Guillermo Quiroz

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Guillermo Quiroz [gee-YARE-mo kee-ROZE] (born November 29, 1981 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a catcher and right-handed batter who plays for the Seattle Mariners.

Quiroz was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as a non-drafted free agent in 1998, before his 17th birthday, with a lucrative $1.5 million signing bonus. He was progressing through Toronto system as the team's number-one catching prospect. In addition, Baseball America rated him as the Blue Jays' third best prospect in their 2004 pre-season rankings, and the 35th best prospect in all of baseball.

Defensively, Quiroz has good skills. In 2003 he threw out 45% of base stealers, and was the starting catcher for the World team in the 2003 All-Star Futures Game played at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field.

Despite his low average in the minors, Quiroz is a patient hitter who receives a significant number of walks and can hit with decent power. But all he needs to do is stay healthy. He missed the end of the 2003 season with a collapsed lung, and the broken hand he suffered in May 2004, hurt his chances of taking over as the Blue Jays' starting catcher in 2005.

In 2006, the Blue Jays signed catcher Jason Phillips initially as the backup to Gregg Zaun. They later signed Bengie Molina to be their new starter. With three catchers ahead of Quiroz on the Blue Jays' depth chart, this suggested a vote of non-confidence by the Jays in Quiroz's ability to play in the majors. On March 31, Quiroz was put on waivers by the Blue Jays, but was promptly picked up by the Seattle Mariners on the same day.

In a two-season career, Quiroz is a .205 hitter with 10 RBI and no home runs in 29 games.