PITTSBURGH — Isidro Cuevas was approached by a co-worker almost 20 years ago in need of a favor. The co-worker was on the board of the local Little League, and the league was short on kids. He knew Cuevas was married and asked if he had any kids who would like to sign up.
Cuevas and his wife, Maria, didn’t have kids, but he did have one in mind: his 5-year-old brother-in-law, Rafael Flores. Nobody in the family played sports, but it seemed like a good fit. After a little convincing of Rafael’s parents, the Little League had a new player, and Maria and Isidro had themselves a “kid for the weekend.”
“It was just a whole family effort. Parents, us,” Isidro said. “That’s how it started, and he just kept going up from there.”
It may have been a group effort, but Flores recognizes that Isidro and Maria went above and beyond, taking him to travel ball tournaments and making sure he had what he needed to play.
It’s why when Flores was told he was going to the Majors on Monday, his first call was to Maria and Isidro to let them know they needed to come to Pittsburgh.
“They paid for most things,” Flores said. “They paid for the glove, catcher’s gear, and they would take me to big travel ball tournaments in Georgia, Florida, San Diego. … Now we’re here. It was part of my childhood. They were kind of the influencers of it.”
Fast forward 19 years from that Little League conversation, and Flores, the Pirates’ No. 8 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, made his Major League debut Wednesday. He went 1-for-3 with a walk in the Pirates’ 8-4 loss to the Cubs at PNC Park, launching a third-inning double that left the bat at 108.6 mph, a taste of the power he potentially brings to his new club.
Flores was due to have his contract selected this offseason anyway to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, so the Pirates opted to promote him for the final stretch of the season to get his feet wet in the Majors. The headliner in the David Bednar trade with the Yankees, Flores is being counted on to be a contributor soon, so giving him a taste of what Major League life is like is advantageous for both sides.
And for Flores and his family, it is a dream come true. And Isidro, Maria and his niece and nephew were all in attendance at PNC Park for it.
“This has been his goal since he was 5 years old,” Isidro said. “From when he first grabbed a baseball, he had a goal and he worked so hard for it. … He deserves this. He earned it.”
Isidro and Maria suggested other sports for Flores, but soccer never really stuck and baseball was the true love. He also excelled at it, which the two found out as they traveled beyond their hometown in Anaheim, Calif. Other coaches would tell them Flores had a gift, and a dream started to bloom. He was going to work to play as much ball as possible, and Isidro and Maria helped provide him with opportunities to do so.
“I knew I wasn’t going to take my foot off the gas pedal,” Flores said. “I was going to work every single day, and if it didn’t work out, it wasn’t going to be because I didn’t work hard.”
Those travel ball trips helped Flores grow as a player, but a lot of his memories from that time were away from the ballpark. Going to Chili’s with his sister and brother-in-law. Checking out movies on the road. Discovering the joy of chicken wings.
“I remember laughing a lot, being close to my family, close to a lot of my teammates,” Flores said. “It was fun moments that I think definitely molded my personality into who I am, and how I got to be around these guys [with the Pirates].”