Jose Alexander Cora (born October 18, 1975) is a Puerto Rican baseball manager and former infielder who is the manager of the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for 14 seasons with the Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, and Washington Nationals. After retiring as a player, Cora served as the bench coach for the Houston Astros when they won their first World Series title in 2017. Cora was named Boston's manager the following season, winning a franchise-best 108 games and leading the team to victory in the 2018 World Series. He is the fifth MLB manager to win the World Series in his first season and the first Puerto Rican manager of a World Series-winning team. Following the 2019 season, Cora was implicated in a sign-stealing scandal during his time with Astros. Amid an investigation to determine if he took part in another sign-stealing scandal with the Red Sox, Cora and the Red Sox mutually agreed to part ways before the 2020 season. Cora was subsequently suspended through the 2020 playoffs for his role in the Astros' scandal. After his suspension ended, he returned to the Red Sox as their manager. Playing career Early career Cora was drafted in the 12th round of the 1993 Major League Baseball draft by the Minnesota Twins, but did not sign a contract and decided instead to play collegiate baseball at the University of Miami. While there, Cora was named to the College World Series all-tournament team in both 1995 and 1996. He led the team to the title game in 1996, a game they lost to Louisiana State University. Cora was rated by Baseball America as the best collegiate defensive player going into the 1996 draft. Cora was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third round, and played 61 games of the 1996 season with the Class A-Advanced Vero Beach Dodgers, batting .257 with no home runs and 26 RBIs. He played the 1997 season with the Double-A San Antonio Missions; in 127 games he batted .234 with 3 home runs and 48 RBIs. Cora spent parts of the 1998, 1999, and 2000 seasons with the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes, hitting .264 in 81 games, .308 in 80 games, and .373 in 30 games, respectively. Los Angeles Dodgers Cora made his major league debut on June 7, 1998,