Eddy Alvarez

Eddy Alvarez
Alvarez with the Chicago White Sox in 2019 spring training
Boston Red Sox
Infielder
Born: (1990-01-30) January 30, 1990 (age 34) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Bats: Switch Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 5, 2020, for the Miami Marlins
MLB statistics (through 2022 season)
Batting average	.183
Home runs	1
Runs batted in	11
Teams
Miami Marlins (2020–2021) Los Angeles Dodgers (2022)
Medals Representing the  United States Olympic Games Men's baseball 2020 Tokyo Team

Eddy Alvarez

Personal information
Nickname	Eddy the Jet
Born	(1990-01-30) January 30, 1990 (age 34) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)[1]
Weight	160 lb (73 kg)[1]
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Short track speed skating
Coached by	Stephen Gough
Medal record Men's short track speed skating Representing the  United States Olympic Games 2014 Sochi 5000 m relay

Eduardo Cortes Alvarez (born January 30, 1990) is an American professional baseball infielder in the Boston Red Sox organization. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers. Prior to his baseball career, he was a short track speed skater and baseball player who represented the United States and medaled at the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the sixth athlete and third American ever to medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympics in different disciplines. After his MLB debut on August 5, 2020, Alvarez became the first Winter Olympics athlete and the first non-baseball Olympian since Jim Thorpe to play Major League Baseball.^[2] Only Alvarez and Jim Thorpe have played Major League Baseball and won an Olympic Medal in another sport.^[3][4]

The son of Cuban immigrants, Alvarez grew up in Miami, Florida. He took up roller skating at age five, began ice speed skating at age seven, and at eleven he won national age-level titles in inline, long track, and short track speed skating. In high school, Alvarez took a break from skating to concentrate on his other passion—baseball. He played well enough to earn a college scholarship, but instead quit the sport to pursue his Olympic dream.

Alvarez made the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships, winning a gold medal in 2009. After missing the 2010 Olympics, he returned to baseball in an attempt to give his knees a break after years of chronic pain. He became an All-Conference shortstop, but his knees did not improve. In early 2012, Alvarez underwent surgery to repair badly torn patellar tendons that left him completely immobile for four weeks. He returned to the National Team in July, but was too weak to navigate stairs, let alone skate competitively.

After intense physical therapy, Alvarez made the United States' World Cup Team in December 2012. He finished the season as the country's third highest ranked skater. During the 2013–14 World Cup season, Alvarez won three medals. At the 2014 Olympic Trials, he placed second in the 500 meters, second in the 1,500 meters, and third in the 1,000 meters. The performance made him the first Cuban-American male speed skater to make a U.S. Olympic team. At the Olympics, he won a silver medal in the 5,000 meter relay after failing to medal in his three individual events. Prior to the Olympics, Alvarez said he planned to give up speed skating after the Games to concentrate on baseball.