Alex Ochoa


Alex Ochoa is a Cuban-American former professional baseball outfielder in Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball.

Career

Ochoa played in part of eight seasons for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies and Anaheim Angels. He was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the third round of the 1991 amateur draft, but he never played in the majors for them, as Baltimore traded him to the Mets as part of a trade for Bobby Bonilla in 1995. Ochoa would make his big league debut later that year for New York. Ochoa would eventually be traded seven times in his career, winning a World Series ring with the Angels in the 2002 World Series.
Ochoa played for the Chunichi Dragons from 2003 to 2006. He signed a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox before the 2006 season and was invited to spring training. He started the season with Triple-A Pawtucket, but was released after a poor performance. On June 18,, he signed a deal to play with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp for the rest of the season, and he re-signed with them for the season.
On January 27,, Ochoa was named an assistant coach for the Boston Red Sox. In 2010, he was a special assistant in the Red Sox' baseball operations department, and in 2011, he served as batting coach for the Single-A Salem Red Sox of the Carolina League. On December 23, 2011, he was named the first-base coach on the Major League staff of Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine.

Television

Ochoa made a cameo appearance on the Japanese television drama Dream Again on Nippon Television while playing for the Carp.