Julio Alberto Borbón (born February 20, 1986) is an American former

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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

center fielder and current Assistant Coordinator of Player Development for the Minnesota Twins. He 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 Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and

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) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

. He also played for the Sultanes de Monterrey,

Pericos de Puebla The Pericos de Puebla (English: "Puebla Parrots") are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Puebla, Mexico. History The state of Puebla came upon baseball in the early 1920s when returning Poblanos that had come from militar ...

, and the

Acereros de Monclova The Acereros de Monclova (English: Monclova Steelers) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico. Their home ballpark is Estadio de Béisbol Monclova, which has a capacity of 11,000 people. The Ace ...

of the

Mexican Baseball 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 t ...

College career

Borbón attended the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

. In , Borbón helped the Volunteers reach the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

and was third on the team with a .350

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

. His teammates that year included current major leaguers

Chase Headley Chase Jordan Headley (born May 9, 1984) is an American former professional baseball third baseman. A switch-hitter, Headley made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the San Diego Padres in 2007, and also played for the New York Yankees. H ...

of the

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 penn ...

and

Luke Hochevar Luke Anthony Hochevar (; born September 15, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played college baseball at the University of Tennessee, and played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals from 2007 thro ...

of the Kansas City Royals. After the 2005 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the lea ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Borbon led the Volunteers with a .366 batting average and 19 stolen bases in and in 2007, his final season, had a .345 batting average.

Professional career

Texas Rangers

Entering the

2007 Major League Baseball draft The 2007 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players and was held on June 7, 2007 and June 8, 2007. The first day session of the draft included the fir ...

, Borbón was ranked the 19th-best overall prospect by '' Baseball America''. In the draft, he was taken in the supplemental round by the Texas Rangers as the 35th overall pick. Julio Borbon is freakin' fast

On August 16, 2007, Borbón signed a four-year major league contract worth $1.3 million, with a $800,000 signing bonus. Because he was signed to a major league contract, Borbón was placed on the Rangers

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, an ...

and was optioned to Single-A

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

. At Spokane, he played in 7 games and had a .172 batting average. He was then sent to play rookie ball for the Surprise Rangers and played two games for them. On June 29, 2009, Borbón made his major league debut with the Rangers. He hit his first major league home run on August 20 of that year. On September 8, he had his first multi-homer game in an 11–9 win over the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

Chicago Cubs

On April 19, 2013 the Chicago Cubs claimed Borbón off waivers. He was designated for assignment on August 2, 2013.

Baltimore Orioles

Borbón was selected by the

in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft on December 12, 2013. He was assigned to AAA

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 ...

. He elected free agency on November 6, 2015. On March 12, 2016, Borbón signed a minor league deal with the

. His contract was selected from the Bowie Baysox when the Orioles placed Hyun-soo Kim on the 15-day disabled list on July 19, 2016. Borbón made his first appearance in an MLB game in three years as an eighth-inning defensive substitute for center fielder Adam Jones in a 5–0 loss to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

on August 20. He made his first start with the Orioles in center field the next day, getting a single in three at bats and scoring a run in a 4–1 victory over the Yankees.

Acereros de Monclova

On April 11, 2017, Borbón signed with the

of the

Pericos de Puebla

He was traded to the

on July 1, 2017. He became a free agent following the season.

Somerset Patriots

On April 2, 2018, Borbón signed with the

Somerset Patriots The Somerset Patriots are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, that is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They compete in the Eastern League, known as the Double-A Northeast in 2021, and w ...

of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.

Sultanes de Monterrey

On July 17, 2018, Borbón signed with the Sultanes de Monterrey of the

Retirement

Borbón announced his retirement on March 1, 2019.

Post-playing career

On March 1, 2019, Borbón announced that he joined the

organization as a coach. In his first year, he served as a defensive coach for the

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pennsylvania, in the ...

, with a focus on baserunning, outfield, and bunting instruction. In 2020, he moved into a new position as a defensive coach for the GCL Yankees East, but the season was later canceled due to 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 identi ...

. In 2021, he stayed with the team, now re-named the FCL Yankees, and was promoted to manager. On January 30, 2022, Borbón announced he was leaving the Yankees and accepted a position with the Minnesota Twins in their Player Development department.

Personal

Borbón was born in Mississippi while his father attended Mississippi State University. He attended high school at De La Salle in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, graduating in 2004. After high school he attended the

on a baseball scholarship. He left Tennessee after his junior year and was taken by the Texas Rangers with the 35th pick in the 2007 MLB draft. His brother, Edwin Borbón, played college baseball at Trevecca Nazarene University prior to his first two years at Tennessee junior college, Chattanooga State.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Borbon, Julio 1986 births Living people Acereros de Monclova players Águilas Cibaeñas players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic American expatriate baseball players in Mexico American sportspeople of Dominican Republic descent Arizona League Rangers players Bakersfield Blaze players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Mississippi Bowie Baysox players Chicago Cubs players Cotuit Kettleers players Frisco RoughRiders players Iowa Cubs players Leones del Escogido players Major League Baseball center fielders Mexican League baseball outfielders Norfolk Tides players Oklahoma City RedHawks players Pericos de Puebla players Round Rock Express players Somerset Patriots players Spokane Indians players Sportspeople from Starkville, Mississippi Surprise Rafters players Texas Rangers players Tigres del Licey players

College career

Professional career

Texas Rangers

Chicago Cubs

Baltimore Orioles

Acereros de Monclova

Pericos de Puebla

Somerset Patriots

Sultanes de Monterrey

Retirement

Post-playing career

Personal

See also

References

External links