‘The fear of failing’ fueled Eddy Alvarez’s career. He’s now a role model at his alma mater
Eddy Alvarez made his way into the cafeteria at Miami’s Columbus High School, and the flashbacks started to flood in.
All the good memories with friends around his locker. Feeling rushed to get from place to place. All the time on the baseball diamond. The dances and other special occasions that took place in that very cafeteria that he was stepping back into almost 14 years after he graduated.
“It’s a good trip,” Alvarez said.
The reason for the trip is one that Alvarez said still humbles him.
On this Wednesday, he spoke to about 200 people — alumni, staff and members of the school’s baseball team among them — as the first speaker in the school’s “Columbus Connects Leadership Lecture Series.”
He reflected on his path to becoming a two-time Olympic medalist, winning silver in short-track speed skating in 2014 and baseball this past summer. He chatted about his time as a Major League Baseball player,
The perseverance required. The support system needed. And the failure — a lot of failure — that he endured that led him to where he is today.
“I feel like if I look back at my career, that’s all I’ve ever done is fail,” Alvarez said during his hour-long speaking session. “What the public sees is my successes. ... Yes, I’ve won competitions and I’ve done unbelievable baseball, but a lot of those times, I failed more often than not. And that’s kind of what’s driven me along the way, to be honest with you. It’s the fear of failing.”
Alvarez, currently an MLB free agent after being released by the Miami Marlins at the start of the offseason, appreciates that path that he has taken and embraces the role model aspect of his life that has been bestowed upon him.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Alvarez said. “It’s nuts walking the halls. I’m about to do a lap around memory lane. I got so much support from this school. ... To be honored here and to be a spokesperson to talk about a bunch of different careers and whatever path it may be, I feel very privileged to have that honor and try to motivate them even more.”
‘Put on your seat belt and hold on’
At the end of the speaking session, moderated by Alvarez’s friend and Columbus baseball assistant coach Danny Casals, Alvarez was asked what advice he would give to himself as a high school senior.
Alvarez’s response: “Put on your seat belt and hold on.”
“I’ve always had this fire in me,” Alvarez explained. “Even though I was 110 pounds wet in high school and had no attention from any major schools, I always had a little bit of fight in me. There was always a dog in there, too.”
His professional career had started before his senior year, earning his “Eddy the Jet” moniker early on in life. At age 11, he won national age level titles in inline speed skating, long track speed skating, and short track speed skating.
In 2008, his senior year at Columbus, Alvarez found himself at a juncture.
One one side, there was a scholarship offer waiting for him to play baseball at St. Thomas University. On the other, the chance to qualify for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics.
Alvarez chose skates over the bat.
He won gold at the World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships in 2009 but fell short of qualifying for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
He ventured back to baseball in 2011, playing at Salt Lake Community College in Utah, before undergoing surgery on both knees in early 2012 and ultimately getting the itch to make one more run at the Olympics.
But that dream almost got stopped before it happened. As Alvarez recalled it, the U.S. National Team almost didn’t name Alvarez to the team because of his knee surgeries. He needed a coach to vouch for him to the national team to keep Alvarez on the roster.
He did.
When Alvarez qualified for the Sochi games in 2014, he became the first Cuban-American male speed skater to make the U.S. Olympic team.
He missed out on all three chances to medal as an individual — getting disqualified in the 1,500-meter semifinal, crashing into the wall in the 1,000 meters quarterfinals after a skater fell in front of him and falling on the first turn of his opening heat in the 500 meters — before winning silver as part of Team USA’s 5,000-meter relay.
From there, Alvarez’s attention shifted back to baseball even though he knew the path wouldn’t be easy.
He had been away from the sport for three years, only played one year beyond the high school level and wasn’t a highly touted recruit in the first place.
“I was a washed-up speedskater trying to make it in the baseball world,” Alvarez said. “Who was going to give a speedskater who’s been out of the game for three-plus years an opportunity but for a publicity stunt?”
The Chicago White Sox were that team, giving Alvarez a minor-league contract, paying him “a plane ticket and a uniform,” as Alvarez put it.
But it was an opportunity.
And all Alvarez needed was an opportunity.
During the next five seasons, Alvarez worked his way up the White Sox’s minor-league system and playing full-time in Triple A during the 2018 season. When he became a free agent after that season, he signed with the hometown Marlins — again on a minor-league deal.
