| Ronny Cedeño | |
|---|---|
| Free Agent – No. -- | |
| Shortstop | |
| Born: February 2, 1983 Puerto Cabello, Venezuela |
|
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| April 23, 2005 for the Chicago Cubs | |
| Career statistics (through 2011 season) |
|
| Batting average | .246 |
| Home runs | 33 |
| Runs batted in | 196 |
| Runs | 223 |
| Teams | |
Ronny Alexander Cedeño (born February 2, 1983) is a Venezuelan Major League Baseball shortstop. He bats and throws right-handed and was born in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. After the 2011 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team declined his club option, making him a free agent.
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Cedeño spent his five-season minor league career playing in the Cubs' farm system, reaching the Double-A level in 2004 with the Diamond Jaxx. In 116 games, he posted a .279 batting average with six home runs and 48 RBI. He was selected as a midseason Southern League All-Star.
Cedeño was called up in April 2005 to replace Nomar Garciaparra on the Cubs' roster. He made big-league debut for the Chicago Cubs on April 23, 2005, but spent most of his time on the bench, as Neifi Pérez was awarded the starting job. After the Cubs signed Enrique Wilson, Cedeño was sent back down to the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. In 65 games at Iowa in 2005, Cedeño batted an impressive .355, and slugged over .500 for the first time in his professional career. He returned to the Cubs in June after Wilson was himself sent down to Iowa.
Cedeño became the team's starting shortstop in 2006. In 2006, he walked only 3.1% of the time, the lowest percentage in the National League, and 4 of his 17 walks were intentional walks.[3] He also had the major league's worst walk/strikeout ratio—0.16.
He played in the 2006 winter league for Venezuela, and averaged .555 in 45 games with 25 runs and 28 RBI.
Cedeño began 2007 with the major league club on the bench, as the Cubs were set at shortstop and second base with César Izturis and Mark DeRosa. However, his offensive struggles continued and he spent several more months in Triple-A Iowa.
When the Cubs traded their starting left-handed center fielder Jacque Jones in November 2007, general manager Jim Hendry indicated that the club wasn't necessarily looking outside for a veteran, with Félix Pie and Sam Fuld in the mix, as well as Cedeño, who has been asked to play some center field during the winter.[1]
In 2008, Cedeño made the major league club out of spring training, and spent the entire season in Chicago, albeit in a bench role. As the season progressed, he saw more opportunities to start at second base and shortstop, and got many opportunities off the bench as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement.
On January 28, 2009, Cedeño was traded with Garrett Olson to the Seattle Mariners for Aaron Heilman.[2] Cedeno replaced Yuniesky Betancourt as starting shortstop for the Seattle Mariners after Betancourt was put on the DL and later traded to the Kansas City Royals.
On July 29, 2009, Cedeño was traded with Jeff Clement, Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin, and Nathan Adcock to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jack Wilson and Ian Snell.[3]
Cedeño finished 2009 with 8 doubles, 3 triples, and a career high 10 home runs. He also drove in 38 runs, was issued a career high 19 walks, 3 of them intentional, struck out 79 times, and stole 5 bases, to go along with a .208 average, a .256 on base percentage, a .337 slugging percentage, in 341 at bats split between Seattle and Pittsburgh.