Gameday Magazine June

Amidst hurricane chaos, Pantoja finds help from unlikely source The Decision of a Lifetime

Lynchburg, Va. - Like many Minor League players, Hillcats infielder Alexis Pantoja is trying to make it to the Major Leagues. That mission became second- ary last September, when his native Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria, sending all of its $3.4 million residents into a desperate humanitarian crisis. “It was a bad experience, I was scared for my family and my house,” Pantoja said. “The day after, I was looking outside my house into the street, and saw cars and trees crushed. ‘I said wow this is hard for me. It was just unbelievable.’” Pantoja, 22, was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 9th Round of the 2014 MLB Draft out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy. He was committed to play college baseball at Alabama State, but ultimately decided to forgo his scholarship and sign with the Indians. “I talked to my family. It was a big deci- sion,” Pantoja said. “They wanted me to go to school, but at the same time, I wanted to play professional. They said it’s your job and your career, to do what you want. So I said, why not?” That decision would loom large several years later. Hurricane Maria was the worst storm to strike the island in over 80 years. It will haunt Puerto Rican residents for many years to come. The powerful Category 4 storm made its way across the island with sustained winds of 155 mph, uprooting trees, crushing cell towers, and ripping homes apart. Electricity was cut off to the majority of the island, and access to

clean water and food became limited for most. The storm is regarded as being the worst natural disaster on record to affect Puerto Rico. It was also the tenth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record and the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide of 2017. All of this happened just two weeks after Hurricane Irma had made a similar effect on the island. That’s where the Cleveland Indians stepped in. “The very next day, Cleveland called me and asked if I needed anything for me or my family or friends,” Pantoja said. The infielder told the Indians brass that he could really use electricity and some food. Sure enough, Cleveland rushed a generator and food in bulk from Sam’s Club to Pantoja’s home. “Every day they would call and ask me if I needed more,” Pantoja said. The Indi- ans resources also allowed him to assist others. “I helped a lot of people, too. A lot of friends, more than 20 people. You are walking in the street and there’s nothing. No more trees, no more lights. Even people with no connection to baseball, the Indians helped.” Pantoja said his family used the genera- tor provided by Cleveland for three months before electricity returned. While relief efforts in Puerto Rico were underway, the Indians approached Pantoja in November with the idea of completing his offseason training program at the organization’s spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz. “After that, I left Puerto Rico and wasn’t sure about how everything was, but my

“It will haunt Puerto Rican residents for many years to come”