Reyes Armando Moronta (born January 6, 1993) is a Dominican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the Texas Rangers organization. Moronta signed with 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 ...

as an international

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in 2010. He has 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 Giants,

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 ...

and

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

Early life

Moronta was born to Francisco and Ivonne Moronta in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

in the

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 wit ...

, the youngest of five children. His father was a truck driver, and his mother rolled cigars at a local factory. He grew up in the 700-person rural town of Quinigua, 5 miles north of Santiago."Reyes Moronta: Desde Quinigua a Las Grandes Ligas"
/ref> For high school he attended Milagros Hernández Lyceum in

Villa González Villa Gonzalez is a municipality (''municipio'') of the Santiago province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there are two municipal districts (''distritos municipal''): El Limón and Palmar Arriba. Geography The town is located ...

Professional career

San Francisco Giants

Minor leagues

Moronta signed with the

as an international

in September 2010 at 17 years of age for $15,000. He made his professional debut in 2011 with the

Dominican Summer League Giants The Dominican Summer League Giants or DSL Giants are a minor league baseball team in the Dominican Summer League. The team plays in the Boca Chica South division and is affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. History The team first came into e ...

. He played for the

Arizona League Giants Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Four C ...

in 2012. He played as a starting pitcher with the

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league entirely based in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area and playing all their home ...

in 2013, Arizona League Giants in 2014, and

Augusta GreenJackets The Augusta GreenJackets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at SRP Park in North Augusta, South Carolina, which opened in April 2018. They previous ...

in 2015. He played for the

San Jose Giants The San Jose Giants are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Located in San Jose, California, the Giants play their home games at Excite Ballpark. Games San Jose Giants ga ...

in 2016, for whom he was 0-3 with 14 saves (3rd in the

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...

) and a 2.59

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in 60 games (leading the league) in which he pitched 59

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s and struck out 93 batters (14.2

strikeouts per nine innings pitched In baseball statistics, strikeouts per nine innings pitched (K/9, SO/9, or SO/9IP) is the mean of strikeouts (or Ks) by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by multiplying the number of strikeouts by nine, and dividing by the numb ...

; leading the league). His fastball reached as high as 100 mph. He was a mid-season All Star, and an MiLB organization All Star. The Giants 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 ...

after the 2016 season.

Major Leagues

Moronta was called up to the Major Leagues on May 10, 2017. During the 2017 season, Moronta pitched in 7 games for the Giants, recording 11

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s in 6 innings pitched (14.8 per 9 innings). In the minors, he pitched for three teams and was 3-1 with five saves and a 2.92 ERA, as in 34 relief appearances he pitched 37 innings and struck out 47 batters (11.4 per 9 innings). In 2018 for the Giants he was 5-2 with one save and a 2.49 ERA, as in 69 relief appearances (4th among NL rookies, and the most by a Giants rookie since

Elias Sosa Elias is the Greek equivalent of Elijah ( he, אֵלִיָּהוּ‎ ''ʾĒlīyyāhū''; Syriac: ܐܠܝܐ ''Eliyā''; Arabic: الیاس Ilyās/Elyās), a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th century BC, mentioned in several holy ...

in 1973) he pitched 65 innings and struck out 79 batters (10.9 per 9 innings). He threw his

four-seam fastball A four-seam fastball, also called a rising fastball, a four-seamer, or a cross-seam fastball, is a pitch in baseball. It is a member of the fastball family of pitches and is usually the hardest (i.e., fastest) ball thrown by a pitcher. It is ca ...

at an average 97.6 mph, and opposing batters hit .154 overall, .142 against his

slider Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

, and .132 as right-handed batters. In one stretch, he tied a Major League streak with 12 straight appearances without allowing a hit. He established the Giants record for fewest hits per 9 innings (4.71), with a minimum of 50 innings pitched. In 2019 for the Giants he was 3-7 with a 2.86 ERA, as in 56 relief appearances he pitched 56.2 innings and struck out 70 batters (11.1 per 9 innings). He threw his four-seam fastball at an average 97.5 mph, and batters hit .123 against his slider. In September 2019 he underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, and was expected to miss nine to eleven months. He missed the 2020 season as a result. On May 17, 2021, Moronta was placed on the 60-day injured list with a mild sprained ligament in his elbow. On September 21, Moronta was outrighted off of the 40-man roster and assigned to the Triple-A

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 ...

. On October 14, Moronta elected free agency.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On February 19, 2022, Moronta signed with the

Diablos Rojos del México The Diablos Rojos del Mexico (English: Mexico Red Devils) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Mexico City, Mexico. The team was founded in 1940 by Salvador Lutteroth and Ernesto Carmona. The Diablos Rojos play their hom ...

of 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 ...

. However, on March 12, 2022, prior to the start of the Mexican League season, Moronta signed a minor league contract with the

that included an invitation to spring training. He began the season in Triple-A with the

Oklahoma City Dodgers The Oklahoma City Dodgers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and play their home games at Chickasaw Bricktown Bal ...

but was added to the major league roster on April 24. Moronta appeared in 22 games in the majors for Los Angeles, with a 4.18 ERA before 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 August 20.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On August 22, 2022, Moronta was claimed off waivers by the

. Moronta made 17 appearances for Arizona to close out the year. In 14.0 innings pitched, he logged a 2-2 record and 4.50 ERA while striking out 11 and collecting two saves. He was non-tendered and became a free agent on November 18.

Texas Rangers

On January 25, 2023, Moronta signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers organization.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moronta, Reyes 1993 births Living people Arizona Diamondbacks players Arizona League Giants players Augusta GreenJackets players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Summer League Giants players Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Major League Baseball pitchers Leones del Escogido players Los Angeles Dodgers players Oklahoma City Dodgers players Richmond Flying Squirrels players Sacramento River Cats players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players San Francisco Giants players San Jose Giants players