The 2020 season has been turned upside-down by COVID-19, and now it is going to be the year an Olympian, Eddy Alvarez, made his debut.
Baseball has seen its fair share of impressive, two-sport athletes. From Bo Jackson, to Deion Sanders to Tim Tebow, who is still pursuing his dream of playing professional baseball.
Eddy Alvarez, a former Olympic speed skater and now MLB infielder, debuted for the Miami Marlins yesterday.
After being a part of the United States’ Silver medal-winning 5000-meter relay in
the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Alvarez called it quits as a speed skater and wanted to pursue a professional baseball career. This was a very speculated decision throughout the Olympic community.
After the 2014 Major League Draft, the Chicago White Sox signed Alvarez to a minor league contract. He did well in Rookie-level ball and was promoted to A+ by the end of 2015. By the end of 2016, he was playing for the White Sox’s AAA team.
The Marlins acquired him prior to the 2019 season, and he spent the season in their minor league system.
Over six seasons in the minor leagues, Alvarez played in 581 games, gathering 569 hits, hitting 40 home runs and 119 doubles, while hitting .278 with 98 stolen bases.
The ailing Marlins needed to be creative when putting together their newly constructed roster after the COVID-19 outbreak within Miami’s organization. On August 5, 2020, Alvarez finally got to accomplish his dream by playing in the majors.
In his first two games, he went 0-5 and struck out twice. He has played second and third base for Miami in their double header against the Baltimore Orioles . He also plays shortstop.
Alvarez is the first Olympic medalist, outside the sport of baseball, to play in a Major League Baseball game since Jim Thorpe, who last appeared in MLB in 1919.
Eddy Alvarez is a great story and is great for, not just baseball, but the entire sports community. He is another prime example of an athlete refusing to settle and risking it all to pursue their dreams. He was a distinguished and talented skater, but he wanted more.
Now, at age-30, he has an opportunity to play during one of the most unique professional sports seasons of all-time.