Hanser Alberto

Hanser Joel Alberto Peña (born October 17, 1992) is a Dominican professional baseball infielder for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played for the Texas Rangers.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Alberto and the second or maternal family name is Peña.

Hanser Alberto
Alberto with the Baltimore Orioles in 2019
Baltimore Orioles – No. 57
Infielder
Born: (1992-10-17) October 17, 1992 San Francisco de Macorís, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 29, 2015, for the Texas Rangers
MLB statistics (through August 2, 2020)
Batting average	.283
Home runs	14
Runs batted in	65
Teams
Texas Rangers (2015–2016, 2018) Baltimore Orioles (2019–present)

Career

Texas Rangers

Alberto signed as an international free agent with the Texas Rangers in November 2009, receiving a $75,000 signing bonus. Playing for the Dominican Summer Rangers of the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League in 2010, he won the batting title. Alberto began the 2013 season with the Frisco RoughRiders of the Class AA Texas League, but struggled, and was demoted to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League.[1] He returned to Frisco in 2014, and won the Rawlings Minor League Gold Glove Award as the best defensive shortstop in minor league baseball.[2]

The Rangers promoted Alberto to the major leagues on May 28, 2015; he made his debut the next day against the Boston Red Sox. He went 1-for-3 with a run batted in (RBI) triple in his debut. He made the Rangers postseason roster and batted .200 with two RBIs in the 2015 American League Division Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, including recording the game winning RBI in Game 2 of that series.[3] He split the 2016 season between the Round Rock Express and Texas. Alberto playing in only five games in 2017 due to shoulder injuries.[4] On December 14, 2017, Alberto signed a minor league contract with the Rangers.[5] He split the 2018 season between the Rangers and Round Rock.

Baltimore Orioles

Alberto bounced around and was claimed off waivers several times during the offseason following the 2018 campaign. To the New York Yankees from the Rangers on November 2, 2018.[6] To the Baltimore Orioles replacing Andrew Susac on the team's 40-man roster on January 11, 2019, just a few hours after being designated for assignment as a result of the Yankees re-signing Zack Britton.[7] To the San Francisco Giants in place of Jake Barrett on February 22,[8] three days after the Orioles' acquisition of Josh Osich made him available on February 19.[9] After only a week with the Giants, he rejoined the Orioles on March 1, this time replacing Donnie Hart.[10]

Alberto was pressed into service as a relief pitcher in the ninth inning of a 15–3 loss to the New York Yankees at Camden Yards on April 7, 2019. With the score 13–3, he hit a batter, surrendered a two-run homer, walked a pair and got a force out and two flyouts.[11] He joined teammates Renato Núñez and Anthony Santander as the third Oriole within a three-week span to achieve his own first-ever five-hit game in a 14–2 win over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on August 30, 2019.[12] This occurred within a calendar month for the first time since Wally Moses, Frankie Hayes and Lou Finney did it with the Philadelphia Athletics in July 1936.[13]

Alberto enjoyed a career year offensively, hitting .305/.329/.422 with 12 home runs and 51 runs batted in. He had the lowest strikeout percentage in baseball (9.1%), led the majors in at bats per strikeout (10.5), and led the American League in bunt hits (9).[14] He also swung at the highest percentage of pitches outside the strike zone of all American League batters (47.6%), and had the lowest Hard Contact Percentage of all major league batters, at 24.6%.[15]

References

1. "No time to rest at Rangers' Dominican academy". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
2. "Hanser Alberto named Rawlings Gold Glove winner". frisco-online.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
3. T.R. Sullivan (October 9, 2015). "Alberto relishes role of unlikely Game 2 hero". MLB.com. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
4. "Texas Rangers Purchase Contract of Express INF Hanser Alberto". MiLB.com. May 15, 2018. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
5. Todd, Jeff (December 14, 2017). "Rangers Agree To Minors Deals With Hanser Alberto, Kevin Jepsen". mlbtraderumors.com. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
6. Fraley, Gerry. "Rangers lose infielder Hanser Alberto to Yankees on waiver claim," The Dallas Morning News, Friday, November 2, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2019
7. Kubatko, Roch. "Orioles claim Hanser Alberto off waivers," Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), Friday, January 11, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019
8. "Giants claim IF Hanser Alberto off waivers from Orioles," MLB.com, Friday, February 22, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2019
9. "Orioles claim LHP Josh Osich from Giants off waivers," The Associated Press (AP), Tuesday, February 19, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2019
10. "Orioles again claim INF Hanser Alberto on waivers," The Associated Press (AP), Friday, March 1, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2019
11. Kubatko, Roch. "Homers hurt Orioles again in 15–3 loss," Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), Sunday, April 7, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019
12. Falkoff, Robert. "Means enjoys homecoming victory over Royals," MLB.com, Saturday, August 31, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019
13. STATS LLC's tweet confirming the achievement on Friday, August 30, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2019
14. "Major League Leaderboards » 2019 » Batters » Advanced Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball". Fangraphs.com. 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
15. "Major League Leaderboards » 2019 » Batters » Batted Ball Statistics | FanGraphs Baseball". Fangraphs.com. 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2019-10-07.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Hanser Alberto on Twitter