Erick Almonte

Erick R. Almonte Moreta

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 180 lb.

• Debut September 4, 2001
• Final Game April 25, 2011

• Born February 1, 1978 in Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional, D.R.

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Biographical Information

Erick Almonte is the brother of Hector Almonte. He returned to the majors in 2011 after having been absent for seven seasons.

Playing Career

Almonte was signed at the age of 16 by the New York Yankees and debuted professionally with the 1996 DSL Yankees, hitting .282 with 8 homers and 36 RBI. In 1997, Erick was on the GCL Yankees and batted .283/~.352/.400. He made the Gulf Coast League All-Star team at third base and led the league's third basemen in putouts (53). Baseball America rated him the 4th best prospect in the GCL, ahead of highly-touted teammate Jackson Melian. Almonte struggled in his first look at a full-season league, hitting .209/~.257/.278 in 120 games while striking out 121 times for the 1998 Greensboro Bats. In 1999, Erick hit .257/~.312/.374 in 61 games for the Tampa Yankees, battling injury. He spent 9 games with the GCL Yankees on a rehab stint, hitting .300/~.367/.567.

In 2000, Almonte made it to Double A and had a solid year for the Norwich Navigators, hitting .271/.326/.427 with 16 homers, 77 RBI and 12 steals in 14 tries. He led Eastern League shortstops with 33 errors. Baseball America ranked him the Yankees' 7th best prospect. In the Arizona Fall League, he hit .301/?/.515 and made the All-Star team for the Maryvale Saguaros. Almonte spent 3 games in 2001 with Norwich (.250/.308/.250) but spent most of the year with the Columbus Clippers, hitting .287/.369/.464. He led International League shortstops with 27 errors. Baseball America rated him the IL's 8th-best prospect, ahead of fellow infielders Joe Crede, Marcus Giles and Brian Roberts and 8th in the Yankees chain. He got a September call-up and went 2 for 4 with a double and two steals in 8 games. In his first game, he was a defensive substitute, handling a Shannon Stewart grounder in his first inning of work. In his first at-bat, he singled to left against Chris Carpenter.

In 2002, Almonte struggled, only hitting .235/.282/.412 for Columbus and getting sent back down to Norwich, where he worked with Luis Sojo. He batted .241/.342/.306 for Norwich. Overall, he smacked 17 homers that year and made 26 errors. No longer a hot prospect, Almonte batted .240/.310/.380 for Columbus in 48 games in 2003. When Derek Jeter was hurt on Opening Day, Erick stepped in to hit .260/.321/.350 in 31 games while fielding .906. A free agent, Erick moved to the Colorado Rockies organization and had a fine year in the Pacific Coast League, hitting .318/.402/.507 for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox with 17 home runs and 91 runs scored. He primarily played second base. In a hitter-friendly league and park, he finished among the top 10 in batting average. Almonte played in the Triple A All-Star Game, going 0 for 2 as Barmes' backup at shortstop. He had a shot at an extra-base hit but was robbed by Midre Cummings in the 8th inning. Still just 26, Almonte had a fine campaign for the 2004-2005 Licey Tigers, hitting .325/?/.550. He led the Dominican League in both home runs (7) and RBI (38).

Moving to Japan for 2005, Almonte struggled with the Nippon Ham Fighters, only hitting .193/.330/.318 with 27 strikeouts in 88 at bats. Makoto Kaneko reclaimed the starting shortstop role during the year. In 2006, he played for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, hitting .302/?/.448 with 73 runs, 77 RBI and 16 steals. He tied fellow former big leaguers Ryan Radmanovich and Reggie Taylor for 7th in the league in average. In 2007, Almonte attended spring training with the Colorado Rockies, playing each of the four positions infield positions. After being released, Almonte signed with the Detroit Tigers and was assigned to their Double A affiliate, the Erie SeaWolves. He played in 50 games with them, and also 38 games with the Toledo Mud Hens, hitting a combined .286 with 44 RBI in 88 games. He spent all of 2008 with the Mud Hens, hitting .258 with 10 home runs and 50 RBI. Almonte was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers for the 2009 season and assigned to their Triple A team, the Nashville Sounds. In 105 games (only 277 plate appearances) with them, he hit .291 with 31 RBI. With Nashville again in 2010, Almonte hit .320 with 38 RBI in 110 games.

He made the Brewers' Opening Day roster for 2011, appearing in the majors for the first time since 2003 when he pinch-hit for Mark Kotsay on March 31. On April 2, he hit his first big league home run in nearly a decade when he took Cincinnati Reds pitcher Travis Wood deep in the fifth inning of a 4-2 Brewers loss. On April 26th, he was struck in the face by a thrown ball during batting practice and became the first player to be subject to Major League Baseball's new concussion policy. He was placed on the 7-day disabled list, suffering from dizziness and loss of appetite. He was only authorized to resume physical activity on May 9th. He was only hitting .103 in 16 games at the time of the injury, and was moved to the regular disabled list when the after-effects of the concussion were deemed over. He never returned to the majors, but did hit .303/.380/.447 in 83 games for Nashville in 2011.

He was 5 for 22 with a double and 3 RBI for the Leones del Escogido in the 2012 Caribbean Series as their main third baseman. His big hit came in the 13th inning of a win over Venezuela, a two-run double off Francisco Butto. He slumped to .200/.286/.240 for Nashville in 2012, playing only 34 games. In 2013, he hit .188/.286/.225 in 22 contests for the Rieleros de Aguascalientes to wrap up his playing career. He hit 114 home runs and scored 707 runs, driving in 689 in 1,435 games in the minors. He hit only .233/.282/.331 with two homers, 18 runs and 14 RBI in 55 games in the majors and .193/.330/.318 with three home runs, 14 runs and 8 RBI in 34 games in Japan.

Post-Playing Career

Almonte was hitting coach of the DSL Cardinals in 2014-2016 and Palm Beach Cardinals in 2017. He managed the GCL Cardinals in 2018 and Peoria Chiefs in 2019. Almonte was slated to manage the Chiefs again in 2020 but the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of the minor league season. He was then hitting coach of the DSL Cardinals Blue in 2021 and the DSL Cardinals in 2022. Almonte returned stateside as hitting coach of the FCL Cardinals in 2023.

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
2018	GCL Cardinals	Gulf Coast League	40-16	1st	St. Louis Cardinals	Lost League Finals
2019	Peoria Chiefs	Midwest League	54-85	15th	St. Louis Cardinals

Sources include 1997-2007 Baseball Almanacs, Japan Baseball Daily by Gary Garland, MILB.com

Related Sites

• Erick Almonte on mlb.com