During his career on the mound, Albaladejo, a six-foot-five, 270-pound colossus, suited up for the New York Yankees, Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks for a total of 76.2 innings. launched between 2007 and 2012.
As a coach, the Puerto Rican held the role of gunners coach with the Lake Erie Crushers in the Frontier League in 2024. He had previously worked for the Empire State Grays as well as in the Mexican circuit since the start of his career coach in 2019. This job as manager of the Eagles will be the first of its kind in his second career in the world of baseball.
“We are really happy with this hiring. It will welcome Hispanic players and integrate them with Canadians and Americans. Our best years were when our Latin American players were happy. In our criteria, yes French is important, but it was even more important to have a coach who allows our training to be more than competitive. We are advanced as an organization, but I wanted to improve baseball operations. We gave a big blow with Jonathan,” argued the president of the Eagles, René Martin.
The Puerto Rican said he wants to create a good environment where there will be good team chemistry. His avowed goal is to lead the Trois-Rivières to a championship.
“I am very happy and excited to be with the Eagles. I can’t wait for the next season already. I want to get to the playoffs with a good group of guys. With my experience as a player and coach, I hope it can happen. I would like to bring my experience to this team as well as good players,” said Albaladejo during his first official speech as manager of the Trois-Rivières club.
The contract that Albaladejo signed with the Eagles is for a period of two years. A sign of his excitement, Martin explained that he had difficulty holding back so as not to rush things and offer the position to Albaladejo even more quickly. The latter beat about half a dozen suitors for this job.
“I contacted Bob McDuff who had a friend in the Atlantic League where Jonathan had coached. During his discussions with different people, Bob called me back to tell me that it was impossible to have a candidate who was a better fit than that to lead the Eagles.
In his luggage from Lake Erie, Albaladejo brought with him hitting coach Jerry Gonzalez.
An asset for recruitment
In a league like the Frontier, where player turnover is high, recruiting is one of the main nerves of war. Therefore, having the chance to count on Albaladejo, whose mother tongue is Spanish, will allow the Eagles to have a valuable asset up their sleeve in order to add reinforcement from Latin American countries, one of the most interesting talent pools for the Border.
“It’s hard to attract players here, but when they’re here, they love the city. So it took a manager with good powers of persuasion as well as contacts. I think we found the right person for this. We asked ourselves the question to know if it absolutely required someone who spoke French and we came to the conclusion that no. All the guys on our team speak English and now the majority of them speak Spanish. That’s why we went in this direction. Jonathan was the best candidate,” indicated the general manager of the Eagles, Jérôme Duchesneau.
Thanks to his well-stocked resume, Albaladejo hopes to be able to convince good players to come to Mauricie for the 2025 calendar. Based in Tampa Bay, Florida and returning to Puerto Rico to see his loved ones, Albaladejo seems to be doing well geographically positioned to recruit in person regularly outside of the summer season.
“I like to think I’m pretty knowledgeable about baseball. Everyone wants to become better and I believe I can help them achieve that goal. I know some people and I think I did a good job with the Crushers. In Trois-Rivières, I want to do better by working even harder.”
Improve the pitching department
According to what he analyzed, the new manager of the Eagles wishes, unsurprisingly, to improve the pitching department, the Achilles tendon of the team in recent years.
“I would like to improve the bullpen and add depth to our starting rotation. Regardless of which players are back on the roster, I think I can bring the necessary pieces to make this team successful if everything goes in the right direction.”
As for Rusch, he was offered by the organization the opportunity to stay with them when he was dismissed from his services as manager. Rusch accepted the Eagles’ proposal, but his role is still to be defined, noted Duchesneau.
