This story was excerpted from AJ Cassavell’s Padres Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
There are under-the-radar trades. And then there's the trade that sent Jorge Alfaro to San Diego in December. On the verge of being non-tendered by the Marlins, Alfaro was sent to the Padres for modest cash considerations. Hours later, the lockout began. Alfaro was a backup catcher who wasn't assured of a roster spot. The move barely made ripples.
Nine months later, Alfaro is a cult hero in San Diego.
He put his name in the team record books on Tuesday with his fourth walk-off hit, a Padres single-season record. Three of those walk-offs came with two outs and the Padres trailing. The franchise, in its 54-season existence, had only seen 14 such walk-offs. Alfaro now has three in a span of four months.
"I just feel relaxed," Alfaro said of hitting in those crucial situations. "Everything's good. I just have to get up there and hit a ball."
But Alfaro's cult status is about more than just the walk-offs. He's been wholly embraced his teammates, who regularly wear shirts with Alfaro's jovial face on them, emblazoned with "LFGSD."
He's been wholly embraced by the city, too. A mural of Alfaro, replete with his flowing locks, adorns a building in Chula Vista. Fans sing in unison to "Volver Volver," the Vicente Fernández classic that Alfaro has adopted as his walk-up song.
Suffice it to say, this isn't what Alfaro envisioned that fateful December night.
"Really I was more like: 'I don't know,'" Alfaro said. "It was confusing. I was just a two-hour flight from my hometown in Colombia. So I knew I was going to be far from my family, going to be far from the people that I love.
"And then, when I came here, and all the fans give you all that love, all that support, they treat you good. They make you feel at home. You want to be here."
Alfaro authored quite the script for his first walk-off. On Mother’s Day morning, his mom had predicted a homer for her son. But Alfaro wasn’t in the starting lineup. Sure enough, he launched a three-run pinch-hit moonshot to walk-off against his former team.
And that’s the day Alfaro’s legend was born.
He’s always liked to get out of the house in the morning -- go for a walk, maybe grab a coffee. Suddenly, people started recognizing him.
“Outside, I’m just a regular person,” Alfaro said. “They’ll stop, talk to me, and it’s fun. They treat you really good here. They respect your space, but they’re friendly.”
It hasn't been entirely smooth sailing for Alfaro. He slumped for much of the second half while trying to play through a knee injury. Tuesday's walk-off came after he'd missed the previous 10 games due to the ailment.
But through it all, he was the same Jorge Alfaro. And that’s what his teammates respect most.
"He's got a good heart, and he really cares about guys," said Nick Martinez, Alfaro's longtime Minor League teammate in the Rangers organization.
As for the clutch gene, Martinez isn't surprised. It's all part of Alfaro's persona.
"He's up for the challenge, man," Martinez said. "Always [calm]. Even just hanging out in the clubhouse, or we'll go out to a team dinner or something like that, he's just very mellow. It's a very good vibe."
Really, that's what Alfaro is -- a vibe. And it’s a vibe that certainly fits his new city.
They love Jorge Alfaro in San Diego (and he loves them back).
"It's his walk-up song, I'm convinced," quipped manager Bob Melvin. "Before he even makes it to the plate, unlike anybody else, it's been very much embraced. You know what? It's a good song. And it all plays -- his personality, his look and everything he brings to the table. He's been very much embraced here.
"The four walk-offs probably have something to do with it as well."