Antonio Enrique Álvarez Cisneros (; born 9 May 1979) is a Venezuelan political operative of the government of Nicolás Maduro and a former professional baseball player.
Born in Caracas, he played professionally under the name Tony Álvarez. Furthermore, he is commonly known as El Potro Álvarez, a moniker that he has been using since starting his baseball career at a young age.
Álvarez was a highly touted as a five-tool outfielder prospect. In addition to his playing in the 2002 All-Star Futures Game and the 2006 World Baseball Classic, he usually hit line drives into the infield or deep into the outfield, ran the bases aggressively, and crashed into walls in pursuit of fly balls. "People come out to the ballpark and pay money to watch the game", Álvarez explained in an interview. "I'm an aggressive player and it's hard for me to change. If I lose my aggressiveness, I won't be the same player", he added.
At age 25, Álvarez was ranked by Baseball America as one of the top ten prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, but was never able to fulfill the potential that he showed in the Minor Leagues.
Álvarez collected a .474 batting average in the 2002 spring training and impressed the Pittsburgh organization as much with his enthusiasm and magnetic personality. "He's a high-energy guy", Pirates farm director Brian Graham said. "He plays the game hard and has the kind of attitude you want to see in a young player."
Musical career
Starting 2009, Álvarez engaged on a musical career as a reggaeton artist. Usually using the stage name El Potro Alvarez, he collaborated with various artists in a bunch of music videos taking elements from their styles in order to develop an original style. These music videos were usually directed by Venezuelan Daniel Durán and Dominican Marlon Peña (aka Marlon P).
List of music videos (Credited as El Potro Álvarez)
{| class="wikitable"
! Release !! Year !! Title !! Artist !! Location !! Music video director !! Info
|-
|1. || 2009 || "Lo que no sabes tú" || Chino & Nacho / Baroni || Choroni Beach || Daniel Durán <br>and<br>Marlon P ||
|-
|2. || 2010 || "Bla, Bla, Bla" || Chino & Nacho || Los Roques archipelago<br>Canaima National Park<br>Caracas<br>Médanos de Coro National Park || Daniel Duran<br> and<br> Marlon P ||
|-
|3. || 2011 || "Una vaina loca" || Fuego || Isla Margarita || Daniel Durán<br> and<br> Marlon P ||
|-
|4. || 2011 || "Me gusta" || Oscarcito || Alcatraz, San Francisco || Daniel Durán ||
|-
|5. || 2012 || "Regálame un Muack" || Chino & Nacho || Zulia || Daniel Durán ||
|-
|6. || 2012 || "Ayantame" || Ilegales || || Daniel Durán ||
|-
|7. || 2013 || "Me prefieres a mí" || Arcángel || || Javy Ferrer ||
|-
|8. || 2015 || "Como Yo Te Quiero" || Yandel || Petare, Caracas || Jessy Terrero ||
|-
|9. || 2025 || "Paz Forever" || Nicolás Maduro, Xuxo, Alfredo Criollo || || ||
|}
Political career
Starting his political career in 2013, Álvarez ran as a United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV in Spanish) candidate for mayor of the Sucre Municipality, but was defeated by Carlos Ocariz. The minister, during his statements, explained that sport in Venezuela had been deepened as a state policy during the last 15 years of revolution.
In April 2015, President Maduro announced that Álvarez had been relieved of his ministerial duties. Álvarez was released from office due to his bid for the PSUV primary elections ahead of parliamentary elections.
Personal life
From 2002 to May 2005, Álvarez was married to Miss World Venezuela 1984 and Miss World 1984 Astrid Carolina Herrera. After they divorced, he married in December 2005 to Miss Venezuela 2002 winner and actress Mariángel Ruiz, with whom he had a daughter named Mariángel Victoria. and this couple have a daughter, Mia Dayana, who was born in 2014.
See also
- List of Major League Baseball players from Venezuela