Al Alburquerque

Al Alburquerque
Detroit Tigers – No. 62
Pitcher
Born: (1986-06-10) June 10, 1986 San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 15, 2011 for the Detroit Tigers
Career statistics (through May 15, 2013)
Win–loss record	6–2
Earned run average	1.90
Strikeouts	111
Teams
Detroit Tigers (2011–present)

Alberto Jose Alburquerque (born June 10, 1986) is a Dominican Republic professional baseball pitcher with the Detroit Tigers organization of Major League Baseball. He is 6'0" tall and weighs 195 pounds. Alburquerque began his professional career in 2006 and made his Major League debut in 2011.

Professional career

Minor leagues

Signed by scout Jose Serra, Alburquerque began his professional career in 2006 with the AZL Cubs, in the Chicago Cubs farm system. He went 0–2 with a 5.98 ERA in eight games (five starts) that season. He also had 15 strikeouts in 12⅔ innings. In 2007, he played for the Boise Hawks and Peoria Chiefs, going a combined 4–6 with a 5.83 ERA in 21 games (10 starts). In 66⅓ innings, he struck out 69 batters. He did not play at all in 2008.

Alburquerque began the 2009 season in the Cubs system, pitching for the Daytona Cubs. However, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies partway through the season as a player to be named later in a deal that sent Jeff Baker to the Cubs. He finished the season with the Tulsa Drillers. Overall, he went 2–3 with a 2.80 ERA in 47 relief appearances, striking out 75 batters in 61 innings. He pitched for the Drillers again in 2010, going 2–4 with a 4.98 ERA in 25 relief appearances.

Following the 2010 season, he became a free agent and signed a major league contract with the Detroit Tigers on November 19. The Tigers placed him on the team's 40 man roster despite having never appeared in a major league game. Alburquerque was assigned to the Triple-A affiliate Toledo Mud Hens following spring training, where he appeared in 4 games, with a 1.93 ERA and 10 strikeouts in only 4⅔ innings pitched.

Major Leagues

Alburquerque made his major league debut on April 15, 2011 against the Oakland Athletics. He struck out the first batter he faced and pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

On August 12, 2011, Alburquerque was hit in the head by a ball hit by Baltimore Orioles' Robert Andino during batting practice. He was taken to the hospital and stayed overnight for tests. The next day, the Tigers placed him on the 7-day disabled list with a concussion.

He appeared in 41 games for the Tigers in 2011, going 6-1 with a 1.87 ERA. In 43.1 innings, he allowed only 21 hits, while striking out 67 batters.

Following the 2011 season, it was discovered that Alburquerque had suffered a non-displaced stress fracture in his right (throwing) elbow. He had a screw inserted during surgery performed by Dr. James Andrews, and had an expected recovery time of 6–8 months. On April 24, 2012, he was transferred to the 60-day disabled list, with an earliest possible return date of June 3.

On July 24, 2012, Alburquerque began a rehab assignment with the Lakeland Flying Tigers. On August 3, the organization moved him to the Toledo Mud Hens, with the expectation that the move meant a return to the major league club in the near future. He appeared in 13 minor league games in 2012, going 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA and striking out 27 batters in 14 innings. He would eventually make his 2012 debut with the Tigers on September 4 against the Cleveland Indians, pitching 1-1/3 scoreless innings and striking out one batter. At the major league level, he made eight appearances during the regular season and posted a 0.68 ERA. He had 18 strikeouts in 13.1 innings.

Alburquerque was placed on the playoff roster for the 2012 American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. He made his first appearance of the postseason in Game 2, on October 7, against Yoenis Céspedes in the bottom of the 9th with men on the corners and two out, and the game tied at 4 runs apiece. He pitched the Tigers out of the inning, inducing a ground ball back to the mound, and left the game as the pitcher of record. In a moment of levity, he kissed the ball before flipping it softly to Prince Fielder at first to complete the play. Alburquerque earned the win when Don Kelly hit an RBI sacrifice fly to right to win the game in the bottom of the inning. Alburquerque also pitched one scoreless inning of relief in Game 4 of the same series.

Pitching style

Alburquerque is a two-pitch pitcher with a traditional four-seam fastball that ranges between 94–98 mph, and his "out pitch" is a downward-breaking slider that ranges between 85–88 mph. The slider is his most common pitch, especially with two strikes in the count; it has a 60% whiff rate, the fifth-highest for a slider among relief pitchers since the 2007 season.

His strikeouts per 9 innings pitched ratio is well above the league average and sits at 13.5 through the end of the 2012 season. He also has a high walk rate at 6.4 per 9 innings. Alburquerque was effective in the 2011 season at stranding inherited baserunners, allowing only 3 of 31 to score.

Alburquerque pitches exclusively from the stretch and, according to Lindy's Sports, "features first-rate stuff in the middle" and appears to be on the fast track to working as the Tigers' setup man with the loss of Jose Valverde.

External links

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