San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Her job: Helping navigate pipeline
Alvarez in major role to cultivate prospects
MESA, Ariz. — Veronica Alvarez sees her new role with the Oakland Athletics as an opportunity to help young players in their system who are trying to bridge a cultural and geographical divide while getting their careers under way.
A part-time instructor in the A’s organization the past several years, Alvarez is their new coordinator of player development in Latin America. Her initial focus is on operations at the team’s Dominican Republic academy, where the A’s send many of their young Latin American prospects. The A’s have operated the academy in La Victoria for nearly 30 years.
Former A’s stars Miguel Tejada and Ramón Hernandez attended the program, which provides housing, baseball training and education for the players, many of whom sign contracts as teenagers. The A’s Latin American pipeline has produced few major leaguers in Oakland in recent seasons. Some of their high-profile international signings have struggled in lower levels of affiliated ball. Of the 68 players invited to A’s big-league camp this spring, just three — infielder Jordan Diaz and pitchers Norge Ruiz and Jorge Juan — were signed from Latin American countries by Oakland and developed in its system. Diaz is the only one on the 40-man roster.
General manager David Forst said the A’s sought “more coordination” between their operations in the Dominican and at their minor-league complex in Arizona, where those prospects arrive when transitioning to the U.S.
“I think we found that a lot of the guys who were getting here for either spring training or instructional league just weren’t as familiar with the way we did things here as we wanted them to be,” Forst said. “I think we felt like from a player development standpoint, the more we could align the two places, the better.”
Ed Sprague, the A’s director of player development, said the program “had stagnated a little bit” and noted limits during the pandemic “kind of escalated some of the problems.” The academy closed in 2020, and movement in and out for players and coordinators was restricted the past two years because of COVID protocols.
Sprague said he visited the academy last year, gathered input from A’s international staff and presented some potential changes to assistant GM Dan
Feinstein, who oversees international operations. One was hiring Alvarez in a full-time role to head up revamping the Dominican program.
“In my mind, she was the perfect fit for this position,” Feinstein said. “She’s extremely passionate. She has a ton of energy. She’s knowledgeable. She has a way of relating to not only the players but the staff and coaches that are already in place in the Dominican.”
Alvarez, who played for and now manages the USA Baseball Women’s National Team, joined the A’s in 2019 as a catching instructor in spring training. She was a roving instructor last year in their minor-league system and also filled in as manager of their High-A Lansing affiliate for a week in August.
Alvarez said she visited the Dominican complex in May and came away thinking more could be done to prepare players for their eventual move to the U.S.
“From one (minor-league) affiliate to another, there’s always a step, and I felt like from the D.R. to Arizona, it was more like a leap,” Alvarez said. “My goal is to minimize that step to a more realistic difference, where they can actually manage the difference once they get here.”
The academy houses up to 60 players at a time and includes on- and off-field curriculum. Sprague described changes for this year. Baseball-wise, there’s now an afternoon session for individual work, along with a morning session. The A’s shuffled their Dominican coaching staff to include coaches from both Latin America and the U.S.; the latter were largely absent before.
Off-field, the A’s provide English lessons and cultural courses at their academy, and Sprague said much of that structure carried over. Alvarez said they have moved English lessons from evenings to mornings so that “minds are fresh.” Food options are improved and there’s more emphasis on activities like watching baseball or playing (non-baseball) games to help engage the participants, Sprague said.
“Everything’s kind of been different,” Sprague said. “The biggest thing is the enthusiasm level Veronica brings and the passion she brings on a daily basis to that program.”
On the field, Alvarez considers “empowering” the academy’s coaches as key. Alvarez said she values the support and chances the A’s offered “to show my true self and what I could bring to the table” and feels that can benefit the Dominican academy staff.
“I want them to feel valued and to build relationships with the players, so they feel invested in the players’ development,” Alvarez said. “One thing I saw was, the way that coaches are asked to contribute here wasn’t happening down there. And when you’re not invested in a player, when you feel like you’re just repeating information, a lot of the development parts get lost.”
Many of the system’s Latin American players at Double-A and below pass through the academy in the offseason, some bound for spring training in Arizona, others slated for the Dominican Summer League program. With those players headed to the U.S., staff “make sure they’re eating, lifting, getting everything they need so when they get here they’re at least on an even playing field as far as the ability to access resources to the American kids,” said Alvarez, who was recently at A’s spring training in Arizona.
One emphasis for Alvarez is bringing A’s major- and minorleague coaches from the U.S. for stints at the Dominican academy. A’s manager Mark Kotsay, minor-league pitching coordinator Gil Paterson, hitting coordinator Jim Eppard and Arizona field coordinator Steve Scarsone all visited this offseason.
“If (the players) see you in their place and that you took the time to come to them, maybe it just opens them up to a little more of a relationship,” Alvarez said. “The only way a player is going to allow for the vulnerability to make adjustments is if we build relationships, so that’s going to be key.”
International players can sign with MLB teams at age 16 and many academy players are still teenagers. A’s outfielder Esteury Ruiz, a Dominican, signed with the Royals at 16 and recalled the impression that it left when then-Royals Adalberto Mondesi and Yordano Ventura visited their Dominican facility.
“When I saw that, it pushed me to get where they were,” Ruiz said through a translator. Traded to the A’s in December, Ruiz also spent a day this offseason at the A’s academy and spoke to the players. “Now I can do it, I love to do that for the kids and maybe help them also,” he said.
Alvarez is no stranger to enacting change. She is one of a rising number of women who’ve earned roles in baseball in recent years. In baseball operations, the Marlins’ Kim Ng is the first woman to become an MLB GM, and the Astros’ Sara Goodrum is the first woman to become a director of player development. On the field, the Giants’ Alyssa Nakken became the first woman working as a fulltime MLB coach in 2020, Rachel Balkovec managed the Yankees’ Class A Tampa affiliate in 2022 and Ronnie Gajownik will be the first woman to manage a High-A team this year, with the Diamondbacks’ Hillsboro Hops.
Alvarez became the first woman to manage a game in the A’s system last season at Lansing. She has also coached in MLB-sponsored youth development programs with a focus on girls’ baseball. It may take time to gauge the effects of her new A’s role, but Alvarez is optimistic.
“If I can make an impact in these players’ lives, and within the organization, that’s what I want to do,” Alvarez said.