Josmil Oswaldo Pinto (born March 31, 1989) is a Venezuelan 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 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 ...

. 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

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

Career

Minnesota Twins

Pinto signed 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 ...

with the

in 2006. After the 2012 season, the Twins added Pinto 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 ...

in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Beginning the 2013 season with the New Britain Rock Cats of the Class AA Eastern League, Pinto was named an Eastern League All-Star. He was promoted to the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

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 ...

in August. Pinto had a combined .309 batting average, .400

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

, and .482

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

with 15

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 74

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 ...

(RBIs) in 126 games for New Britain and Rochester. Josmil Pinto on April 4, 2013

On August 31, the Twins promoted Pinto to the major leagues. In 21 games for the Twins, Pinto had a .342 batting average, .398 on-base percentage, and a .566 slugging percentage. He hit four home runs, five doubles, and recorded 12 RBIs. During

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

in 2014, the Twins named Pinto to their

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

roster as the backup to Kurt Suzuki. He spent a lot of time as the designated hitter due to the absence of

Josh Willingham Joshua David Willingham (born February 17, 1979) is a former American professional baseball left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins, Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins and Kansas City ...

from the lineup. He was hitting just .246 with 5 HR and 9 RBI through April, and those struggles continued into May, contributing to less playing time. Pinto was eventually optioned to Rochester on June 12. In 43 games to that point, he was hitting .222 with 7 HR, 16 RBI and a .730 OPS. He also allowed all 20 runners who attempted to steal a base on him to do so due to poor arm strength and lazy catching skills.

Milwaukee Brewers

After the 2015 season, the San Diego Padres claimed Pinto off of waivers. He was designated for assignment on December 21. After being designated by the Padres, Pinto was claimed by the

on December 23. The Brewers designated him for assignment on January 6, 2016. Josmil Pinto on April 24, 2016

Pinto spent the 2016 season with the

Colorado Springs Sky Sox The Colorado Springs Sky Sox were a Minor League Baseball team in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and was the Triple-A affiliate of the major league Milwaukee Brewers (2015–2018), Colorado Rockie ...

of the Class AAA

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 ...

. The Brewers promoted Pinto to the major leagues on September 20. On November 9, he was outrighted to the minors.

San Francisco Giants

On December 26, 2016, Pinto signed a minor league contract 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 ...

. He was released on October 31, 2017.

References

External links