“THEY REJECTED 8.5 million YANKEES, I finished Seattle by 1.2”

By Miguel Guerra

In one of the visits he made to “The Complete Swing Show”, stellar space of our YouTube channel, the expelotero capitalino Alexei Hernandez, who played with the Industriales and Metropolitanos teams in the National Series, told a little-known story about his sports career.

Alexei played in 2002 in the Minor Leagues within the Seattle Mariners system, a team that signed him back then for just over a million dollars but, according to the athlete himself, the New York Yankees made him a much higher offer , amounting to 8.5 million, which he rejected.

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“The Yankees went to see me in Guatemala,” said the former baseball player on the program. «I remember perfectly that after finishing the presentation those people were crazy happy, the recruiter told me with these words: «Brother, in two years you will play Major League Baseball at second base». That’s what he told me,” he added.

«I remember that in Guatemala they told me: «Alexei, take it out through the right field!… and that’s where I took it out. I was doing the 60 yards in about 6.3 seconds. So when we were playing against the Yankees, the scouts who went to see me in Guatemala told me that they saw the reports from Seattle and that I had fulfilled all their expectations.

«Imagine that I spent 50 consecutive at-bats with two strikes, I couldn’t throw the ball to learn to hit with two strikes and cut the bat, that’s an ABC for all minor leaguers, whoever they are. I was batting 100 times at bat, I had seven hits, imagine with these guys throwing those stones and in 3-2 they throw change at you, that I had never seen in Cuba… Batting with two strikes is mandatory,” Alexei commented on the program.

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«The thing is that they send a hitting coach named Henry Cotto and he came to me and said: “Look, Cuba (that’s what Alexei was called in Nicaragua), they sent me especially so that you learn to steal base, so that learn to run The Seattle bosses have not allowed you to steal bases because those legs are going to take advantage of it for the Major Leagues, so you don’t get injured or anything, “said the former player.

“Yankees scouts come to me and say, ‘How much did those people give you? They must have given you 15 or 20 million dollars?’ I told them they hadn’t given me that,” Alexei explained.

«When we were in Guatemala, we went to dinner at a hotel on the Camino Real and I remember that the lady who represented me told me: “Look Alexei, take this money, go with your friends the weekend that we crown, the we did… These people are crazy with you, go there my son, the Yankees won’t let you go”, they told me».

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«A month passed and the Seattle Mariners came to see me, I made the presentation on a Wednesday and on Monday I was already in the United States, once and for all. The scout who came to see me is one of the best scouts in this country (the United States).”

«When I find out the details of the contract, I ask them why nothing was said to me, the player, if I agreed or not with the money. These gentlemen from the Yankees offered 8.5 million dollars for me, they told him no, because Adrián Hernández, “El Duquecito”, my brother and my friend, had given him 7.5 million dollars in Guatemala and that Adrián did not even have the half of the conditions that I had, because I pitched and hit. I don’t know if you guys know that I ended up pitching in the National Series.”

«So, I went to the office and asked how the situation was with my contract. They told me that they signed me for 1.2 million, I said that I did not want 1.2 because I signed the papers and nobody told me how much I was signed with. Imagine what kind of misinformation that when I arrive the first day I go to where the pitchers are, because I was throwing 95 miles the day the Seattle guys went to see me, I thought they had signed me as a pitcher »

«When I get there, a Dominican coach tells me: “No, Cubita, you signed as an outfielder, go there. I say: “Look at this, they have sent me here and I don’t even know what I’m doing here”. I already started to get disappointed, Henry Cotto arrived and told me: “Well, Alexei puts his hand to free bat”. I averaged .325 in the second round when they told me free bat, then those people said this Cuban swings the bat, they were very happy with me because I hit the ball a lot between two, I hit a lot of doubles, I developed that skill and excellent fielding everything ».

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«Then I go to the office with the head of the Minor Leagues and tell him: this is happening… they sent me here and I don’t even know what happened. I wanted to sign a four-year contract and I know my value as a player, you know the level of player I am. They told me: “Yes, Alexei, we know the level of player you are, we have you on the 40-man roster list for next year.” In other words, the following year I was going to play in the Major Leagues. And I told them: «But, can’t you renew my contract, compadre? They replied that it no longer belonged to them, and that is something for lawyers, that they as an organization adopted me.»

“So I don’t know, maybe the youth, but I took a position that I regret today, I don’t watch the big league games because I see people who I know can’t play baseball above me. I did not want to return to the United States, things of youth, I always apologize to my mother, my family and all the people who supported me»

«If I have anything left from baseball, it was that attitude of my youth of not understanding, of not respecting things, it is a lack of respect what I did to baseball, which is what I love the most, but well, you can no longer do anything… That’s what happened with the Seattle Mariners, ”he concluded.

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