SEATTLE (AP) -- Elias Diaz may be the most unlikely All-Star MVP.
Just 3 1/2 years after Pittsburgh failed to offer a contract and allowed him to become a free agent, Diaz hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Felix Bautista in the eighth inning to lift the National League over the American 3-2 on Tuesday night.
A first-time All-Star at age 32, the Colorado catcher put his name on an award won by Willie Mays, Joe Morgan, Frank and Brooks Robinson, both Ken Griffeys and Mike Trout.
``I honestly can't believe that my name is going to be next to some of those names,'' Diaz said through a translator, clutching the crystal bat awarded the MVP. ``Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be in this position.''
After five years with the Pirates, Diaz found out from his agent in December 2019 he had been non-tendered.
``When they let me go, I didn't allow myself to feel defeated,'' Diaz said. ``I maintained my confidence and stayed positive.''
He got a minor league deal with the Rockies a month later, made the big league roster at the start of the pandemic-delated 2020 season and earned a $1.2 million big league contract for 2021. He hit .246 with 18 homers and 44 RBIs, and Colorado rewarded him with a $14.5 million, three-year agreement.
Diaz batted .228 with nine homers and 51 RBIs last year, then earned his first All-Star trip by batting .277 with nine homers and 45 RBIs heading into this year's break.
``He's really improved in every phase of his game,'' said NL manager Rob Thomson of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Thomson had called Rockies manager Bud Black to learn about Diaz.
``He said: `This is one of the finest people you'll ever meet. He's a complete team player,''' Thomson related. ```Do anything you want. If he doesn't play, that's fine. If he does play, that would be great. He's just happy to be there.'''
With the AL leading 2-1, Nick Castellanos worked a nine-pitch walk against Bautista leading off the eighth. Diaz batted for Jorge Soler and with a 2-2 count drove a splitter 360 feet, where it landed under the manual scoreboard behind the left-field wall. The 20th pinch homer in All-Star history was a no-doubt drive. Diaz took three small steps and watched before starting his trot.
``A splitter that stayed up in the zone,'' said Bautista, who had given up one homer in 56 at-bats this season ending with that pitch.
Diaz jumped as he approached the dugout and exchanged slaps with teammates. Geraldo Perdomo doused him with water. A short while later, he became the first Venezuelan to earn All-Star MVP since Dave Concepcion in 1972. Diaz's jersey is going to the Hall of Fame.
``Maybe the third or fourth inning, Orlando Arcia, he was telling me that `Hey, you're going to go up to bat you're going to hit a home run, and you're going to win the MVP,''' Diaz recalled. ``I didn't think it was going to turn into all this.''
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