13 Facts About Al Avila

Al Avila was born on August 2,1958 and is a Cuban baseball executive.

Al Avila was the executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball.

Al Avila's family defected from Cuba to the United States when he was a child.

Al Avila remained in that position, and served as the school's athletics director, until he joined the expansion Florida Marlins' front office in 1992.

In June 1992, Al Avila joined the Florida Marlins as the assistant director of Latin American operations.

Al Avila was named director of scouting for the Marlins in July 1998, where he was responsible for all of the Marlins scouting efforts on both the national and international levels and he oversaw the development of those players in the baseball academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

Al Avila helped sign 16-year-old Miguel Cabrera in 1999, who debuted in the major leagues in 2003 and hit four home runs during Florida's second World Series run.

Al Avila served as the interim general manager for the Marlins during the 2001 off-season following Dave Dombrowski's departure to the Detroit Tigers.

Al Avila was named the Marlins vice president and assistant general manager in July 2001.

On January 23,2002, Al Avila was hired as a special assistant to Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield.

Al Avila became the first Cuban-born general manager in baseball history.

At the time of his firing, Al Avila was the only general manager of Latin American descent in Major League Baseball.

Al Avila's son, Alex Avila, was a catcher for various teams the major leagues and is an analyst for MLB Network.