Francisco Antonio Peña (born October 12, 1989) is a Dominican

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

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 is a free agent. He has previously played in

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), ...

(MLB) for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

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 ...

. He has also played in the

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

(CPBL) for the

CTBC Brothers The CTBC Brothers () or simply Brothers are a professional baseball team in Taiwan. The team was originally established as an amateur team in 1984 by the Brother Hotel located in Taipei City, and later joined the Chinese Professional Baseball Leagu ...

Career

New York Mets

Peña signed with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

as an international

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 2007, receiving a $750,000

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. He made his professional debut with the

Savannah Sand Gnats The Savannah Sand Gnats were a minor league baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia. They were a member of the A-level South Atlantic League. The Sand Gnats were an affiliate of the New York Mets in their final nine seasons. The team relocated ...

of the Single–A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

(SAL), where in 103 games, he hit .210 with five

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 30

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 ...

(RBI). Peña also spent the 2008 season with the Sand Gnats, where in 105 games, he hit .264 with six home runs, 41 RBI, and 22 doubles. He was named to the SAL All-Star Game as a backup catcher to

Jesús Montero Jesús Alejandro Montero López (born November 28, 1989) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners. Signed by the Yankees in 2006, Montero became ...

. Peña played 2009 with the

St. Lucie Mets The St. Lucie Mets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are located in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and play their home games at Clover Park. The Mets have been members ...

of the High–A

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

(FSL), where in 100 games, he hit .224 with eight home runs and 44 RBI. He was named to the FSL All-Star Game as a backup catcher for

Austin Romine Austin Allen Romine (born November 22, 1988) is an American professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels, St. Louis Ca ...

. He missed most of 2010 with a broken foot. He made his debut on August 14 in a 10-game rehab assignment in the

Gulf Coast League The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League (GCL). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the lo ...

, and on August 26, he returned to St. Lucie, appearing in 10 more games. Peña played 2011 with St. Lucie, where in 95 games, he hit .223 with five home runs and 37 RBI. Peña began his fourth season with St. Lucie in 2012. In 41 games with St. Lucie, he hit .254 with four home runs and 22 RBIs. On June 21, he was promoted to the

Binghamton Mets The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Binghamton, New York. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets major-league club. The Rumble Ponies play in Mira ...

of the Double–A Eastern League, where in 40 games, he hit .198 with three home runs and 17 RBI. He also threw out a career-high 45% of would-be base stealers. Peña began 2013 with Binghamton, where he hit .246 in 21 games before earning a promotion to the Las Vegas 51s of the Triple–A

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

on May 18. In 68 games with the 51s, he hit .257 with nine home runs and 39 RBI. After the season, he became a minor league free agent.

Kansas City Royals

On November 17, 2013, Peña signed with the

, who added him to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

. He competed for a role as a backup catcher to

Salvador Pérez Salvador Johan Pérez Diaz (born May 10, 1990), nicknamed "Salvy", is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball catcher for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is a seven-time MLB All-Star, five-time Gold Glove Award win ...

. He made his major league debut in May 2014, appearing in one game. He rejoined the Royals in September, but did not appear in a game. After starting the 2015 season in the minor leagues, the Royals promoted Peña to the major leagues on May 6, when

Erik Kratz Erik Floyd Kratz (born June 15, 1980) is an American former professional baseball catcher who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Gia ...

was placed on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

. In 8 Major Leagues games, he had a .143 batting average. The Royals finished the year with a 95–67 record and eventually won the

2015 World Series The 2015 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2015 season. The 111th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion New York Mets and the American Leag ...

, their first championship in 30 years. Peña did not play in any postseason games but was in the victory parade. He was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must within seven days, return the pla ...

on December 2, 2015.

Baltimore Orioles

On the same day he was designated for assignment by the Royals, Peña was traded to the

for cash considerations. He played in 24 games for the

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

of the Class AAA

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

, before he was promoted to the major leagues on May 31, 2016, while Orioles backup catcher

Caleb Joseph Caleb Martin Joseph (born June 18, 1986) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He previously played in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Toronto Blue Jays. Career High school and college J ...

went on the disabled list. On June 2, 2016, Peña started and debuted for the Orioles. He went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and hit his first major league home run to help the Orioles defeat the Red Sox 12–7. Peña ended his 2016 season with a .200 batting average. On February 10, 2017, Peña was designated for assignment. On May 2, 2017, he was recalled from AAA Norfolk to replace the injured

Welington Castillo Welington Andrés Castillo (born April 24, 1987), nicknamed "Beef" after Beef Wellington, is a Dominican former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks, B ...

