Destination: Alburquerque

By: Mike Wagenman

Al Alburquerque: the man with the most entertaining name in baseball. But, there is much more to the Detroit Tigers reliever than his name; just look at his stats.

A 6'0” 195 pound, 25 year old kid from the Dominican Republic, Alburquerque's name arches on the back of his jersey almost from elbow to elbow over his number 62. He does not appear to be a physically imposing or particularly intimidating individual when he is standing 60' 6” from home plate. However, Alburquerque's “stuff” does the imposing and intimidating for him. Hitters, coaches, and fans alike have been taken aback by the Randy Johnson-in-his-prime-like pitches that fly out of Alburquerque's right hand on a nightly basis. The movement, coupled with velocity and deception is incredible, to say the least, and it has kept hitters baffled and confused at the plate all season long.

Alburquerque leads the majors in K/9 (strikeouts per nine innings pitched) with an incredible 14.96 ratio (46 strikeouts in 27.2 innings). He is not just a thrower, he's a pitcher. He does not toe the rubber with the intentions of just challenging hitters to hit his fastball. Alburquerque takes the mound each time with a plan on how to mow down his upcoming foes. That's why hitters are hitting a measly .126 off of him this year, and since the beginning of June, his opponents' are batting an unbelievably low .067. As if that isn't enough, Alburquerque has only given up 12 hits in his 27.2 innings. That is a ratio of one hit per every 2 1/3 innings. Hitters everywhere should be thankful that June is coming to a close. The right hander has an ERA of 0.00 (1.95 ERA overall) in June and has only given up 4 hits.

Alburquerque has more strikeouts than three of his team's starting pitchers (Rick Porcello, Brad Penny, and Phil Coke), who have all pitched at least double the amount of innings that he has. That is not to say that Alburquerque is only brought in to strike out one hitter and then hit the showers. Actually, he has thrown at least an inning in 15 of his 25 appearances, including all of his last 4 appearances which have all been more than one inning.  In those 25 appearances, he has allowed only 1 of 22 inherited runners to score. Amazing. But, how is Alburquerque accomplishing these mind-boggling stats? Where did all of this come from?

For Al Alburquerque, baseball before the big leagues was not like one would expect from a player with this much talent and poise. He was not a pitcher who dominated hitters at the high school and/or college level, and then went on ruling the minor leagues for a few months or even seasons before taking his talents to the bigs. Alburquerque struggled in the minors, and quite frankly, was not very effective and did not show much promise. His career record in the minors is 8-15 with a 4.49 ERA, while giving up nearly a hit per inning. Back then, he didn't have a plan each time he was called upon to pitch like he does now. He took the mound and tried to blow hitters away with a fastball that he did not have much control of. This resulted in Alburquerque getting hit extremely hard quite often, and unfortunately Tommy John surgery. That surgery, migraines, and shoulder surgery kept him out for part of the 2005 season, all of the 2008 season, and for two months of the 2009 season. He was not on anyone's radar until he was called up from Triple-A Toledo in mid-April. So, what's been the key to his success?

One word: slider. Alburquerque's slider is devistating to say the least. Some may go as far as to say there is no way to hit it, like his catcher, Alex Avila. “When you throw it like that, it's pretty much unhittable,” said Avila. His slider is hard and sharp, and darts right for the ankles of lefties, while it speeds away from righties. “It's one of the best breaking balls in the league,” said Tigers starter Max Scherzer. Couple that with an upper 90's fastball (clocked at 99 mph at times), a bat-breaking two-seamer, and a mid-to-upper 90's sinker (which he is still trying to master), Alburquerque not only sounds unhittable, he sounds like he is only going to get better. Manager Jim Leyland says that experienced pitchers such as Joaquin Benoit are working with Alburquerque, which is helping him gain control. "He’s obviously been a little bit of a mystery to hitters," Leyland said. "And he’s throwing harder now and getting his fastball over a little bit better."

The Tigers can only help Alburquerque can stay healthy. He is a fan favorite, and more importantly, a key ingredient to their bullpen.