Sports In The Making

Carlos Alfonso - Former MLB Coach, San Francisco Giants & Houston Astros

Episode Summary

Former MLB Coach Carlos Alfonso talks about his experience as a player, coach and manager in both Major League Baseball and the minor leagues, what coaching responsibilities are and how international players are developed.

Episode Notes

• 2:05 - How Carlos and I know each other.
• 2:50 - What it was like growing up in Cuba and how he came to love baseball.
• 3:20 - How he learned to play baseball on the beach in Cuba from an ex-MLB player.
• 4:25 - How he got to the United States in 1961 under the Peter Pan Movement sponsored by the Catholic Church.
• 5:15 - What the adjustment was like coming to the U.S. as a child.
• 7:43 - Being drafted in 1968, how he found out. 
• 8:27 - The deal he made with his parents to play baseball instead of going to college.
• 9:00 - How he got to play at the AAA baseball level.
• 11:00 - How realistic it was for him to move on from AAA to the big leagues at the time.
• 12:32 - How much internal politics affect a player’s progress to get to the next level.
• 14:00 - How Carlos transitioned from a player to a coach.
• What responsibilities different coaches have:
• 16:05 - Bullpen Coach & how Carlos developed as a coach by talking with major league managers.
• 18:05 - What a traveling secretary’s responsibilities were back in the 1970’s.
• 19:50 - Experience as a Class-A manager at Daytona Beach.
• 21:45 - Responsibilities as a Class-A manager.
• 23:40 - What a pitching coordinator and field coordinator does
• 25:51 - What the difference is in managing at Double-A and Triple-A.
• 27:50 - What the obligations to the MLB club are with AAA players and local ownership.
• 29:20 - What the most difficult part of being a AAA manager.
• 30:38 - How he became a Major League Coach
• 32:04 - How he went from the Astros Organization to the San Francisco Giants as Director of Minor League Operations.
• 34:36 - Carlos reluctantly took the Pitching Coach position with the San Francisco Giants
• 37:40 - How he ended back in AAA to manage the Phoenix Firebirds.
• 40:00 - How he tried to keep the clubhouse fun for players while also recognizing they had to win games.  And how that played into your host’s experience.
• 45:15 - What an MLB Bullpen Coach does.
• 48:15 - What a 1st Base Coach does.
• 50:55 - What a 3rd Base Coach does plus and utilizing signs so the other team doesn’t steal them.
• 52:48 - What a Video Coach does.
• 55:13 - What a Director of International Operations does.
• 56:40 - Puerto Rico being a part of the MLB Draft as well as MLB instituting an International Draft
• 58:38 - The talent that the Houston Astros have from Latin American countries.
• 1:00:10 - Whether Cuba will be a part of the MLB Draft.
• 1:02:00 - What used to happen at the Winter Meetings when he was in the front office and what happens today.
• 1:05:15 - What the biggest change has been in baseball from his perspective.
• 1:06:04 - How he sees the game philosophically with technology and metrics & the possible contraction of minor league teams from MLB.
• 1:07:48 - Best advice he’s received in professional baseball.
• 1:08:28 -  What he would like people to know about baseball that they might otherwise know.