. Peña was designated for assignment for the third time in 2017 on June 10. He elected free agency on October 3, 2017.

St. Louis Cardinals

On December 13, 2017, Pena signed a minor league contract with the

. He made the active roster as the backup catcher, from a

NRI NRI or Nri may refer to : * Kingdom of Nri, an Igbo kingdom that flourished between the 10th century and early 20th century * National Radio Institute, a now defunct post-secondary vocational correspondence school * National Resources Inventory * N ...

in Spring Training, on March 23, 2018, and will make-up a four-man bench. He elected free agency on November 3, 2018. On December 1, 2018, it was incorrectly reported that the Cardinals resigned Peña to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. This was due to an error on the date of a story reporting the previous year contract.

San Francisco Giants

On May 2, 2019, Pena was traded to the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

in exchange for cash considerations. He was later activated for the organization's AAA affiliate, the

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 yea ...

, who won the

and went on to win the 2019 AAA National Championship, being the first time in minor league history a team won 3 titles. Fans and the media alike both considered Pena to be a key factor in the team's championship run, having lead a large part of the team's offensive stats for a majority of the season. Despite winning his first AAA title, he entered free agency following the 2019 season.

Cincinnati Reds

On January 4, 2020, Peña signed a minor league deal with the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. Peña did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He became a free agent on November 2.

Oakland Athletics

On December 2, 2020, Peña signed a minor league contract with the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

organization.

CTBC Brothers

On January 12, 2022, Peña signed with the

of the

. In 71 games for the Brothers, he hit .255/.292/.340 with 5 home runs and 28 RBI. Following the season, he was named a Gold Glove and Best Ten Award winner. In 2023, Peña played in 59 games for the Brothers, hitting .216/.278/.392 with 6 home runs and 22 RBI. On August 11, 2023, Peña was released by the Brothers due to the team's need for foreign starting pitchers.

International career

Peña played in the

2013 Caribbean Series The fifty-fifth edition of the Caribbean Series (''Serie del Caribe'') was played in 2013. The Series was held from February 1 through February 7, featuring the champion teams of the 2012–2013 season in the Dominican Winter League (Leones del E ...

and played for the

Dominican Republic national baseball team The Dominican Republic national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de República Dominicana'') is the national baseball team of the Dominican Republic. The team has won the Baseball World Cup in 1948 and World Baseball Classic in 201 ...

in the

2013 World Baseball Classic The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to March 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009. Unlike ...

. After the 2020 season, he played for

Águilas Cibaeñas The Águilas Cibaeñas (English lit. ''Cibaoan Eagles'') is a professional baseball team in the Dominican Republic's Dominican Professional Baseball League, winter baseball league. Founded on January 28, and based in Santiago de los Caballeros, S ...

of the

Dominican Professional Baseball League Dominican may refer to: * Someone or something from or related to the Dominican Republic ( , stress on the "mi"), on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles, in the Caribbean ** People of the Dominican Republic ** Demographics of the Dom ...

(LIDOM). He has also played for Dominican Republic in the

2021 Caribbean Series The 2021 Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) was the 63rd edition of the international competition featuring the champions of the Colombian Professional Baseball League, Dominican Professional Baseball League, Mexican Pacific League, Panamanian ...

Personal life

Peña is the son of

Tony Peña Antonio Francisco Peña Padilla (; born June 4, 1957) is a Dominican former professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Pirates, Cardinals, Red Sox, Indians, White Sox, and Astros. ...

and the brother of Tony Peña Jr. Peña also played in the

2001 Little League World Series The 2001 Little League World Series took place between August 17 and August 26 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Kitasuna Little League of Tokyo, Japan defeated Apopka National Little League of Apopka, Florida in the championship game of the ...

on the Bronx, New York team, where he was a teammate of the infamous

Danny Almonte Danny Almonte Rojas (born April 7, 1987) is a Dominican-American former baseball player who is currently an assistant baseball coach at Cardinal Hayes High School in New York City. Born in Moca in the Dominican Republic, Almonte was a Little Le ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pena, Francisco 1989 births Living people Águilas Cibaeñas players Baltimore Orioles players Binghamton Mets players CTBC Brothers players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Gulf Coast Mets players Kansas City Royals players Las Vegas Aviators players Las Vegas 51s players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Memphis Redbirds players Norfolk Tides players Omaha Storm Chasers players Sacramento River Cats players Savannah Sand Gnats players Baseball players from Santo Domingo St. Louis Cardinals players St. Lucie Mets players World Baseball Classic players of the Dominican Republic 2013 World Baseball Classic players