Alex Cintrón

Álexander Cintrón

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 170 lb.
• High School Yabucoa High School
• Debut July 24, 2001
• Final Game May 19, 2009
• Born December 17, 1978 in Humacao, P.R.

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Biographical Information

Hot on the heels of a .317/.359/.489 line with 13 home runs in 117 games in 2003, Álex Cintrón was the everyday shortstop for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004, only losing the job late in the season to become the starter at second base. But his batting line went down (.262/.301/.363), as did his home runs (4) and runs scored (56, down from 70) in 154 games, leading to his move to a utility man the next season. He soon became a bit player, washing out of the bigs early in the 2009 season. Cintrón concluded his playing career in the San Diego Padres organization in 2011.

After several years away from baseball, the 2017 Houston Astros hired Cintrón as an interpreter with assorted other team duties. He moved into a more traditional role in 2018 as the Astros first base coach. Cintrón was named the Astros hitting coach in 2019. On August 9, 2020, he was at the center of a controversy as he taunted Ramon Laureano of the Oakland Athletics, supposedly insulting his mother, after Laureano had been hit by a pitch for the second time of the game. This prompted Laureano to rush to fight him, prompting a bench-clearing brawl, something strongly frowned upon by MLB in the days of COVID-19 safety protocols. Indeed, he received a 20-game suspension as the instigator of the brawl, while Laureano got six games. Cintrón remained the Astros hitting coach through the 2023 season.

Cintrón also has international coaching experience. He managed the Gigantes de Carolina team during the 2018/2019 & 2019/2020 seasons of the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League. A few years later he began the year managing the Cangrejeros de Santurce team, but was fired on November 25, 2022, a fairly common occurrence in the winter leagues. Most recently Cintrón served as the bench coach for Puerto Rico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.