He was the Cubs 1st pick (6th overall) in the 1st round of the 2012 MLB Draft & reached the mountain top in his first season in the BIGS (pun intended) as the Cubs won the 2016 World Series. Albert Almora Jr. is known for his stellar defensive work in center field but he says being a complete player is the ultimate goal. "I try to improve my overall game. I wanted to get a little quicker on the base paths & obviously hitting. Just trying to hit the ball hard more consistently and obviously that's everybody's goal. It's more mental than anything else."
The 2019 season started off slow for him with a .182 batting average (10 for 55) & a .432 OPS in his first 21 games.He's been on a tear in his last 24 games hitting .337 with 5 HR & a .963 OPS. He was the hero in last night's 8-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies as his first career grand slam broke a 3-3 tie & ultimately led the Cubs to the W.
I caught up with him the night before as Javier Baez' pinch hit walk-off single gave the Cubs a 3-2 victory in the 2nd game of the Cubs 4 game set against Philly. (I think my pep talk led to AL Jr's heroics last night) We talked about his mindset coming in to spring training, heating up in the last 20 plus games, Javy's clutch gene & his favorite ball player coming up.