PITTSBURGH -- When Yohel Pozo finally got his wish at what he joyfully called ¡°a second debut¡± in the big leagues, there was never a question that his wife, Paola, and their two kids would hurriedly travel along with him to Pittsburgh.
After all, the Pozo family has remained together through good times and bad as Yohel has chased his baseball dreams. Even now, they follow the catcher around on every road trip, regardless of where he is playing. They were together again on a frigid Monday night for Pozo's second shot at the big leagues, just as they were together back in 2020 when they shockingly found themselves homeless and living out of the family car.
Monday certainly presented happier times, as the family flew most of the morning from Memphis, Tenn., and didn¡¯t arrive in Pittsburgh until an hour before the team bus departed for PNC Park. Despite the Cardinals losing 8-4 to the Pirates, Pozo ripped a homer in his St. Louis debut, and he threw out a runner trying to steal second while playing in front of roughly 15 family members based in Harrisburg, Pa.
¡°It feels good with the individual part, but it doesn¡¯t matter too much because we were trying to win,¡± said Pozo, who played a big league game for the first time since 2021 when he was with the Rangers. ¡°I¡¯m happy to hit the homer, but I¡¯d prefer to win the game.¡±
The 27-year-old Pozo, a native of Venezuela, was promoted to replace injured catcher Iv¨¢n Herrera, who was diagnosed with a bone bruise in his left knee that is expected to sideline him for four weeks. Having excelled as a hitter at practically every level he¡¯s played at during his career, Pozo showed an ability to crush big league pitching -- just as he did during a short stretch with the Cardinals late in Spring Training. That time included bullpen sessions with left-hander Matthew Liberatore, who steadied himself following a three-run second inning. Pozo gets some of the credit for that in-game turnaround, Liberatore said.
¡°He can swing it,¡± Liberatore said of Pozo, whose sixth-inning home run got the Cards back to within 4-2. "He was super open to whatever I wanted to do, and he had great energy [behind the plate].
¡°He came to me after the second inning and said, ¡®Hey, let¡¯s slow them down a little,¡¯ and we started pitching backward. We stuck with that plan and it worked.¡±
Pozo had to work to dig his family out of a rough spot in 2020 when his then-infant son, Paul, suffered a stroke when he was just a few months old. That happened just about the time when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports and canceled the Minor League season. That meant that Pozo was out of work and didn¡¯t have insurance at a time when his son needed multiple appointments a week to visit the pediatrician and neurologist. Those stresses not only zapped the family¡¯s finances, but it left them often going hungry and living out of a Hyundai Sonata.
¡°We were homeless in 2020 when my kid was in the hospital, so that gave me the [drive] to never get down on myself in baseball,¡± he said before Monday¡¯s game. ¡°So the whole time I¡¯ve been in the Minor Leagues, I¡¯ve just been working to put up good numbers so I can have a job and insurance to take care of my son and my family.¡±
Upon whipping his bat through the zone and smashing a splitter for a 380-foot home run -- a no-doubter that Statcast projected would be a homer in all 30 MLB ballparks -- Pozo thrusted his index and pinkie fingers high into the air in the direction of his family seated a few rows behind the Cardinals' dugout. The family is there for every game -- home and away -- and not just to support him as a player. A big part of his reasoning is that he wants to be nearby if Paul encounters health challenges as a special needs 5-year-old.
On Monday, the Pozo family was a long way from the Walmart parking lot in Orlando, Fla., where it was forced to sleep in the car and ration food. Instead of driving for food delivery services, he was driving baseballs at the game¡¯s highest level. In good times and bad, his family has stayed together, and he wouldn¡¯t have had it any other way on Monday.
¡°The reason why I take my family with me on every road trip is because of [Paul],¡± Pozo said. ¡°I prefer, if he has an episode, I can run to the emergency room and be with him.
¡°As soon as I hit the homer, I knew where they were sitting, and I signed to them. It was a great moment.¡±