Rafael Montalvo

Rafael Edgardo Montalvo Torres (born March 31, 1964, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher whose time in the big leagues consisted of only one inning in one game at the age of 22. He holds the record with several other pitchers for having the shortest career. His one appearance came on Sunday, April 13, 1986 as a member of the Houston Astros. He pitched one inning against the Atlanta Braves and allowed one run, one hit, and two walks. Shortly thereafter he was demoted to the Tucson Toros in the minor leagues. After the Astros reached the 1986 NLCS he was awarded $500 as his share of the winnings.

The game

Montalvo was brought into the game to pitch the top of the 8th inning in front of 8,739 fans at the Astrodome. With Montalvo on the mound, Glenn Hubbard grounded out to the pitcher; Ozzie Virgil flied out to left; Omar Moreno tripled; and Rafael Ramirez grounded out to the pitcher. In the 9th inning Dale Murphy walked and Bob Horner walked. Frank DiPino then replaced Montalvo. The game ended with an Atlanta Braves 8–5 victory. Houston Chronicle beat writer Neil Hohlfield claimed that Montalvo made nice "goalie like" plays on balls hit at him by Hubbard and Ramirez, but did not have much control of his pitches.

Present

In 2007 Montalvo served as the pitching coach for the minor league Hudson Valley Renegades in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays system. He now resides in Qatar with his wife.

Sources

Retrosheet

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference