Watch: Brewers' two-time Olympian shows off speed-skating skills in clubhouse
Athletes excelling at more than one sport isn't uncommon. However, Milwaukee Brewers utility man Eddy Alvarez has to go down as one of the more unique two-sport athletes.
Alvarez is entering his fourth Major League season, but the 33-year-old is also a two-time Olympian, competing in baseball and a vastly different sport: speedskating.
Joining the Brewers this season on a minor-league deal, Alvarez is fighting for a spot on the team's 26-man roster. But, on Friday, he gave his teammates a little distraction from the spring training grind, showing off his impressive speedskating skills in the clubhouse to a raucous ovation.
After putting on a skating exhibition, Alvarez showed clips of his speed skating journey, rising from a 10-year-old prodigy to qualify for the Sochi Winter Games in 2014, where he'd win silver on the United States 5,000-meter relay team.
Scouted for speedskating while rollerblading in Miami, Fla., at around five years old, Alvarez told the Team USA website back in 2021 that he immediately fell in love with the sport.
"Two ladies stopped my parents and said, 'This kid needs to try the sport of inline speed skating,' so I did, and I remember falling in love with it and the thrill of racing," Alvarez said.
After earning a silver medal with Team USA Baseball at the 2021 Games in Tokyo, Japan, Alvarez became only the sixth athlete to medal in both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games.
Since his thrilling experience in 2014, Alvarez's focus has been solely on baseball.
Alvarez spent six seasons in the minor leagues before making his Major League debut in 2020 for the Miami Marlins. Last season, Alvarez spent most of 2022 with the Los Angeles Dodgers Triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City, batting .322/.439/.554 with eight home runs and 29 RBI. Alvarez played 14 games for the Dodgers, going 4-for-25 at the plate with three RBI.
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