Rafael Ángel Álvarez Flores (born 22 January 1977) is a

baseball coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decision ...

and former professional

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who coaches the Spain national team and played as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. Born in Venezuela, he represented Spain internationally. Álvarez played in the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

farm system from 1994 through 2000. Afterwards, he played in the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

and several Minor League circuits from 2001–2011.Minor, Mexican, Independent and Winter Leagues Statistics
''Baseball Reference''. Retrieved on December 31, 2016. In between, Álvarez played winter ball with six different clubs of the Venezuelan League between the 1994-95 and 2013-14 seasons, most prominently for the

Tiburones de La Guaira The Tiburones de La Guaira () are a baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP). Though they nominally represent La Guaira (playing at the Estadio Jorge Luis García Carneiro), they also play home games at the Estadio Un ...

during nine seasons spanning 1994-95/2013-14, being part of two pennant winners and a

Caribbean Series The Caribbean Series ( Spanish: ''Serie del Caribe'') is an annual club tournament contested by professional baseball teams in Latin America. It is organized by the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation. The series is normally played in ...

championship in its 2006 edition.Venezuelan Winter League Statistics
''Pelota Binaria''. Retrieved on December 31, 2016.

International career

Álvarez was a member of the Spain national team in the

2013 World Baseball Classic The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009. Unlike the tw ...

Sources

1977 births Living people Águilas del Zulia players Allentown Ambassadors players Altoona Curve players Anderson Joes players Baseball first basemen Bravos de Margarita players Elmira Pioneers players Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks players Fort Myers Miracle players Fort Wayne Wizards players Gulf Coast Twins players Langosteros de Cancún players Leones del Caracas players Lincoln Saltdogs players Mexican League baseball outfielders Navegantes del Magallanes players New Britain Rock Cats players Pastora de los Llanos players Pensacola Pelicans players Baseball players from Valencia, Venezuela Pericos de Puebla players Rojos del Águila de Veracruz players Salt Lake Buzz players Tiburones de La Guaira players Tigres de Aragua players Vaqueros Laguna players Venezuelan baseball coaches Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in Mexico Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States 2013 World Baseball Classic players Spanish baseball players Spanish baseball coaches {{Spain-baseball-bio-stub