New Delmarva skipper can ask dad, brother about managing

He is from a famous baseball family and proud of the Alou name. His dad played and managed in the majors, and his brother managed in the big leagues the last two seasons. There is family experience to draw on as the Orioles' Felipe Rojas Alou Jr. gets ready for his first season as a professional manager.

The younger Alou will skipper the Orioles' low Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds this year, following in the footsteps of both his dad, Felipe Alou, and his brother, Luis Rojas, who managed the New York Mets in 2020 and 2021. The Mets went 77-85 last season.

The elder Alou played 17 seasons for six teams and was a three-time All-Star between 1958 and 1974. He batted .285/.328/.433/.761 and produced 2,101 career hits, leading the National League twice in hits. He was the most successful manager in Montreal Expos history and also the first Dominican to regularly play in the majors. He was one of the three brothers to play in the majors along with Jesús and Matty.

As a big league skipper, Felipe Alou went 1033-1021 (.503) over 14 seasons with the Expos from 1992-01 and San Francisco Giants from 2003-06. He is one of just three men to have 2,000 hits, 200 home runs, and 1,000 managerial wins, along with Joe Torre and Frank Robinson.

Now 86 and living in Florida, Alou can pass on advice to his son as he embarks on the 2022 season with the Shorebirds.

"He is pretty excited," the younger Alou said in a Zoom interview. "It was something he has mentioned and really wanted me to do if the opportunity came. As soon as he found out I would take on this new challenge, he just loves it. I know we'll have plenty of conversations through the summer about it. Looking forward to maybe him coming to visit one of those series.

"Pretty exciting personally and with my family for this opportunity. This was something that was always on the horizon and the timing is right, right now. Very excited. I know Delmarva is really a good baseball area. Just ready to go and looking forward to it."

Felipe Rojas Alou Jr. is about to start his 15th season in the Orioles organization. In recent seasons, he was the director of the O's Dominican Republic academy. And it's not exactly a coincidence that at a time when several players from the Orioles international program are advancing to full-season ball to play for Delmarva that their manager will be someone quite familiar to them.

"First of all, it's communication, that is No. 1," Alou said about what he deems will be important for him this season. "Making sure the message we want to bring to the players stays clean and consistent. I'm thrilled I will have a chance to manage some kids I've been around before. Some kids that made some real nice progress last summer - some of our Latin kids - and if communication stays consistent, we'll be OK.

"To me, just continue what we started down here (in the Dominican). The new philosophy with the resources that we brought into the organization, making sure they continue to understand it. With players coming from different countries and different cultures, hopefully they are more mature now. Now that they've gone through the (Rookie-level) Florida Complex League to have somebody to assist and help with the continuing transition will be the biggest key. It's going to be a pretty talented group and can't wait to have them all together."

Delmarva is expected to have a strong international flavor on its 2022 roster, something we wrote about in this entry in December.

If anyone had a front row seat to see the O's improvements with their Latin American program, it was Alou.

"It reflects on the commitment the organization is making toward international," he said. "I think by giving me this chance to move up to that level, understanding we will have more international talent moving through those levels, it shows the commitment we have started when Mike (Elias) and Koby (Perez) came on. And we are moving forward with our new academy. It shows that setting up a figure, a Latin figure in one of those levels, a person that has been around those players and the organization for a while shows the level of commitment we have as an organization.

"Yes, sir. Big changes overall. First of all, being aggressive with the (international) market. Mike values it and understands it. Same as Koby - he was the right guy to bring in. Staying aggressive with that market and the commitment of building a class A academy and then to bring better resources to the academy. We'll make sure these players that we're bringing in, that they get the best resources, the best education, the best program possible so they can move forward.

"No doubt this is a very active and challenging market, the international market. The level of talent has changed quite a bit and to bring in those athletes, it really excites you."

Luis Rojas is another of the elder Alou's 11 children and Felipe can call on his brother for help this year. Rojas managed the Mets the last two seasons, but his contract was not extended in October after the Mets led the National League East for over 100 days last year but finished in third place. In November, the Yankees hired him to serve this year as third base coach.

"Oh, yeah, it's been fun to so far talking about strategies, clubhouse, players. Stuff that Luis has gone through. He had an extensive minor league managing career and a couple of years in the big leagues now. Fun to share stories and ideas and I know with especially him managing recently he will be someone I'll rely on," Felipe said.

Check out the Zoom interview I recently recorded with Alou as he gets ready for his 2022 Delmarva season.