A Whole Country
A few hours before the news broke, Salvador Perez and I walked up the dugout steps at Tropicana Field in St. Pete for a Royals.TV interview, reminiscing about where it all began. He made his major league debut there in 2011. Fifteen years later, we were talking about a career that should one day land him in the Hall of Fame.
Royals Catcher Salvador Perez, June 2026
I've never been to Venezuela, but after 15 years around Salvy and so many Venezuelans in the Royals family, I've come to know the country through them. Salvy. Maikel Garcia. Luinder Avila. Infield coach Jose Alguacil. Strength coach Luis Perez. Bullpen catcher Juan Graterol. Before them, Alcides Escobar, Freddy Fermin and many others.
Over the years they've shown me pictures of beautiful waterfalls, shared stories about family, and sat me down for arepas and empanadas because they wanted me to experience a little taste of home. They've spoken about Venezuela with a pride that's impossible to miss.
Just a few months ago, Venezuela celebrated its first World Baseball Classic championship. Salvy served as captain. Maikel Garcia was named MVP.
Like many Royals fans, I wanted Team USA to win. But if they didn't, I found myself perfectly happy seeing Venezuela celebrate. Somewhere along the way, the connection these players built with Kansas City became a bond many of us felt with their home country too.
Then came the earthquakes.
Just before the first pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday evening, Alguacil received a desperate phone call from his niece. She was crying. He didn't know if the rest of his family was alive. Manager Matt Quatraro said many of the Royals' Venezuelan players were carrying that same uncertainty as they tried to prepare for a baseball game.
Yet somehow, the game still had to be played.
Alguacil didn't learn until mid-game that his family was safe. The next morning he admitted he was unusually quiet coaching in the dugout that night.
"It was a lot of worries on my head," he said. "I tried to fake it, but it's hard to fake something like that."
The relief was overshadowed by heartbreak. His parents, brother and other relatives spent the night sleeping in the street because aftershocks made it too dangerous to return inside. Friends had lost loved ones. Others had their entire lives wiped out. One acquaintance told Alguacil his nephew was trapped for 11 hours before finally being rescued.
Alguacil fought back tears, repeatedly redirecting his thoughts away from his own family and back to the people still suffering across Venezuela.
"I don't want to make this about Jose. It's about a whole country.”
Alguacil may not be a household name to most fans, but players and coaches around the league speak about him with genuine reverence. When Willie Mays passed away in 2024, the Royals happened to be in the Bay Area. I walked down to the Mays statue that morning with Alguacil, who had previously coached with the Giants and spent real time around Mays. The stories he shared that day are ones I won't forget.
Photo Courtesy of Jose Alguacil
Back in St. Pete this week, he made a simple request."We have to keep praying."
No one summed up the heartbreak better than Maikel Garcia, the Royals all-star third baseman, who posted:
"Todo iba tan perfecto este 2026 para Venezuela." 💔
Or, in English:
"Everything was going so perfectly this 2026 for Venezuela." 💔
Those words have stayed with me. So has the raw emotion from Alguacil, and the looks on the faces of Salvy and so many others who call Venezuela home.