Alex Cora

Jose Alexander Cora (born October 18, 1975) is a Puerto Rican baseball manager and former infielder who is the manager of the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball (MLB).

He previously played in MLB for 14 seasons with the Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, and Washington Nationals.

Cora was drafted in the 12th round of the 1993 Major League Baseball draft by the Minnesota Twins, but did not sign a contract and decided instead to play collegiate baseball at the University of Miami.

While there, Cora was named to the College World Series all-tournament team in both 1995 and 1996.

He led the team to the title game in 1996, a game they lost to Louisiana State University.

Cora was rated by Baseball America as the best collegiate defensive player going into the 1996 draft.

Cora was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third round, and played 61 games of the 1996 season with the Class A-Advanced Vero Beach Dodgers, batting .257 with no home runs and 26 RBIs.

He played the 1997 season with the Double-A San Antonio Missions; in 127 games he batted .234 with 3 home runs and 48 RBIs.

Cora spent parts of the 1998, 1999, and 2000 seasons with the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes, hitting .264 in 81 games, .308 in 80 games, and .373 in 30 games, respectively.

Cora made his major league debut on June 7, 1998, with the Dodgers against the Seattle Mariners; his brother Joey Cora was Seattle's starting second baseman in the game.

Cora spent the next seven years in Los Angeles, appearing in a total of 684 games while batting .246 with 27 home runs and 173 RBI.

During his time with the Dodgers, he played at second base and shortstop.

During the 2000 and 2001 seasons, Cora mostly played shortstop as the Dodgers moved the aging Mark Grudzielanek to second base.

With the emergence of César Izturis in 2002, and the trade of Grudzielanek to the Chicago Cubs in December of the same year, Cora spent the rest of his stint with the Dodgers as their primary second baseman.

Cora played in one postseason series with the Dodgers, the 2004 NLDS, which the Dodgers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Cora was the Dodgers' second baseman in all four games, batting 2-for-15 (.133) during the series.

On January 18, 2005, Cora signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Indians.

He appeared in 49 games with the Indians, with 22 starts at shortstop and 14 at second base; he batted .205 with a home run and 8 RBI.

On July 7, 2005, Cora was traded to the Boston Red Sox for infielder Ramón Vázquez.

Cora made his Red Sox debut on July 7, 2005, and through the end of the regular season appeared in a total of 47 games for Boston, batting .269 with two home runs and 16 RBI.

In the 2005 ALDS, which Boston lost to the Chicago White Sox in a three-game sweep, Cora played in one game as a defensive replacement, without a plate appearance.

Cora was originally intended to back up shortstop Édgar Rentería.

With the trade of Rentería to the Atlanta Braves in December 2005, Cora was being eyed to take the position of starting shortstop, until the Red Sox acquired Álex González in February 2006.

For the 2006 season, Cora appeared in 96 games, batting .238 with one home run and 18 RBI.

Cora was a member of the Red Sox team that won the 2007 World Series.

During the regular season, he appeared in 83 games and batted .246 with three home runs and 18 RBI.

In the postseason, he appeared as a late-innings defensive replacement in two games of the 2007 ALCS and two games of the World Series.

He had one plate appearance, a sacrifice bunt in World Series game 3.

For the 2008 regular season, Cora played in 75 games, batting .270 with no home runs and 9 RBI.

He appeared in four postseason games; two games of the 2008 ALDS, which Boston won, and two games of the 2008 ALCS, which Boston lost.

He batted 4-for-26 (.154) with no home runs and one RBI.

These games were the final postseason appearances for Cora as a player.

On October 30, 2008, Cora became a free agent.

After retiring as a player, Cora served as the bench coach for the Houston Astros when they won their first World Series title in 2017.

Cora was named Boston's manager the following season, winning a franchise-best 108 games and leading the team to victory in the 2018 World Series.

He is the fifth MLB manager to win the World Series in his first season and the first Puerto Rican manager of a World Series-winning team.

Following the 2019 season, Cora was implicated in a sign-stealing scandal during his time with Astros.

Amid an investigation to determine if he took part in another sign-stealing scandal with the Red Sox, Cora and the Red Sox mutually agreed to part ways before the 2020 season.

Cora was subsequently suspended through the 2020 playoffs for his role in the Astros' scandal.

After his suspension ended, he returned to the Red Sox as their manager.