August 10, 2011: On Saturday, July 30, former Concordia baseball player Mike Aviles was traded from the Kansas City Royals to the Boston Red Sox and promptly appeared as shortstop, going 1-3 and scoring a run.

In a matter of 24 hours, Aviles found himself in the midst of the American League East pennant race. And even better for him, he played in his old New York stomping grounds last weekend when the Red Sox took on the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

As soon as the report hit the media on Saturday that Aviles had been traded to the Red Sox, his cell phone lit up with congratulatory text messages from friends and family.

"I've gotten like nine million texts and phone calls over the last few days," Aviles said this week. "They are definitely happy for me, but they have been joking and saying 'don't talk to me' and stuff like that. The Yankee fans say they will cheer for me, but they won't wear my jersey..."

Aviles, 30, began playing baseball in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx and his grandparents lived only a few blocks from Yankee Stadium. He starred in high school at Middletown High School in Orange County, New York, and then at Concordia College, where he proved formidable as a power hitter and infielder/outfielder.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona was quoted after the trade as saying that Aviles could see time in the outfield, a position he hasn't played since his days at Concordia. Francona also told Boston reporters that the Red Sox have liked Aviles for some time because of his versatility - he has played second base, third, and shortstop, and he has potential power.

Aviles, an NCAA All-America player at Concordia, was drafted in the seventh round in 2003 by Kansas City. He made his major league debut in May 2008 and hit .325 that season. Aviles was the Royals' player of the year and finished fourth in the AL rookie of the year voting. He batted .304 last season after returning from major elbow surgery.

Concordia College, which has an outstanding baseball tradition, has had a number of players picked in the Major League Baseball draft and featured former Clipper stars John Doherty, a pitcher in the '90s for the Detroit Tigers out of Eastchester High School, Scott Leius, a shortstop for the Minnesota Twins who hit a game-winning home run in the 1991 World Series, and Dell Alston, from Yonkers High School, who played for the 1977 World Series Champion New York Yankees.