Steele, Alzolay built tight friendship in minors
Television viewers saw Adbert Alzolay cheering for reliever Justin Steele during Monday's game in Milwaukee.
It turns out the two pitchers - one from Venezuela and the other from Lucedale, Miss. - have been best of friends since 2014 when they both showed up for Cubs rookie ball in Arizona. Over the next three years, they were teammates in Eugene, South Bend and Myrtle Beach.
"When I saw him out there on the mound, I was the happiest man in that dugout," Alzolay said. "We've literally been playing together since we were 18 years old. So he's my boy. It made me so happy to see a guy like Justin Steele coming up here and showing what he can do."
The two parted ways in 2018 when Steele had Tommy John surgery and Alzolay moved up to Triple A Iowa. But they both spent a lot of time at the South Bend alternate site last summer when the minor league season was canceled.
Steele was asked to reminisce about those years in the minors, palling around with Alzolay.
"We had all our fun at the ballpark," Steele said. "Anytime me and him would get together, we'd get in the locker room, playing Ping-Pong, playing cards. Hanging out after the games at the hotel room, watching baseball together. He likes basketball and so do I, so we just watched sports together.
"It's just an incredible friendship we have. We've just known each other for so long. We've seen each other struggle, we've seen each other succeed and we just who each other are, so it's really special."
Lucedale, Miss., has a population of 3,000 and is located roughly halfway between Hattiesburg and Mobile. After making his major league debut in Milwaukee, Steele posted on Instagram about how he told his kindergarten teacher he would be a baseball player.
"My mom was crying, all my family was calling and texting me," he said. "It was really special. Everybody in my hometown back in Lucedale, Mississippi, they were very excited. A small town, but a lot of love and a lot of passion for baseball back there."
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