The Dodgers are blessed to have a clubhouse full of several of the best players in the game today, including a few who are destined for baseball immortality in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

They are also blessed to have arguably the best teammate in the game today, as well. And though he may never grace the sacred Halls of Cooperstown or win a Gold Glove or a Silver Slugger (nor could he care less about such things), he is every bit a Hall of Fame teammate and every bit the Dodgers ‘Clubhouse Ace.’

He is, of course, 29-year-old San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic native and Dodgers utility infielder (and occasional right-handed reliever) Hanser Alberto.

“We’re together for a long time, we play every day,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts after his team’s 12-6 pounding of the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night. “To have a role player come in positive every day, and he’s the biggest cheerleader, he’s a student of the game, watching the game, he’s ready when called upon, he’s rooting his guys on, so he’s very unselfish. And so, to have a guy that comes with that energy every day, you can’t quantify it, but it’s certainly… you feel it in the dugout, in the clubhouse every day. He’s a very big additive to our ballclub.”

“I think the back-to-back got to him, so I gotta be mindful of that with the workload,” Roberts kidded with reporters postgame. “I don’t know if that was a fastball or a breaking ball, but he gave us a change-up,” the Dodgers skipper added about the (not-too-painful) hit by pitch of Brewers pinch-hitter Keston Hiura, followed by a two-run home run by Brewers right fielder Hunter Renfroe to ruin Alberto’s otherwise perfect inning of relief.

“Hey, ask why they called a breaking ball,” Alberto hollered jokingly while Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes was being interviewed in the Dodgers clubhouse following their blowout win over the Brewers; a game in which Barnes went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and four RBIs.

Here are the Dodgers pitching lines from Wednesday night’s 12-6 win over the Brewers:

Although certainly not a realistic or fair comparison, Renfro’s ninth-inning / two-run blast on Wednesday night sent Alberto’s previously excellent 1.80 ERA to a not so excellent 4.50.

Dodgers closer Craig Kimbrel‘s current ERA is 4.36.

Play Ball!

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