Alex Avila

Alex Avila
Detroit Tigers – No. 13
Catcher
Born: (1987-01-29) January 29, 1987 (age 25) Hialeah, Florida
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 6, 2009 for the Detroit Tigers
Career statistics (through May 25, 2012)
Batting average	.265
Hits	250
Home runs	36
Runs batted in	147
Teams
Detroit Tigers (2009–present)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star (2011) Silver Slugger Award (2011)

Alexander Thomas Avila (born January 29, 1987) is an American professional baseball catcher with the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball. He is 5' 11" tall and weighs 210 pounds. Avila was born in Hialeah, Florida.

Early Baseball Career

Avila played prep baseball at Archbishop McCarthy High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 34th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft, but chose to attend the University of Alabama where he was an All-SEC selection.^[1] Following his junior year in which he hit .343 with 17 home runs and 62 RBI, he was then drafted by the Tigers in the fifth round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.

Avila also played in the Cape Cod League following his sophomore year in 2007.

Detroit Tigers

2009

On August 6, 2009, Avila made his major league debut for the Tigers against the Baltimore Orioles where he had two hits scoring a run and batting one in. He started the following night, August 7, and in his first at bat of the game he hit his first career home run off pitcher Anthony Swarzak.^[2] He finished the 2009 season playing in just 29 games, with a .279 batting average, 5 home runs, and 14 runs batted in.

2010

Avila entered the 2010 season as a member of the Tigers major league roster, and shared playing time with starting catcher Gerald Laird. Baseball America ranked Avila as the sixth best prospect in Detroit Tigers organization entering the 2010 season. Avila was the catcher for Armando Galarraga's near-perfect game on June 2, 2010. In part-time duty, he finished the season with a .228 average and 7 home runs in 294 at-bats, while throwing out 32% of potential base-stealers.

2011

Avila was named the Tigers starting catcher for the 2011 season, and showed considerable improvement. On July 3, 2011, he was selected to his first all-star team as the starting catcher for the American League, beating out New York Yankees catcher Russell Martin who had led through the majority of the voting. Alex also caught Justin Verlander's no hitter on May 7, 2011 against the Toronto Blue Jays His season stats included a .295 batting average, with 19 home runs, and 82 runs batted in.

Avila won the 2011 Silver Slugger Award for the American League as a catcher making him the 10th Detroit Tigers catcher to win the award and first since Ivan Rodriguez in the 2004 Detroit Tigers season.^[3]

Personal

Avila is a second-generation Cuban American.^[4] His father is Al Avila, the assistant general manager and a vice president of the Detroit Tigers.^[5] Alex's godfather is former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who is a friend of Alex's father Al and grandfather Ralph.^[6]

Avila also attended De La Salle Collegiate High School for a time in Warren, Michigan.^[7]

His cousin, Nick Avila, was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 37th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft.^[8]

His younger brother, Alan Avila, was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2008 in the 47th round, however chose to bypass the MLB to play baseball at Nova Southeastern University. He is currently studying law at Florida International University.

References

External links

Baseball portal

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)