Alfonso Rivas III (born September 13, 1996) is a Mexican-American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021.
| Alfonso Rivas | |
|---|---|
| Chicago Cubs – No. 36 | |
| First baseman / Outfielder | |
| Born: (1996-09-13) September 13, 1996 (age 26) Chula Vista, California | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| August 29, 2021, for the Chicago Cubs | |
| MLB statistics (through 2022 season) | |
| Batting average | .247 |
| Home runs | 4 |
| Runs batted in | 28 |
| Teams | |
| |
Rivas was born on the side of the road along Interstate 805 and raised in Tijuana before moving to Chula Vista, California when he was in the fourth grade.[1] Rivas attended La Jolla Country Day School in La Jolla, California, graduating in 2015.[2] He enrolled at the University of Arizona where he played college baseball. In 2016 he batted .247/.329/.332. In 2017, as a sophomore, he played in 58 games and batted .371 with seven home runs, 64 RBIs, and 54 runs.[3] He played in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox that summer.[4][5] As a junior in 2018, Rivas appeared in 56 games in which he hit .347 with seven home runs and 52 RBIs.[6] Following the season's end, he was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the fourth round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft.[7]
Rivas signed with Oakland and made his professional debut with the Vermont Lake Monsters of the Class A Short Season New York–Penn League, with whom he hit .285 with one home run, 28 RBIs, and 16 doubles over 61 games.[8] To begin the 2019 season, he was assigned to the Stockton Ports of the Class A-Advanced California League (with whom he was named an All-Star) before being promoted to the Las Vegas Aviators of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League in late August.[9][10] Over 122 games between the two clubs, he slashed .292/.387/.423 with nine home runs, sixty RBIs, and 26 doubles.[11]
On January 13, 2020, Rivas was traded to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Tony Kemp.[12] He did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[13] He was assigned to the Iowa Cubs of the Triple-A East to begin the 2021 season.[14] He missed nearly all of May and a majority of June due to injury.[15]
On August 28, 2021, the Cubs selected Rivas' contract and promoted him to the major leagues.[16] At the time of his promotion, he was slashing .284/.405/.411 with four home runs, 32 RBIs, and 13 doubles over 58 games with Iowa.[17] He made his MLB debut the next day starting at first base versus the Chicago White Sox at Wrigley Field, collecting two hits in three at-bats as the Cubs lost 13-1.[18] On September 14, he hit his first MLB home run against Kyle Gibson of the Philadelphia Phillies.[19] On September 21, he was placed on the injured list with a finger injury, thus ending his first MLB season prematurely; over 44 at-bats with the Cubs, Rivas batted .318 with one home run and three RBIs.[20]
In 2022 with the Cubs he batted .235/.322/.307.