Big home runs and champagne showers: Abraham Toro's 'crazy' start to MLB career

There are major league debuts, and then there is Abraham Toro's major league debut.

It's been just over a month since the 22-year-old Venezuelan-Canadian from Greenfield Park, Que., made his first appearance as a member of the Houston Astros, the second-best team in baseball at the time.

Since Aug. 22, he's played in front of crowds of thousands of people, hit the home run on home soil in Toronto that helped Justin Verlander cement his third career no-hitter, and taken part in a locker-room champagne celebration when the Astros clinched a playoff spot.

"It's been crazy. A lot of emotions," Toro told CBC.

That home run made him something of an overnight star. His name now appears on a T-shirt, inspired by an R-rated quote uttered by Verlander in the immediate aftermath of the no-hitter.

The thought makes Toro chuckle.

Drafted by the Astros in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, Toro is a switch-hitting third baseman known for his hitting ability. He was named the Astros' minor league player of the year for 2019.

He appeared in 25 games at the major league level, posting a .218 batting average with three doubles, two home runs and nine RBI in that time.

It's not yet clear whether he will play during the post-season. But he will be ready, just in case.

"Everybody here is pretty good. The expectation of this team is [to] win the World Series," he said.

"Expectations are high, and that makes you want to play better."

'I did it. I made it'

Toro comes across as a pretty even-keeled guy — a trait confirmed by his mother, Yamila Hernandez.

She returned to Montreal from a trip to see him play with his minor league team Aug. 19. The next day, he called her just before midnight. As soon as he said the word "mom," she knew what was coming, she said.

"He said, 'I did it. I made it. I'm a major league [player].' But he was calm. He was relaxed."

She wonders whether he was a little more nervous than he let on. She plans to ask him when he returns home in the off-season.

In any case, the day after that call, she was on a flight back to Houston. She cried on that plane — and cried again when they called his name during the starting lineups the next night, she said.

Her son has always been a natural athlete but gravitated toward baseball early on, said Hernandez.

Baseball is the national pastime in Venezuela, but his greatest influence, she will tell you, is his older brother, Douglas Toro.

Douglas, she said, "was always pushing and pushing his brother [to be] the best, and now we are seeing the results."

Douglas was Abraham's first coach, his mentor, his idol. Abraham even served as the bat boy while Douglas played for the Ducs de Longueuil, a junior elite team on Montreal's South Shore. 

Growing up on fields and in stadiums across Quebec, his little brother loved every minute of it, Douglas Toro said.

"He was looking forward to being there, on the field, in the locker room, just hanging out with the guys."

As a pre-teen, Abraham Toro would go with his family to watch Douglas play college ball in Florida.

"At the time, I wanted to play in college just like him," said the younger Toro. "It gave me more motivation."

Never in doubt

Abraham Toro has never really doubted that he could be a major league player, and neither has his family.

Douglas Toro can remember the moment he knew his brother would be great. He was about 12, and he was hitting the ball so hard, Douglas was scared he was going to hurt someone.

That year, he also launched a ball close to 50 metres, more than 160 feet over a 3.6-metre-high wall in Trois-Rivières known as the Green Monster. (Yes, it's named after that Green Monster.)

"With my brother, it wasn't, 'Oh, he became better.' No. He was always good," said Douglas Toro.

Abraham Toro played in Quebec most of his life — attending Édouard-Montpetit High School and Vanier College before leaving for Seminole State College in Florida in 2015.

Playing in a cold-weather climate came with challenges. Unlike those who live in the south, he had to practise indoors for most of the year. And not many scouts make the trip to Quebec looking for talent, he said.

"It made me think that I needed to work harder in order to be noticed," Toro said.

And he did get noticed. His family believes his success will help others from Quebec.

"I think [his story] is going to give recognition for other players also," Douglas Toro said.