Rey Ordóñez
Rey Ordóñez | |
---|---|
Havana, Cuba | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
April 1, 1996, for the New York Mets | |
Last MLB appearance | |
July 19, 2004, for the Chicago Cubs | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .246 |
Home runs | 12 |
Runs batted in | 287 |
Teams | |
Career highlights and awards | |
|
Reynaldo Ordóñez Pereira (born January 11, 1971) is a Cuban former professional baseball shortstop. He played nine seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Chicago Cubs.
Early life
Ordóñez was a promising young player for the Havana Industriales club in the Cuban National Series, and was named to the Cuban national team at the 1993 Summer Universiade in Buffalo, New York. He defected to the United States at the tournament, two days after teammate Eddie Oropesa; in doing so, he became only the third player since the Cuban Revolution to openly defect to the United States.[1][2] In March 2013, Ordóñez finally traveled back to Cuba 20 years after defecting.[3]
Professional career
St. Paul Saints
Before signing with a major league team, Ordóñez played part of the 1993 season with the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League. In 15 games with the Saints, he batted .283. He signed with the Mets as a free agent after the season, on October 29, 1993, and retired from baseball in 2007 after several years of injury-related absence from the majors.
New York Mets
Ordóñez joined the Single-A
Though he rarely struck out and was capable of laying down sacrifice bunts, Ordóñez was not a particularly effective hitter. Besides a career batting average of .246, he was not a good base stealer, drew few walks and little power. His lifetime OPS of .600 was almost 200 points lower than the major league average (.782 in 2000, for example).[4]
Ordóñez's defensive play never recovered after he fractured his left arm on May 29, 2000, when attempting to tag the
Devil Rays and Cubs
On December 15, 2002, Ordóñez was traded to the
San Diego Padres
In 2004, incoming rookie Khalil Greene beat out Ordóñez for the position of shortstop with the San Diego Padres during spring training.[7] He was unsure at the time whether he would ever play Major League Baseball again, and did not play for any major league organization during the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
Seattle Mariners
On November 14, 2006, Ordóñez was signed to a minor league contract by the
Personal life
In 2001, Ordóñez agreed to pay his ex-wife, Hilda Maria Fiallo, $6,250 per month in child support, for their son, Rey Jr. This amounted to a 4,166 percent raise for Fiallo, who had been previously granted child support payments of only $1.50 per month by a Cuban court.[10]
See also
References
- ^ "Commie Ball: A Journey to the End of a Revolution". No. July 2008. Vanity Fair.
- ^ "Long way from Shea for former Mets star Ordonez". ESPN.com. ESPN. Associated Press. February 20, 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ "Cuba Travel: Baseball Star Rey Ordonez Allowed To Return Home Thanks To Obama Travel Policies". HuffPost. March 20, 2013.
- ^ 2012 MLB Team Batting Stats – Major League Baseball – ESPN. Sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved on 2012-10-09.
- ^ Chass, Murray (December 16, 2002). "With Sigh of Relief, Mets Trade Ordóñez". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ Rubin, Roger (December 16, 2002). "With Trade, They Call Him Devil Rey – Ordonez out; Mets seek Neagle in 3-way". New York Daily News. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
- ^ Grounding out to Greene Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine By Michael Huang.
- ^ "SS Ordonez among 9 signed by M's to minor league deals". seattletimes.com. November 14, 2006. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
- ^ a b "Hermanson Released By Reds". Hartford Courant. 2 April 2007. pp. C07. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ^ "Mets shortstop agrees to pay child support". seattlepi.com. May 22, 2001. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Cuban Baseball Career statistics
- Rey Ordóñez Returns To Cuba