Gerónimo Gil

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Gerónimo Gil (pronounced "Hay RON i mo Heel") (born August 7, 1975 in Oaxaca, Mexico) is a Major League Baseball catcher who is currently a free agent. He bats and throws right-handed.

Gil began his baseball career with the Mexico City Reds of the Mexican League. He had played in only 4 games for Mexico City in 1995 when his contract was purchased by the Los Angeles Dodgers on February 15, 1996.

Gil caught for the Class A Savannah Sand Gnats in '96. The Sand Gnats came back from seventh place and won the South Atlantic League championship that year.

In 1997, Gerónimo Gil played for the Class A Vero Beach Dodgers. The next year he was promoted to the AA San Antonio Missions, playing catcher as well as in the outfield and at first base. Gil played for San Antonio until 2000. The highlights of his career with San Antonio include ranking 4th in batting average and tying for 3rd place in doubles with 17 in 1998, tying for the Missions' team lead with 15 home runs in 1999, and being named the best defensive catcher in the Texas League in 2000. In 1999 he played catcher and outfield, and in 2000 he caught and also played third base.

Later in the 2000 season, Gil was promoted to the AAA team Albuquerque Dukes. With the Dukes he played 15 games, batting .380 with 2 home runs and 22 RBIs. He also had a .600 slugging average and a .421 on base percentage.

Despite the fact that he played nearly his entire minor league career on Los Angeles farm teams, Gerónimo Gil never played a Major League game for the Dodgers. He began the 2001 season in the Dodgers farm system with the AAA Las Vegas 51s, but was traded to the Baltimore Orioles on July 31, 2001 after batting only .222 with Las Vegas. After the trade, Gil played for the Minor League team the Rochester Red Wings. He batted .313, collecting a hit in 13 of his last 17 games with Rochester. He also had only 8 stolen bases against him, in 31 attempts. The highlight of his short stint with Rochester was an 8-game hitting streak, from August 7-15. On September 7, the Orioles purchased Gil's contract from the Red Wings. He made his majors debut the next day. Of the final 22 games of the season, Gil started at catcher in 17 of them.

In 2002, Gil started for the O's on Opening Day. He was the first Orioles rookie to start at catcher on Opening Day since Andy Etchebarren, in 1966. Caught 33 out of 91 baserunners stealing, second in the American League to Bengie Molina. He hit his first big league homer on April 11, off Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitcher Travis Phelps. His first multi-homer game was on April 23, both off the Boston Red Sox pitcher Frank Castillo. He also hit another home run off Castillo on April 29. Gil hit 12 home runs that year, the most ever by a Mexican-born rookie. The previous record was held by Vinny Castilla, who hit 9 for the Colorado Rockies in 1993. An interesting fact about Gil's 2002 season is that of his 12 home runs, 4 were against the Red Sox, the most he hit against any team that year. 3 of those 4 homers he hit against Boston were off Frank Castillo. He was selected as the catcher on the Topps' All-Rookie team after the season was over. Gil played for the Obregón Yaquis in the Mexican Winter League during the 2002 offseason, batting .266 with 6 home runs and 20 RBIs. He played mostly first base, outfield and designated hitter. He also played 6 games as a catcher and a game at third.

In 2003, Gil spent most of the season with Baltimore, but he also played for six weeks with the AAA Ottawa Lynx. He started the season as the everyday catcher for the O's, and started 12 of the first 16 games. Gil batted only .173 with a dinger and 3 RBIs in the first 22 games, and with only 1 game in which he had more than one hit in that span. He batted .339 with 2 home runs and 9 RBIs in May, and in June he batted only .139 with 2 RBIs and no home runs. In July, he only started 2 games before being optioned to AAA Ottawa on the 20th. With the Lynx, he hit safely in 30 out of 36 games. Gil also had an 11-game hitting streak, from August 2-13. During this hitting streak he batted .400. While with Ottawa he had 17 RBIs, 13 of which he hit in the final 18 games of the minor league season. After Ottawa was eliminated by the Pawtucket Red Sox in the International League playoff series, in which Gil batted 1 for 16, Baltimore brought Gil back up from the minors. He had two hits in his first Major League game back, but only played in three games. During the season, he threw out 10 of 48 basestealers. Gil played again for Obregón in the Mexican League after the season, playing 50 games and batting .277 with 4 home runs and 29 RBIs.

Gil spent almost the whole 2004 season with Ottawa. He hit .287 in the first half with the Lynx, and was their only player at the Triple-A All-Star Game. In the second half, he hit .278 in the end of July, and only .198 in August. Gil was called up by the Orioles in September when rosters expanded. He played in 12 games for the O's during the last month of the season, batting .281, and was the only Orioles backup catcher that hit over .170. He had a 2-RBI double in his first game back vs. the Devil Rays on September 2. Gil also had a season-high 2 hits against the Detroit Tigers on the 26th. He also threw out 3 of 16 baserunners.

In 2005, Gerónimo Gil batted .192, with 4 home runs, 17 RBIs, and no stolen bases in 64 games. The Orioles placed him on the 15-day disabled list on July 4 with a strained left thumb. However, he returned to the lineup the next day.

Before the 2006 season, the Orioles placed Gil on waivers, which he cleared. Gil will either accept an invitation to Triple A Ottawa again or will opt to become a free agent. He has been playing for the Diablos Rojos del Mexico in Mexican League.

Gil is notable for having more career at-bats without a triple than any other active player, 681. In fact, he does not have any career triples.

Gil has thrown out 47 of 159 baserunners attempting to steal (29.6%).

He is married and has one child, Gerónimo, Jr., born in 1999.

On March 29, 2006, Gil was released by the Orioles. He was called up by the Colorado Rockies on August 9, 2007.

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference