The Los Angeles Dodgers are calling up minor-league catcher Eliezer Alfonzo Jr., whose family is still navigating the tragic aftermath of the earthquakes that rocked Venezuela last week.
Per the New York Post and El Extrabase’s Daniel Álvarez-Montes, Alfonzo’s 16-year-old sister Eliana and stepmother Patricia are still missing as of Saturday. His father Eliezer has reportedly secured heavy machinery to aid rescue crews searching the wreckage of the Hotel Eduards in Macuto, where the two were staying at the time of the earthquakes.
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The equipment reportedly helped turn up Eliana’s dog, who was alive, on Friday as well as Patricia’s cell phone. From the Post:
“If my daughter’s little dog turned up, I think the two of them are in there,” Alfonzo told local reporter Maryorin Méndez. “I know my wife and daughter are real fighters.”
The elder Eliezer — who played for the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners and Colorado Rockies during a six-year MLB career — had been staying with Patricia and Eliana at the hotel but left in the afternoon to manage his Delfines de La Guaira team.
He reportedly said he last spoke with Patricia a half-hour before first pitch as she and Eliana were getting ready to go to their 6 p.m. game. He does not know if they left the room before the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes hit at 6:04 p.m. The wives of players Gorkys Hernández and Harold Chirinos were among those found dead under the hotel rubble, making them two of the 2,954 reported dead as of Saturday.
It’s the worst backdrop imaginable for a long-awaited MLB debut for Eliezer Jr., who is in his 10th season in minor league baseball and will be reaching the big leagues at age 26. He began his career as an international free agent with the Detroit Tigers in 2016 and didn’t reach Triple-A until last year.
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He elected free agency last offseason and signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers. In 49 games with the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets this season, he has slashed .313/.392/.422.
The Dodgers have been in need of a second catcher behind Dalton Rushing since All-Star Will Smith hit the injured list with neck inflammation last month. The team initially called up Chuckie Robinson to serve as backup, but he hit 2-for-23 in eight games and was demoted to Triple-A in favor of Alfonzo.
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