon receiving the news was to his parents, but since they live on the east coast and he was playing out west, they were already asleep. He said he had to call ten times before his mom woke up, and when he told her, she thought he was joking. "So did my dad."
Alvarez has been waiting for this moment, playing in 700 minor league games to finally earn his promotion. His internal belief in himself kept him going through all those years in the minor leagues, and at the age of 29, he made his debut on Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum as a defensive replacement for Tyler Nevin at third in the top of the eighth with the A's trailing 10-2.
He would get his first official MLB at-bat with one away in the bottom of the ninth against Bailey Ober, who was attempting to go the distance on Saturday. On the first pitch Alvarez saw, a cutter on the outside corner, the third baseman tried to check his swing but instead tapped the ball up the first base line. Ober picked it up and threw Alvarez out at first.
After grinding day in and day out in the minor leagues since 2016 to make it to that moment, that wasn't the storybook ending that many in the stands were hoping for. Still, with Abraham Toro on the IL, Alvarez will receive an opportunity at somewhat regular playing time.
Saturday was just the first day of hopefully quite a few more in Alvarez's big league journey.
JASON BURKE
Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum.