Alexander Thomas "Alex" Avila is an American baseball player who was born on January 29, 1987 in Hialeah, Florida. He is a professional baseball catcher who has played for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball. He is the son of Al Avila (his father) and Yamile Avila (his mother). His father Al Avila is the current vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Detroit Tigers. He has a younger brother whose name is Alan Avila.
He has played baseball at Archbishop McCarthy High school which is located in Lauderdale, Florida and was drafted in the 34th round of the 2005 major league baseball draft by the Detroit Tigers. But he chose to attend the University of Alabama where he was an all-SEC selection. He hit .343 with 17 home runs and 62 RBI during his junior year and then was drafted in the fifth round of the 2008 major league baseball draft by the Tigers.
Avila made his major league debut on August 6, 2009, against Baltimore Orioles where he had two hits, scoring a run and also batting one in. He ended the 2009 season playing in 29 games where he scored .279 batting average, 5 home runs, and 14 runs batted in. He was ranked as the sixth best prospect in the Detroit Tigers organization entering the 2010 season by baseball America. He was titled as the Tigers Catcher for the 2011 season and showed considerable improvement. He was voted to the all-star team as the starting catcher for the American league, beating out New York Yankees catcher Russell martin. He won the 2011 silver slugger award for the American league at catcher. He is the 10th Detroit Tigers catcher to win the award after Ivan Rodriguez in 2004. He hit the first grand slam of his career on July 30, 2013, which was against Washington National's pitcher Stephen Strasburg. He drove in all of the tigers runs with two homers including a go-ahead solo shot in the eighth inning, helping the Tigers to a momentous 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals.
On January 31, 2014, he avoided compromise with the Tigers and signed a one-year contract worth 4.15 million dollars with a club option for 2015. His hitting struggle began as he batted career-low .218 while matching his 2013 totals of 11 home runs and 47 RBIs. He also struck out a career-high 151 time. Defensively, the season was a great success for him where he was selected as the finalist for the 2014 gold glove award as a catcher. The tigers exercised the 5.4 million dollars contract option on him for the 2015 season on November 17, 2015. He became a free agent having reached 6 years of service time. He agreed on a one-year contract of 2.5 million dollars with Chicago White Sox on November 25, 2016. He returned to the Detroit tigers and signed a one-year contract of 2 million dollars with them on December 23, 2016.
Avila is a second-generation Cuban-American. His father is the general manager and executive vice president of baseball operations of the Detroit Tigers. His younger brother Alan Avila is also a baseball player who was drafted in 2008 in the 47th round by the Detroit tigers but he chose to play baseball at Nova Southeastern University. Alan did not continue his career as a player after college and currently holds the title of assistant counsel in baseball relations for the Detroit Tigers.
Alex Avila and Kristina Perez were together since high school. Alex got married to Kristina on December 10, 2010. Kristina Avila is a charitable soul. She is involved in many projects including work with the Salvation Army, Race for a Cure and Greening of Detroit. This beautiful couple has two daughters; Avery Noelle and Zoey Gabrielle. Avery is an elder daughter to this family who was born on April 7, 2013, whereas Zoey Gabrielle is a younger daughter who was born on March 4, 2015.
He stands 5 feet 11 inches and weighs 210 pounds. He has a huge net worth of 2 million dollars and earns a basic salary of average 2 million dollars.
