Gabriel de Jesus Alvarez (born March 6, 1974) is a Mexican

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

coach and former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

(1998–2000) and the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

(2000).

Playing career

A 6'1, 205 lbs. right-hander, Alvarez played college baseball at USC from 1993 to 1995 for head coach Mike Gillespie. In 1993 and 1994, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Chatham A's The Chatham Anglers, more commonly referred to as the Chatham A's and formerly the Chatham Athletics, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chatham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

. Alvarez was selected by the Padres in the second round of the 1995 MLB Draft. While playing in the minor leagues for the

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and play their home games at LoanMart Field. The franc ...

in 1995, he turned an unassisted triple play as a second baseman. He caught a line drive over second base, stepped on the bag to get one runner and tagged the other one coming into second from first. He told the reporter covering the game that exactly the same thing had happened to him the previous year at USC, but he threw to first instead of tagging the runner to complete the triple play. He said a teammate had pointed out that he had missed a chance at an unassisted triple play, and he had promised himself if it ever happened again, he would do it differently. Alvarez was taken by the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

as the fifth pick in the 1997 MLB expansion draft, but was traded by the Diamondbacks with Matt Drews and Joe Randa to the Tigers for Travis Fryman. Alvarez made his major league debut for the Tigers on June 22, 1998, going 1–4. On July 17, 2000, he was traded by the Tigers to the Padres for

Dusty Allen Dustin R. Allen (born August 9, 1972) is a retired Major League Baseball (MLB) player who primarily played first base in 2000. He played for the Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres. Early life Allen was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He attend ...

. He finished his major league career with 59 hits, a .222

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, 29 runs, and an .877 fielding percentage.

Coaching career

In 2010, Alvarez became the assistant baseball coach at the University of Southern California (USC). He was hired by the Detroit Tigers to manage their Double-A affiliate, the

Erie SeaWolves The Erie SeaWolves are an American professional baseball team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. They compete in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) as a member of the Eastern League's Southwest Division, serving as the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Ti ...

of the Eastern League in 2022. Alvarez remained with the team in 2023 and led Erie to win the Eastern League championship. He was also selected as the 2023 Eastern League Manager of the Year. The SeaWolves repeated as Eastern League champs in 2024 with Alvarez as manager. Alvarez served as the third base coach for the National League team in the 2024

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League- ...

. On October 31, 2024, Tigers promoted Alvarez to become the new manager for Triple-A

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

References

External links

1974 births Baseball players from Navojoa Birmingham Barons players Chatham Anglers players Chattanooga Lookouts players Detroit Tigers players Huntsville Stars players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players Living people Major League Baseball players from Mexico 20th-century Mexican sportsmen Major League Baseball third basemen Memphis Chicks players Mexican expatriate baseball players in the United States Mobile BayBears players Rancho Cucamonga Quakes players San Diego Padres players USC Trojans baseball coaches USC Trojans baseball players Toledo Mud Hens players Bishop Amat Memorial High School alumni {{Mexico-baseball-third-baseman-stub