In the modern-day sports specialization at early ages, stories of multi-sport athletes like Alec Gamboa, a left-handed pitcher in the Dodgers organization, need to reach today’s youth.
Gamboa filled his younger years with as many sports as he could, and earned 3 letters in baseball and four each in both football and wrestling at Madera High School in the Fresno area of California.
During his High School career, he was the Metro Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year twice, went undefeated as a Senior on the mound, was named the Madera HS MVP on the gridiron, went 150-15 as a grappler, was a 3-time state placer, and won the 2013 Reno Worlds National on the wrestling mat.
Gamboa was blessed with physical tools that most don’t have, no question, but he also learned balance, toughness, and how to compete by putting himself in as many competitive situations as he could.
His Prep career as a multi-sport star was elite, and it left him with options, one being the local University, Fresno State, where he eventually landed.
College Experience
Gamboa entered Fresno State excited and full of promise, but almost immediately was forced to deal with adversity. While throwing a bullpen during his first Semester on campus, the Madera native started feeling pain in his elbow that would, eventually, force him into Tommy John surgery. Initially, however, as he had always done, he tried to fight through the pain and kept pitching through the Spring season but never got in a game and was told that he was being granted a redshirt at the end of that year.
Gamboa left for the Summer to play baseball in the Chicago area, and that’s when everything started unraveling.
Just as he was prepared to go back to Fresno State for his 2nd year, he got an email that changed everything. The email informed him that his scholarship at Fresno State wasn’t going to be waiting for him when he got back.
Gamboa reached out to his coaches to find out exactly what was going on, and, after an assembly line of miscommunications, he ultimately found out that he didn’t have a scholarship after he had already made his way back to campus and rented an “off-campus” apartment.
It was a tough blow and one that left him with very few options.
Gamboa decided to get financial aid and he tried to stick it out but eventually decided to transfer to Fresno City College to play for Ron Scott.
Scott is currently in his 29th year with the Rams and is the winningest baseball coach in California history with over 1000 wins in his illustrious career as the skipper for FCC. His pitching coach, Eric Solberg, is a coach that Gamboa felt very comfortable with as well, so he decided to make the 6-mile move across town.
He loved the coaching staff at FCC and began to thrive in his new but familiar setting, largely because it was a situation that he trusted.
But, just as he began to settle in, his elbow pain flared up again, and, this time, even as tough as he is, he couldn’t ignore it. After having his elbow checked out he was eventually forced to have Tommy John Surgery and miss the remainder of the 2017 season as well as all of 2018.
Keep in mind that Gamboa was a 3 sport star who competed year round and had never had much of a break at all, nonetheless the amount of time it was going to take to recover from Tommy John Surgery. So, getting the news that he was not going to get to play and compete for a lengthened period of time was difficult, but it left him with no other choice.
It was what it was, so he got to work on working his way back to baseball.
After the typical extensive Tommy John Rehab, the battle-tested Madtown native eventually made his way back to the field in 2019 and picked up right where he had left off. He lost just 1 game in 2019, the year of his return, registered a 7:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and was awarded as the Central Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year for the Rams.
Gamboa was back and had shown that he was recovered from his Tommy John surgery and caught the eye of the Dodgers. The Dodgers offered him the opportunity workout at Dodger Stadium to pitch in front of several scouts, a situation that ended up being life-changing.
But, before we get to how he performed at that workout, let’s back up and remember all the competitive situations his multi-sport background provided for him.
Because of the competitive situations he had become accustomed to, he knew how to handle the moment, performed beautifully, and left the Dodgers so impressed they drafted him in the 9th Round of that year’s Draft in 2019.
Onto the Dodgers
Being from California, Gamboa grew up a Dodgers fan, and getting drafted by them was a dream come true. But, that wasn’t the only thing about becoming a Dodger that seemed too good to be true.
Being left-handed he was also a big fan of Fernando Valenzuela and had worn jersey #34 at Fresno City in his honor, then, by sheer luck, also got to wear #34 with the AZL Dodgers during his short season in 2019.
Gamboa was excited to be a Dodger, pumped about the number he was wearing and was ready to get to work to fulfill his dreams. He threw 25 innings in his short season in 2019 and had 33 strikeouts to only 2 walks, so he showed early on that he has the ability to have great command combined with a lot of swing-and-miss stuff.
In 2021 he threw 77 innings, then, in this past year, he threw 88.1, so he has slowly built his pitch count and put his Tommy John surgery in his rearview.
His manager at High A Great Lakes, Austin Chubb, had great things to say about the talented Lefty.
Alec gave us some quality innings in 2021. When he has his full mix going, he’s really good. He is an awesome dude with a great work ethic.
Feature Cut
Gamboa features a 4-pitch mix that includes a 2-seam/4-seam split with his fastball, so, in effect, he could be considered to have 5 pitches. His fastball sits 93-94 and, In this video, you will see his 4-seam at 96 and his 2-seam at 92 with cut and sink.
Changeup
Gamboa also features a good changeup, and breaking stuff that he uses for Strike 1 or to induce swing and miss.
What’s Next
Being a 3 sport star, Gamboa never had the luxury of focusing solely on baseball until he was in college, then hurt his arm during the first semester at Fresno State which eventually forced him to have Tommy John Surgery, so he is just coming into his own as a pitcher. He spent all of 2022 in AA Tulsa and had a lot of highs, and a few lows as well. He was 8-0 as a starter at one point and had a strikeout-to-walk ratio over 2 to 1 so his stuff is good.
2023 will be a big year for the Madtown native as he inches his way closer to a dream of becoming a Dodger. Both he and his family are big Dodgers fans, so the idea of Alec standing on the mound someday at Dodgers stadium is one that is a real dream come true scenario and one that Dodgers Daily will be rooting for all along the way.
