Edgardo Alfonzo, unlike Brooklyn Cyclones managers of years past, won’t chew your ear off. He goes about his day-to-day duties much like his playing career; Alfonzo, 45, has a brain packed with baseball acumen, and unless you ask why he decided to call for that hit-and-run in the seventh inning or why he subbed in Reliever X in the ninth, he approaches his postgame media sessions with a lighthearted everything will fall into place attitude.

But Alfonzo didn’t get to this point in his career by watching the game pass him by. On Friday, following a 12-1 Cyclones victory over the Connecticut Tigers, he was extremely candid in speaking about his journey from Venezuela to the United States in the name of baseball — motivated in particular by “Jefes” night at MCU Park, a multi-night celebration of Hispanic and Latino culture.

Here’s a transcript of what Alfonzo had to say on Friday night, literally seconds after Michael Conforto and the Mets walked off against the Nationals. (The TV set in the room had been tuned into SNY.)

“It’s a lot to think about. 17 years old, you come from a Latin country to the United States, one of the biggest countries in the world, and you have to learn everything from the beginning. The culture, how to act, how you’re going to play baseball. To me, it was great [to] learn, as a player and as a human being.

“You have to walk away from your family – we’re not talking about two weeks, we’re talking about months. Then you have to learn stuff that you don’t have. I mean, you don’t think before that it’s going to happen. To me, that was a great experience.

“And, I didn’t play here in Brooklyn, I played in Pittsfield where it’s worse. There’s nothing there. I started my first year in 1991 in the Gulf Coast League, then I played in Pittsfield, St. Lucie, and Double-A. I have a lot of memories about my journey in the minor leagues.

“It is a tough time. Sometimes you go to sleep without anything in your stomach because instead of eating something you’re saving money to take home or to send to your parents. I really know what those guys are going through [pointing in the direction of the clubhouse], especially the Latin guys. I feel for them because I went through that. Every time something’s going on I tell them to talk to me because I already went through it.

“I have a lot of memories, but it was a great sacrifice to get to where you want to be. That’s what I have in mind all the time and I try to teach the guys that.”

Alfonzo also commented on the impact of celebrating Hispanic culture at the ballpark, as the Cyclones did on Friday and multiple times throughout the season:

“It’s always great to have people get to know what’s going on in our countries, how we celebrate and stuff. To see those people dance on the field [referring to the between-inning entertainment], it’s just part of the culture. Every country has a different culture.

“It’s great to get those fans to know the players, because we have guys from the Dominican, from Cuba, Venezuela, and all over the place, to get to know them before they go to the big leagues.

“When they brought that idea about “Jefes” I said that it was a great idea because many people, they don’t know. They know when they get to see the guys in the big leagues, but they don’t know what they’re going through and how good they can be in the minor leagues.”