Carlos Alberto Hernández Almeida r-NAN-dez(born May 24, 1967) is a Venezuelan former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

who played for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

(1990–1996),

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

(1997–2000) and

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

(2000).

Career

Signed by the Dodgers as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 1984, Hernández became the second

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n catcher in MLB history, following

Bo Díaz Baudilio José Díaz Seijas (March 23, 1953 – November 23, 1990) was a Venezuelan professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to , most prominently with the Cleveland Indians where he rose to prominence ...

. He made his major league debut in the 1990 season, basically as a backup for

Mike Scioscia Michael Lorri Scioscia (, ; born November 27, 1958), nicknamed "Sosh" and "El Jefe", is an American former Major League Baseball catcher and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He managed the Anaheim / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim / Los Ange ...

. A high skilled defensive player, Hernández spent his Dodgers career as mainly a back-up catcher to Scioscia and

Mike Piazza Michael Joseph Piazza ( ; born September 4, 1968) is an American former professional baseball catcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1992 to 2007. He currently serves as the manager of the Italian national baseball tea ...

, appearing in 230 games, including 133 starts. He signed as a free agent with San Diego and later was traded to the Cardinals. In his first full major league season as a regular catcher for the Padres, Hernández batted .262, with 9

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 52

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

in 129

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

. In 22 postseason games, he hit .299 (20-67) with one homer and two RBI. Hernández finished his career batting .253 (315–1244) with 24 home runs, 141 RBI, 102 runs, 51 doubles, one

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

, and one

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

in 488

. Hernández started his career as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

with the ''Toros de Tijuana'' in the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

for the 2004 season. He then returned to the

organization as a catching coordinator from 2005 to 2007. He also managed the Leones de Caracas from the

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Early years Baseball exp ...

from 2006 to 2008. Hernández returned to the

in 2012 as a color analyst for Spanish game broadcasts on

Fox Deportes Fox Deportes (formerly Fox Sports en Español and stylized in all caps as FOX Deportes) is an American pay television network dedicated to broadcasting sports-related programming in Spanish, aimed at the Hispanic population in the United States. ...

and their Spanish radio broadcast on XEMO. Hernández owned 'Caribbean Flavor', a Venezuelan restaurant in the San Diego suburb of Poway, but the restaurant closed in 2011.

References

External links

Baseball GaugeVenezuelan League
1967 births Living people Albuquerque Dukes players Bakersfield Dodgers players Gulf Coast Dodgers players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players Leones del Caracas players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Memphis Redbirds players Minor league baseball managers Oklahoma RedHawks players People from Ciudad Guayana Rancho Cucamonga Quakes players San Antonio Missions players San Diego Padres players St. Louis Cardinals players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States {{Venezuela-baseball-catcher-stub

Career

See also

References

External links