Yorvit Torrealba

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**Yorvit Torrealba**
Major League Baseball debut
Colorado Rockies — No. 8
Catcher
Bats: Switch	Throws: Right
September 5, 2001 for the San Francisco Giants
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
AVG	.249
RBI	126
HR	22
Former teams
San Francisco Giants (2001-2005) Seattle Mariners (2005)

Yorvit Adolfo Torrealba [pron., /joɾ.ˈvit ˌto.re.ˈal.ba/] (born July 19, 1978 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a catcher in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Colorado Rockies. Previously, Torrealba played for the San Francisco Giants and the Seattle Mariners. He bats and throws right handed.

Torrealba debuted with the San Francisco Giants in 2001. He showed some potential, but when Benito Santiago left via free agency in 2003, the Giants opted to trade for A.J. Pierzynski rather than test Torrealba as a full-time player. He continued to serve as the backup catcher when the Giants signed Mike Matheny prior to the season; in fact, he played less than when Pierzynski was the starter. Torrealba expressed frustration over his lack of playing time to the media more than once, saying he believed he was capable of playing every day. Manager Felipe Alou publicly discussed the possibility of converting Torrealba into a utility infielder to get him more playing time, but that never came to pass.

Torrealba was traded, along with pitcher Jesse Foppert, to the Seattle Mariners for outfielder Randy Winn at the trading deadline of the 2005 season. After the 2005 season the Mariners traded Torrealba to the Colorado Rockies after sigining Kenji Johjima to be their starting catcher. With the Rockies, Torrealba had a chance to be the starting catcher. However, Torrealba's chances of being a starter diminished greatly when the Rockies signed veteran catcher Javy López to a one-year deal on January 9, 2007.

Through 2006, Torrealba has posted a .249 batting average with 22 home runs and 126 RBI's in 327 games. As a catcher, he has compiled a .997 fielding average with only ten errors in 1845 chances.