Manny Piña | |||
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Piña with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 2016
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Milwaukee Brewers – No. 9 | |||
Catcher | |||
Born: Barquisimeto, Venezuela |
June 5, 1987 |||
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MLB debut | |||
August 3, 2011, for the Kansas City Royals | |||
MLB statistics (through July 3, 2017) |
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Batting average | .277 | ||
Home runs | 8 | ||
Runs batted in | 38 | ||
Teams | |||
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Manuel Elías Piña Reyes (/ˈpiːnjə/; born June 5, 1987) is a Venezuelan professional baseball catcher for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Kansas City Royals from 2011 to 2012.
Piña began his professional baseball career in 2005 in the Texas Rangers system, hitting .247 in 27 games for the AZL Rangers. He missed most of the 2006 season, as he was recovering from right elbow surgery. He played for the AZL Rangers again in 2007, hitting .244 in 14 games. In 2007, he played for the Clinton LumberKings, hitting .228 in 86 games. He split 2008 between the Bakersfield Blaze (61 games) and Frisco RoughRiders (23 games), hitting .267 overall. With the RoughRiders again in 2009, he hit .259 in 86 games.
On September 3, 2009, the Rangers traded Piña and outfielder Tim Smith to the Kansas City Royals for Daniel Gutierrez. On July 31, 2011, the Royals added Piña to the Royals' active roster after Matt Treanor was placed on the disabled list. He made his major league debut on August 3, getting two hits in a win over the Baltimore Orioles. He also threw out Vladimir Guerrero while trying to steal second base in the first inning of this game. In 2012, Piña underwent surgery for a meniscus tear in his right knee, and missed the first three months of the season.