Detroit Tigers pitcher Keider Montero walked into the Comerica Park clubhouse Thursday and immediately got the kind of question no player wants to hear after a natural disaster: how is your family doing?
Montero, one of three Venezuelan-born Tigers on the active roster, said his loved ones were safe after the powerful earthquakes that hit Venezuela’s northern coast on Wednesday.
"I've talked to them, they're all fine, thank God," he said Thursday afternoon. Most of his family is in Santa Teresa del Tuy, though his mother lives in Maracay, about a 90-minute drive west of Caracas.
"The support here has been great, everyone here is asking me if my family is okay."
The earthquakes have already caused devastating loss. The largest quake registered at a magnitude 7.7, the strongest recorded in Venezuela since 1900, and the official death toll stood at 164 as of Thursday afternoon.
Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodríguez said the number is expected to rise, while the U.S. Geological Survey estimated it could climb into the " tens of thousands."
The Tigers’ other Venezuelan players - reliever Enmanuel De Jesus, who was born in Valencia, and second baseman Gleyber Torres, who was born in Caracas - also had family checked and confirmed safe, according to a team official. Torres was not available for comment because he is still rehabbing an oblique injury.
The impact reached beyond the players. Carlos Guillén, the Tigers’ communications manager and Spanish-language broadcaster, said his family in Caracas was safe, but he also noted the quakes caused extensive damage across the capital, which has a population of 2.2 million. On Thursday, Guillén posted on X with guidance on how people can help, including donating clothing and toiletries.
The baseball world has felt the shock in other corners too, especially in La Guaira, the coastal state that is the birthplace of MLB players Ronald Acuña Jr. and Maikel Garcia. Garcia posted on X that he spent more than three hours trying to reach his daughter and her mother before finally getting in touch with them at 1:09 a.m. ET Thursday.
Not everyone got reassuring news. Venezuelan media members reported Wednesday that a hotel collapsed in La Guaira during the quakes, killing family members of former MLB players Gorkys Hernández and Eliézer Alfonzo.
The earthquakes hit around 6 p.m., less than an hour before first pitch of the Tigers’ final game of a three-game series against the New York Yankees. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said the news spread quickly through the clubhouse as players and staff tried to learn whether family members were safe.
Hinch said the baseball world needs to come together for those affected.
"I've spent a lot [of time] this morning checking in with different people around the game, just because I don't know where everybody is," he said. "When you see the footage, it's almost unthinkable. Us as a community, a baseball community at that, all we can do is love on them and support them, and if there's something that's needed or a cause to join, we need to do it."
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