A year later, he made his MLB debut as one of more than a dozen players called up or signed from outside the organization two weeks into the season after the Marlins’ COVID-19 outbreak.
He said he felt more pressure standing in the batter’s box on Aug. 5, 2020, for his MLB debut in an empty stadium in Baltimore than he did skating in the Olympics.
“I felt like I was Shakira for a second because my hips were not lying,” Alvarez said of that at-bat. “I could not stop my legs from shaking. As much as I tried to breathe and slow the moment down, I could not feel my toes, the bottom of my feet touching the ground. I was completely numb.”
Fast forward almost 12 months, and Alvarez found his two dreams colliding — baseball and the Olympics. He was one of two flag bearers for the United States along with women’s basketball star Sue Bird. He started at second base in each of Team USA’s games and played a key role in the United States’ silver medal finish in Tokyo.
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Performance anxiety
But masked behind the bubbling positivity that is Eddy Alvarez’s persona is an internal battle that he dealt with — one he isn’t alone in battling.
Alvarez said he has dealt with anxiety throughout his athletic career. Playing during the COVID-19 pandemic, when everyone was more or less isolated, only amplified it.
“It’s one of those things where I had to learn and build a relationship with myself,” Alvarez said.
He wasn’t comfortable speaking about it at first. Admitting to it, Alvarez thought, would be “weak.”
He has come to terms with it now. He meditates. He’s open to speaking about the struggles and the pressures that come with having to perform daily.
The best way for Alvarez to conquer his anxiety, he said, was “building a relationship with it.”
“Knowing that it’s there,” Alvarez said, “knowing that it’s present, but not letting it take the best of me because my process and my routine hold me from going down the rabbit hole.”
The support system
As he’s talking about all his accomplishments and how he got there, Alvarez can’t help but look at the people sitting in the front row, just to the left of the stage.
His parents, Mabel and Walter. His wife Gaby. His 15-month-old son Jett.
His support system.
His parent immigrated from Cuba to give him a chance at a better life — a chance at the American Dream.
They attended every meet, every game, every event he participated in growing up — from beginning speedskating race, baseball tournaments and YMCA basketball games to the Sochi Olympics (spectators were not allowed at the Tokyo Olympics this summer as a precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic). They were — and still are — his “backbone through this whole journey,” Alvarez said.
“I came from parents who sacrificed their entire lives to give me what they didn’t have,” Alvarez said. “I’ve had a great life along the way that’s led me to this. I didn’t have the sad story. I had a lot of battles I had to go through. I had a lot more no’s than I did yes, but I look back and say ‘I’m so blessed.’ Not to be standing up here as a two-time Olympian, a medalist a Major League Baseball player. ... I don’t know what I did to deserve a family like I have and a life course that I’ve taken. For everyone that’s been part of it, there’s no amount of things that can make up for my gratitude.”
And now, Alvarez strives to be that parental figure for Jett.
“I want him to find something he’s passionate about,” Alvarez said. “I don’t care what that is. I was passionate about two things and I had people to support me through that. All I want for him is to give it his whole heart in whatever he wants.”
The next step
Even with all the accolades, Alvarez still doesn’t believe he has reached his full potential.
“I’m gonna be honest with you, I still don’t think I’m that guy,” Alvarez said, “and I think it’s one reason why the fire is still lit under my ass. I don’t know if I’ve reached the ceiling, but I’m willing to find out.”
Alvarez’s future at this point, though, is undetermined.
He’s an MLB free agent right now and has spoken with his share of clubs. No deal is in place yet, and one might not get locked up until after MLB and the MLB Players Association get a new collective bargaining agreement in place. The current CBA is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 1, at which point a lockout will most likely occur until the new deal is finalized.
“No idea,” Alvarez said. “Just in the market right now and enjoying it. It’s been a lot of fun seeing what the free agency market is like and the attention I’m seeking. Wherever I land, I know that’s going to be for the best for my family.”
Until that time comes, he is taking the time to reflect on how he’s gotten to this point — the perseverance, the support system, and the failure that created the successes.
“The road wasn’t easy,” Alvarez said, “but I wouldn’t change a damn thing.”
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 12:13 PM.
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