Israel Alcantara

From SoSH

Israel Alcantara

Born:	May 6, 1971
Birthplace:	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Hometown:
Height:	6' 2"
Weight:	180 lbs.
Bats:	Right
Throws:	Right
Drafted:	1990: Amateur Free Agent by the Montreal Expos
College:
High School:
Other Teams:	Milwaukee Brewers 2002
Years with Boston:	2000 - 2001

1 Overall Career
2 Alcantara's Moment in the Sun
3 Trivia
4 Transactions
5 External Links

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Overall Career

Israel Cristostomo (Izzy) Alcántara (born May 6, 1971 in Santo Domingo, D.R.), played for the Boston Red Sox during parts of the 2000 and 2001 seasons, hitting .277 with 4 home runs, 10 RBI and 12 runs scored. After the 2001 season Izzy was granted Free Agency, and signed with the Milwaukee Brewers where he played out the final 16 games of his Major League Baseball career.

Alcantara signed with Montreal less than two months after his 17th birthday, but didn't play his first minor league game until two years later. Slotted primarily at third base, he progressed slowly through the Expos system until 1997 when he suddenly developed into a power hitter, slugging 27 homers in just 89 games for AA Harrisburg. A six-year minor leaguer at the end of that season, Alcantara elected free agency and signed with Tampa Bay.

After opening the 1998 season with the Devil Rays' high class A affiliate in St. Petersburg, Izzy was loaned to the Philadelphia Phillies' AA club in Reading on June 22. Less than two months later he was on the move again, loaned this time to the Seattle Mariners' AA team in Orlando on August 18. All told, Alcantara hit .308 with 28 HR and 88 RBI in 106 games.

Seemingly attracted by his newfound power, the Red Sox brought him aboard for the 1999 season. After clubbing 20 HR in 77 games for AA Trenton, he advanced to AAA Pawtucket where he hit 9 more homers in 24 games. From July 12 to August 3 that year, he played for the Dominican Republic in the Pan Am Games.

Izzy opened the 2000 season with the Pawsox where he continued his assault on outfield walls and opposing pitchers, leading the International League with 29 bombs in 78 games. That earned him a promotion to Boston, where he debuted June 25 in Toronto. He scored his first run after reaching on a fielders choice, but after going hitless in five trips he singled off Paul Quantrill in the 12th inning for his first major league hit.

Five days later in Chicago, he hit his first major league home run, leading off the 3rd inning with a solo shot off Jim Parque. However the next day (July 1) Alcantara played an uninspired game, appearing to loaf on the base paths when he was forced at second base in the third inning, failing to run out a grounder in the 5th, and getting picked off second base in the 8th. He also made an error in right field in the 6th, which led to a 4-run inning by the White Sox that knocked Boston pitcher Paxton Crawford out of the game in his major league debut.

Angered by Alcantara's lackluster play, Sox manager Jimy Williams held a closed-door meeting and Alcantara played sparingly the rest of the season. On July 24 with the Sox trailing the Twins 4-0, he managed to hit his first homer at Fenway Park -- a two-run shot off Minnesota closer Eddie Guardado with two out in the last of the 9th. But for the most part he rode the pine until being placed on the disabled list August 13. He returned to the team after the September 1 roster expansion, but only batted 8 times down the stretch. On September 16 in Detroit, Alcantara led off the 8th with a homer off Hideo Nomo. His second HR at Comiskey Park (and, as it turned out, his final homer in a Boston uniform) came September 28 when he hit a 3-run shot off Mike Sirotka in the 1st inning.

Alcantara returned to the Sox in 2001 as a non-roster invitee, but visa problems put him back in the dog house. He was the last of the team's 58 players to report to spring training in Fort Myers, arriving three days after full-squad workouts began. Izzy again spent most of the year with Pawtucket and had the best year of his career, hitting .297 with a league-high 36 HR and 90 RBI in 119 games. Izzy also honed his plate patience with 57 walks and a .380 OBP. He was called up to Boston August 31 and went 2-for-4 with singles off Roger Clemens and Mariano Rivera. Alcantara had another multi-hit game September 5, going 2-for-5 against the Indians at Fenway.

After signing with Milwaukee for the 2002 season, Izzy spent most of the year at AAA Indianapolis where he hit 27 homers in 110 games and earned a mid-season call-up with the Brewers. As had been the case with the Red Sox, his power production didn't translate against MLB pitching. Alcantara hit just two homers in 15 games, August 4 off Florida's Vic Darensbourg and a 9th-inning leadoff pinch-hit solo shot off the Pirates' Jimmy Anderson on August 16 that also proved to be his final major league hit. He played his last game August 22 and was released at the end of the season.

Alcantara remained unsigned for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. He attempted a comeback in 2005, playing just 4 games with the New Jersey Jackals of the independent Can-Am League. Later that year, he played briefly for the Uni-President Lions of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League. He concluded his baseball career having hit 240 homers in 12 minor league seasons.

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Alcantara's Moment in the Sun

Izzy is most famed for a July 3, 2001 incident while playing for AAA Pawtucket. After being brushed back by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons pitcher Blas Cedeño in the 8th inning, Alcántara kicked catcher Jeremy Salazar in the face mask with his right foot, karate-style, and then charged the mound. He threw a punch at Cedeño but missed, then turned around and looked for other players to fight before being tackled by S/W-B third baseman Kevin Orie. The incident cost Alcántara a six-game suspension and his spot on the International League's All Star team.

Coverage of the game by the Providence Journal suggested tensions between Alcantara and the Red Barons had been brewing:

"What happened may have been simmering for some time. By his actions, it appears Alcantara knew something might occur that night. After the game Alcantara insisted Cedeno was throwing at him."

Indeed, Alcantara had hit a pair of home runs off Red Barons pitcher Pete Zamora in May. Zamora later retaliated by hitting Alcantara with a pitch and was suspended and fined by the league. And the day before Izzy's kick-and-charge, he again homered off Zamora and, in the pitcher's view, may have hot-dogged with an arrogant trot around the bases.

After the incident Alcantara sent the Red Sox a letter apologizing for his behavior. The team felt Izzy's removal from the All-Star game was unfair. "Based on his performance, he deserves to play in the All-Star game," said Boston GM Dan Duquette, adding that the repeated airing of video clips of the incident on ESPN prompted the stiff penalty.

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