Adalberto Mondesí

Raúl Adalberto Mondesí (born July 27, 1995) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball infielder. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals. Mondesí is the first player in modern MLB history to make his debut in the World Series, doing so with the Royals in Game 3 on October 30, 2015, against the New York Mets.

Career

Minor leagues Mondesí signed with the Kansas City Royals on July 27, 2011, receiving a signing bonus of $2 million. He played the 2013 season with the Lexington Legends of the Class A South Atlantic League. On May 27 he hit for the cycle. He finished the season hitting .261/.311/.361 with seven home runs. After the season, he was named the Class A Lexington Player of the Year by the Royals.

Prior to the 2014 season, Mondesí was considered one of the top prospects in baseball. He was ranked by Baseball America as the team's third-best prospect. He was ranked by MLB.com as the 38th best prospect overall. Mondesi spent the 2014 season with the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League, and played for the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League after the regular season.

In 2015, Mondesi played for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals of the Double-A Texas League. He appeared in the 2015 All-Star Futures Game.

Kansas City Royals

The Royals added Mondesi to their active roster for the 2015 World Series. He became the first player since Bug Holliday in 1885 to make his major league debut during a championship series, when he pinch hit during Game 3 for pitcher Danny Duffy and struck out against New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard. He won his first World Series ring when the Royals defeated the New York Mets in five games.

Mondesi began the 2016 season in Double-A. On May 10, Mondesi was suspended 50 games after testing positive for clenbuterol which is banned by Major League Baseball. His suspension was originally 80 games, but was reduced due to the substance having been ingested via cold medicine. On September 1, he returned to the Royals lineup versus the Cleveland Indians. He completed the season with a .240 batting average, along with six home runs and 17 RBIs in 35 games. He underwent surgery in May and missed the rest of the season.

Overall with the Royals, Mondesí appeared in 358 regular-season games, batting .244 with 38 home runs, 157 RBIs, and an 83.6% success rate on stolen base attempts (133-for-159).

Boston Red Sox On January 24, 2023, the Royals traded Mondesí and a player to be named later (named in March as minor-league infielder Angel Pierre) to the Boston Red Sox for Josh Taylor. On March 30, Mondesi was placed on the 60-day injured list due to a left ACL tear. He ultimately missed the entire season. He became a free agent after the season.

Personal life Mondesí is the son of former MLB player Raúl Mondesí. Known as Adalberto when he signed with the Royals, Mondesí went by Raúl Mondesí (and was sometimes referred to in media as Raúl A. Mondesí or Raúl Mondesí Jr.) from 2015 to 2018. He was born in Los Angeles, California, while his father played for the Los Angeles Dodgers.