Luis Alicea made the Cardinals for the first time in 1988 and the infielder quickly showed what he could do in the field, he just had to work on his hitting, according to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Alicia told The Post-Dispatch he just wanted to do the job the club needed him to do.
"Defensively, I feel like I'm playing well, that I'm doing the job," Alicea told The Post-Dispatch. "I'm either here to do one job (offense) or the other (defense), or hopefully both."
Alicea eventually did both well enough to see 13 major league seasons, playing for five different organizations. He didn't play his final game in the majors until 2002, with the Royals.
Alicea's career began in 1986, taken by the Cardinals in the first round of the draft out of Florida State University.
Alicea began with the Cardinals between short-season Erie and AA Arkansas. He then returned to Arkansas and saw AAA Louisville in 1987.
Alicea then made it all the way to St. Louis for 1988. He got into 93 games, mostly at second base. After his first long stint in the bigs in 1988, it took Alicea until 1991.
Alicea got into 56 games for the Cardinals in 1991 and 85 in 1992. In 1993, he got into 115 games and hit .279. He also knocked in 46 and stole 11.
In June 1994, Alicea came through for the Cardinals as a pinch-hitter. His seventh-inning, pinch-hit home run led the Cardinals over the Phillies in a game that month.
"It was a high fastball," Alicea told The Associated Press afterward. "I sure wasn't thinking home runs. I was hoping to get the ball in the gap and just drive in runs."
Alicea moved to the Red Sox in 1995. He hit .270 over the full season there. He then returned to the Cardinals for 1996 and played with the Angels in 1997.
He arrived with the Rangers for 1998 and stayed three seasons. In July 2000, Alicea came through with an 11th-inning triple for a win, two days after Alicea knocked in the game-winners in another contest.
Alicea played his final two seasons with the Royals. He then turned to coaching. He managed in the minors with the Red Sox, then served two seasons as the Red Sox first base coach and 2009 as first base coach with the Mets.
He has since gone on to work with Elev8 Sports Institute in Florida. In 2016, he helped Rene Rivera on his swing.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 12, 1988: Latin Update
- Southeast Missourian, Associated Press, June 10, 1994: Alicea delivers in pinch as Cards nip Phillies
Players/Coaches Featured: 2,743
Made the Majors:1,051-38.3%-X
Never Made Majors:1,692-61.7%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 439-X
10+ Seasons in the Minors:263
No comments:
Post a Comment