Keider Montero walked into the Comerica Park clubhouse on Thursday and got straight to the question that was on everybody’s mind.
“How is your family doing?” a media member asked.
For Montero, one of three Venezuelan-born Tigers on the active roster, the answer brought some relief after a violent series of earthquakes ripped through Venezuela’s northern coast on Wednesday. Montero, born in Santa Teresa del Tuy, said his family was safe. Most of them are still there, while his mom lives in Maracay, about a 90-minute drive west of Caracas.
“I've talked to them, they're all fine, thank God,” he said Thursday afternoon.
He also said the reaction inside the Tigers’ clubhouse has been immediate and supportive.
“The support here has been great, everyone here is asking me if my family is okay.”
The earthquakes, with the largest measured at 7.7, were the strongest recorded in Venezuela since 1900. The official death toll stood at 164 by Thursday afternoon, though Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodríguez said it was expected to rise.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the number of deaths could climb into the “ tens of thousands.”
Montero wasn’t the only Tigers player checking on loved ones. Relief pitcher Enmanuel De Jesus, who was born in Valencia just west of Maracay, and second baseman Gleyber Torres, born in Caracas, are the other Venezuelan-born players on Detroit’s active 26-man roster.
According to a team official, both of their families are safe. Torres was not available to comment as he continues rehabbing an oblique injury.
The damage reached beyond the players, too. Tigers communications manager and Spanish-language broadcaster Carlos Guillén said his family in Caracas is safe, but he described serious damage across the capital, which has a population of 2.2 million. Guillén also posted a thread on X Thursday laying out ways people can help, including donations of clothing and toiletries.
The impact spread through the wider baseball world as well, especially in La Guaira, the coastal state that is home to MLB stars Ronald Acuña Jr. and Maikel Garcia. Garcia said 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 on Thursday.
Not everyone got good news. Venezuelan media reported Wednesday that a hotel in La Guaira collapsed during the quakes, killing family members of former MLB players Gorkys Hernández and Eliezer Alfonzo.
The timing only added to the tension. The earthquakes began 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 word spread quickly through the clubhouse as players and staff tried to figure out who was affected.
Hinch said the baseball community needs to come together for the people dealing with the aftermath.
“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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