René Rafael Pinto Escobar (born November 2, 1996) is a Venezuelan professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

in the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

organization. He has previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

Career

Tampa Bay Rays

Pinto signed with the

as an international free agent on October 1, 2013. Pinto spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons with the Venezuelan Summer League Rays; hitting .264/.318/.347 with one home run and 11 RBI in 40 games games and .323/.379/.552 with six home runs and 38 RBI in 2015. He split the 2016 season between the rookie–level Gulf Coast League Rays and the rookie–level

Princeton Rays The Princeton Rays were a Minor League Baseball team in Princeton, West Virginia, operating as an Advanced Rookie-level team in the Appalachian League. The team was affiliated with several Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises, primarily the Ta ...

, hitting a combined .262/.304/.483 with eight home runs and 28 RBI. Pinto split the 2017 season between the GCL and the Single–A

Bowling Green Hot Rods The Bowling Green Hot Rods are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and play their home games at Bowling Green Ballpark, which ...

, hitting a combined .290/.339/.396 with three home runs and 39 RBI. He spent the 2018 season with the High–A

Charlotte Stone Crabs The Charlotte Stone Crabs were a Minor League Baseball team located in Port Charlotte, Florida, from 2009 to 2020. They competed in the Florida State League (FSL) as the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball (MLB) ...

, hitting .301/.353/.407 with one home run and 38 RBI. Pinto spent the 2019 season with the Double–A

Montgomery Biscuits The Montgomery Biscuits are a Minor League Baseball team based in Montgomery, Alabama. They are the Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays and play in the Southern League. The team was founded in Orlando, Florida, in 1973 as the Orlando Twins ...

, hitting .235/.303/.354 with five home runs and 30 RBI. He did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Pinto elected free agency on November 2, 2020, and re–signed with the organization on a minor league contract on November 16. Pinto split the 2021 season between Montgomery and the

Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened ...

, hitting a combined .274/.325/.500/.825 with 20 home runs and 60 RBI. On November 7, 2021, Tampa Bay selected Pinto's contract to the 40-man roster. On April 22, 2022, Pinto was added to the Rays roster as a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

replacement for

Francisco Mejía Francisco José Mejía (born October 27, 1995) is a Dominican professional baseball catcher for the Diablos Rojos del México of the Mexican League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, San Diego Pad ...

. He made his MLB debut on April 26 against the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

. After

Mike Zunino Michael Accorsi Zunino (born March 25, 1991) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays, and Cleveland Guardians. Before beginning his professional caree ...

left the game with a left biceps injury, Pinto replaced him. In the same game, Pinto collected his first major league hit, a two-run home run off of Mariners reliever Matt Koch. He became the 10th player in Rays history to get a home run as his first MLB hit. He appeared in 25 games for Tampa Bay in his rookie campaign, hitting .213/.241/.325 with 2 home runs and 10 RBI. Pinto was optioned to Triple-A Durham to begin the 2023 season. In 39 appearances for the Rays in 2023, he batted .252/.267/.456 with six home runs and 16 RBI. Pinto played in 19 games for Tampa Bay during the 2024 season, slashing .214/.292/.429 with two home runs and six RBI.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On November 4, 2024, Pinto was claimed off waivers by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...

. 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 ...

following the signing of Charlie Morton on January 3, 2025. Pinto was claimed off waivers by the

on January 10. He was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks on March 26. Pinto cleared waivers and was sent outright to the Triple-A

Reno Aces The Reno Aces are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are located in Reno, Nevada, and play their home games at Greater Nevada Field, w ...

on March 29.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinto, René 1996 births Living people Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks players Baseball players from Maracay Bowling Green Hot Rods players Charlotte Stone Crabs players Durham Bulls players Florida Complex League Rays players Gulf Coast Rays players Leones del Escogido players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from Venezuela 21st-century Venezuelan sportsmen Montgomery Biscuits players Navegantes del Magallanes players Princeton Rays players Reno Aces players Tampa Bay Rays players Venezuelan Summer League Rays players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic