SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Considering what happened to Warming Bernabel, the question begged to be asked.
Do you feel lucky to be alive and playing baseball?
“Absolutely,” the Rockies’ soft-spoken, 21-year-old third base prospect said. “It was very scary.”
On Dec. 3, in his hometown of Bani in the Dominican Republic, Bernabel was shot through the back. The bullet entered one side of the small of his back and exited the other. Miraculously, the bullet missed his spine and didn’t damage any organs.
Bernabel remembers all of the details of that night.
“We were feeling hungry and my wife and I wanted to go out to dinner at a restaurant,” Bernabel recalled through interpreter Aaron Munoz, the Rockies’ bullpen catcher.
When Bernabel and his wife, Wilvely, got to the restaurant, Bernabel was assaulted by three men.
“They tried to steal the gold chain from around my neck,” Bernabel said. “They attempted to rob me.”
According to Bernabel, the owner of the restaurant noticed the scuffle, came outside, then shot his gun at the robbers.
“He started firing at them, he helped me out,” Bernabel said.
But then the robbers fired back and one of the shots struck Bernabel. The bullet went through his back and struck his wife in the biceps. Wilvely was not seriously injured and Bernabel only had to spend one night in the hospital.
Nonetheless, it was a traumatic event.
“That week after, I was a little bit scared,” Bernabel said. “I wasn’t able to walk or shower, but after that, it got better.”
The Rockies, led by Rolando Fernandez, the club’s vice president of international development and scouting, were with Bernabel every step of the way during his recovery. One of the alleged suspects was arrested, Bernabel said, but the other two have not been.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder arrived at spring training having lost 18 pounds and in the best shape of his professional career.
“I came to camp to improve on everything and just compete the best I can,” Bernabel said.
Warming Bernabel (76) of the Colorado Rockies awaits his turn at the plate during MLB Spring Training at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Arizona on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
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Bernabel entered 2023 with a spot on the 40-man roster spot and a lot of momentum after a solid 2022 season in which he finished ranked as Colorado’s No. 8 overall prospect by MLB Pipeline. He earned MiLB All-Star recognition after slashing .313/.370/.499 Low-A Fresno and High-A Spokane, with 14 home runs and 71 RBIs in 91 games.
But Bernabel, slowed by a lower back injury that sidelined him for more than a month, struggled last season at Double-A Hartford. Bernabel put up a modest .225/.270/.338 slash line with six homers in 83 games (302 plate appearances).
Bernabel signed with Colorado in 2018 for $900,000 as an international free agent. He didn’t shine during his first pro season in 2019 with Colorado’s Dominican Summer League teams, hitting .250 with four homers in 55 games. But in 2019, Bernabel heated up for the Rockies’ rookie team in the Arizona Complex League, posting a 1.197 OPS in 22 ACL games.
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