Eliezer Alfonzo will make his major league debut Sunday, July 5, catching and batting ninth for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Diego Padres, the culmination of a lifelong dream for the 26-year-old.
That moment, though, will come with an unspeakable burden as his sister and stepmother remain missing amid earthquake rubble in Venezuela.
Advertisement
Alfonzo’s family members had been missing since a pair of earthquakes – magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 – rocked an area of northern Venezuela, west of Caracas, on June 24. Alfonzo’s father of the same name, a former major league catcher, spent that time attempting to locate his wife, Patricia and daughter Eliana.
Alfonzo is still in the lineup for Sunday night’s game.
Dodgers catcher Eliezer Alfonzo looks on during a spring training game against the Angels at Camelback Ranch-Glendale in Phoenix on March 1, 2026.
“I don’t really know what to say about it, outside of my heart goes out to him and his family,” Roberts told reporters in his pregame briefing, per the California Post. “I don’t really want to go too far (into it), because I’ll get emotional. I know it’s tough. Very tough.”
Advertisement
Alfonzo, signed by the Detroit Tigers out of Venezuela in 2017, joined the Dodgers organization this year as a minor league free agent. He batted .319 with an .813 OPS in 49 games at Class AAA Oklahoma City and joined the major league club as incumbent Will Smith will remain on the injured list with a neck injury through at least the All-Star break.
The elder Eliezer Alfonzo played parts of six seasons with the Giants, Padres, Mariners and Rockies.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers’ Eliezer Alfonzo to make MLB debut as sister, stepmother missing in Venezuela
Read the full article here