Another Alou Makes Way to the Majors

Quick, who is the fourth Alou?

Any baseball fan who is thirtysomething or more can tick off Felipe, Matty and Jesus.

Now comes along an Alou for the younger set -- Moises.

His father, Felipe, and two uncles combined to play 46 major-league seasons in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Now, the latest Alou, a lanky 23-year-old, is making a rapid rise through the Pittsburgh organization after two unimpressive seasons in rookie ball.

“I’m not sure about right now, but I think sometime during this year I’m going to be ready to play in the major leagues,” said Alou, who was promoted earlier this year to the Class AAA Buffalo Bisons.

He hit .236 at Class A Watertown in 1986 and injuries the following season limited him to a .208 average in 43 games at Watertown and Class A Macon.

Alou attributes his slow start to a number of factors, the most obvious of which was his relatively late start getting into the game.

Despite his relationship to three major leaguers, Alou said he didn’t play a lot of baseball as a kid in the Dominican Republic.

While many sons of former major leaguers tell stories about growing up in the clubhouse, Alou doesn’t have any. “When my dad retired (in 1974), I was eight years old, so I don’t remember very much about that.”

“We didn’t have a baseball team in high school,” he said. “We had a basketball team, so I played basketball and was a pretty good basketball player.”

But he wanted to go to college in the United States and realized his chances were much better with baseball than they were with basketball.

“I thought I had some talent and I could play the game. I just needed to play a little more,” Alou said. “So after I graduated from high school, I started working out with my uncle Jesus, who was a scout for the Expos. That whole summer I was going with my uncle to the Expos baseball academy in the Dominican (Republic).”

He showed enough to earn a scholarship to Canada College in Redwood City, Calif. He hit .340 his first year there and then led the league with a .447 average his second year before signing with the Pirates.

It was around that time he discovered he had vision problems, Alou said.

“I wasn’t seeing well at all, especially in the daytime,” he said. “When it was sunny, I couldn’t see at all with my right eye.”

Surgery before the 1987 season removed scar tissue from the eye, but Alou said most of that season was a wash because he wasn’t in shape for training camp.

Another part of the problem was his attitude.

“I was kind of going through the motions,” he said. “I used to just go to the ballpark and play. I didn’t have a game plan. I wasn’t taking it as serious as I’m taking it now.”

“I grew up mentally,” he continued. “Before, whenever I used to have a bad game, it used to affect me a lot. Now, it doesn’t. I don’t let it stay with me.”

Once he began to bear down, his numbers -- and his career -- began to rise. At Augusta in 1988, his .313 average was good for second in the South Atlantic League and he was named the Pirates’ minor league player of the month twice.

He started last season at Class A Salem, but his production there (.302 batting average, 14 homers, 53 RBIs in 86 games) earned him a promotion to Class AA Harrisburg, where he played 54 games and hit .293.

This season, Alou’s impressive numbers at Harrisburg (36 games, .295 average, 22 RBIs, 3 homers, 12 doubles) got him bumped up to Buffalo on May 25.

He continues to stand out as Buffalo’s center fielder, hitting .328 in 16 games, with 12 RBIs and 2 homers.