Gerónimo Gil
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Gerónimo Gil (; born Aug. 7, 1975) is a Mexican former professional baseball
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 ca ...
. He bats and throws right-handed.


Playing career

Gil began his baseball career with the Red Devils of the Mexican League. He had played in only four games for Mexico City in when his contract was purchased by the
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 ...
on Feb. 15, .


Los Angeles Dodgers

Gil played for the Class A
Savannah Sand Gnats The Savannah Sand Gnats were a minor league baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia. They were a member of the A-level South Atlantic League. The Sand Gnats were an affiliate of the New York Mets in their final nine seasons. The team relocated ...
in 1996. The Sand Gnats came back from seventh place and won the
South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...
championship that year. In , Gil played for the Single-A
Vero Beach Dodgers Vero may refer to: Geography * Vero Beach, Florida, a city in the United States * Vero, Corse-du-Sud, a commune of France in Corsica Other * '' Véro'', a talk show on the Radio-Canada television network * Vero (app), a social media company co-fou ...
. The next year, he was promoted to the Double-A San Antonio Missions, playing catcher as well as in the
outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball a ...
and at first base. Gil played for San Antonio until . The highlights of his career with San Antonio included ranking 4th in
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 ...
and tying for third place in
double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...
s with 17 in , tying for the Missions' team lead 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 in , and being named the best defensive catcher in the
Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...
in 2000. In 1999, he played catcher and outfield, and in 2000, he caught and also played
third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
. Later in the 2000 season, Gil was promoted to the Triple-A
Albuquerque Dukes The Albuquerque Dukes were a minor league baseball team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. History The first Dukes team was formed in 1915 as part of the Class D Rio Grande Association. The team finished in third place with a 32-25 record. Frank ...
. With the Dukes, he played 15 games, batting .380 with two home runs and 22 runs batted in. He also had a .600 slugging average and a .421 on-base percentage. Despite the fact that he played nearly his entire minor league career on Los Angeles farm teams, Gil never played a Major League game for the Dodgers. He began the season in the Dodgers farm system with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s, but was traded to the Baltimore Orioles on July 31, 2001, after batting only .222 with Las Vegas.


