Eliezer Alfonzo is expected to make his major-league debut on Sunday for the Dodgers, even as his family in Venezuela is still dealing with the deaths of his younger sister and stepmother after last month’s earthquakes. His first game at the top level arrives with grief still fresh and with his father still trying to locate the two family members before the losses were confirmed.
That is the reason Alfonzo’s name is drawing searches now: a player reaching the majors after nine minor-league seasons is stepping into the biggest day of his career at the same moment his family is in mourning. Dave Roberts said his heart went out to Alfonzo and his family, and added that he would play on Sunday but that the moment carried heavy hearts.
Alfonzo said he had been trying every day to support his father, the retired major-league catcher Eliezer Alfonzo, and said it would mean a lot if his father could be there for the debut. He also said he would like to be at his side in person, but was doing what he could from afar. Their dog was found alive, a small piece of relief in a story that otherwise has been marked by loss.
The family tragedy is part of a wider one in Venezuela, where the earthquakes caused widespread devastation and left multiple families searching for relatives. Miguel Rojas said his wife, Mariana, and their two children were in Venezuela when the earthquakes hit, but they were safe and had returned to the U.S. Rojas, who has a locker next to Alfonzo in the clubhouse, said he would save the ball from Alfonzo’s first major-league hit and that he planned to stay close through the swings that come with a debut of this kind.
The Dodgers moved on Saturday to make room, optioning Chuckie Robinson, while Will Smith’s stay on the injured list was expected to run through the All-Star break. That left Alfonzo in position to step into a major-league lineup on Sunday, carrying the weight of a debut that should have been only about baseball but is now inseparable from what his family has been living through.
For Alfonzo, the game begins a new career chapter. For his family, it remains a day measured against a loss that is still unfolding in Venezuela, where his father is left to keep searching even as his son takes his first major-league swing.