Baltimore Orioles and Colorado Rockies

After the trade, Gil played for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. He batted .313, collecting a Hit (baseball), hit in 13 of his last 17 games with Rochester. He also had only eight stolen bases against him in 31 attempts. The highlight of his short stint with Rochester was an eight-game hitting streak, from Aug. 7-15. On September 7, the Orioles purchased Gil's contract from the Red Wings. He made his major league debut the next day. Of the final 22 games of the season, Gil started at catcher in 17 of them. In , Gil started for the O's on Opening Day. He was the first Orioles rookie to start at catcher on Opening Day since Andy Etchebarren, in . He caught 33 out of 91 baserunners stealing, second in the American League to Bengie Molina. He hit his first big league homer on April 11, off Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitcher Travis Phelps. His first multi-homer game was on April 23, both off the Boston Red Sox pitcher Frank Castillo. He also hit another home run off Castillo on April 29. Gil hit 12 home runs that year, the most ever by a Mexican-born rookie. The previous record was held by Vinny Castilla, who hit 9 for the Colorado Rockies in . An interesting fact about Gil's 2002 season is that of his 12 home runs, 4 were against the Red Sox, the most he hit against any team that year. 3 of those 4 homers he hit against Boston were off Frank Castillo. He was selected as the catcher on the Topps' All-Rookie team after the season was over. Gil played for the Yaquis de Obregón, Obregón Yaquis in the Mexican Pacific League during the 2002 off season, batting .266 with 6 home runs and 20 runs batted in. He played mostly first base, outfield and designated hitter. He also played 6 games as a catcher and a game at third. In , Gil spent most of the season with Baltimore, but he also played for six weeks with the Triple-A Ottawa Lynx. He started the season as the everyday catcher for the O's, and started 12 of the first 16 games. Gil batted only .173 with a home run and three runs batted in during the first 22 games, and with only 1 game in which he had more than one hit in that span. He batted .339 with 2 home runs and 9 runs batted in during May, and in June he batted only .139 with 2 runs batted in and no home runs. In July, he only started 2 games before being optioned to Triple-A Ottawa on July 20. With the Lynx, he hit safely in 30 out of 36 games. Gil also had an 11-game hitting streak, from August 2–13. During this hitting streak, he batted .400. While with Ottawa, he had 17 runs batted in, 13 of which he hit in the final 18 games of the minor league season. After Ottawa was eliminated by the Pawtucket Red Sox in the International League playoff series, in which Gil batted 1 for 16, Baltimore brought Gil back up from the minors. He had two hits in his first major league game back, but only played in three games. During the season, he threw out 10 of 48 base stealers. Gil played again for Obregón in the Mexican League after the season, playing 50 games and batting .277 with 4 home runs and 29 runs batted in. Gil spent almost the whole season with Ottawa, after being sent to Ottawa during spring training, a decision he infamously reacted to by smashing trash cans in the clubhouse with his bat. He hit .287 in the first half with the Lynx, and was their only player at the Triple-A All-Star Game. In the second half, he hit .278 in the end of July, and only .198 in August. Gil was called up by the Orioles in September when rosters expanded. He played in 12 games for the O's during the last month of the season, batting .281, and was the only Orioles backup catcher that hit over .170. He had a 2-run batted in double in his first game back against the Devil Rays on September 2. Gil also had a season-high 2 hits against the Detroit Tigers on the September 26. He also threw out 3 of 16 baserunners. In , Gil batted .192, with four home runs, 17 runs batted in and no stolen bases in 64 games. The Orioles placed him on the 15-day disabled list on July 4 with a strained left thumb. Before the season, the Orioles placed Gil on waivers, which he cleared. On March 29, 2006, Gil was released by the Orioles. Gil signed with the Colorado Rockies on December 14, 2006. Before the start of the season, he was loaned to the Red Devils of the Mexican League where he batted .396 in 75 games and was named to the mid-season All-Star team. He was returned and called up by the Rockies on August 9, . Gil is notable for having 820 career at-bats without a Triple (baseball), triple.


Return to the Mexican League

Gil started playing for the Guerreros de Oaxaca, but after 54 games, he was sent to the Red Devils. Combined, Gil batted .298 with 11 home runs and 51 runs batted in. After that, he played with the Diablos Rojos del México and Naranjeros de Hermosillo, and also participated in the Baseball Fest 2010 in Tijuana with Hermosillo. He played with the Diablos Rojos del México for the 2016 season.


Coaching career

Gil accepted his first manager position with the Marineros de Ensenada of the Liga Norte de México in June 2018, joining the team midseason and leading them to a league title. He was hired by the Leones de Yucatán in 2019, serving as their manager until he was fired during the 2021 Mexican League season, 2021 season.


Personal life

He is married to Adriana Ortiz Cordova. She is from Mexico City and studied hearing and language at Normal de Especializacion University and has two children, Gerónimo and Angelo, both of them with the last names "Gil Ortiz". The family lives in Lagunas, Oaxaca, México.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gil, Geronimo 1975 births Living people Águilas de Mexicali players Albuquerque Dukes players Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players at the 2007 Pan American Games Baseball players from Oaxaca Bowie Baysox players Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Mexico Colorado Rockies players Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Diablos Rojos del México players Guerreros de Oaxaca players Las Vegas 51s players Major League Baseball players from Mexico Major League Baseball catchers Mexican expatriate baseball players in Canada Mexican expatriate baseball players in the United States Naranjeros de Hermosillo players Ottawa Lynx players Pan American Games bronze medalists for Mexico Pan American Games medalists in baseball Piratas de Campeche players Rochester Red Wings players San Antonio Missions players Savannah Sand Gnats players Vero Beach Dodgers players Yaquis de Obregón players 2006 World Baseball Classic players Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in baseball Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games