Gabriel José Moreno (born February 14, 2000) 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 ...

for 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 ...

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). He made his MLB debut with the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

in 2022 before being traded to the Diamondbacks during the 2022–23 offseason. In his first season with Arizona, Moreno won a

Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual Fielding (baseball), fielding performances. It is awar ...

and aided in the team's first National League pennant since 2001.

Professional career

Toronto Blue Jays

Moreno signed with the

as an international free agent on August 13, 2016. Moreno made his professional debut in 2017 with the

Rookie-level 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 L ...

Dominican Summer League Blue Jays. In 2018, Moreno split the year between the Rookie-level

Gulf Coast League Blue Jays The Florida Complex League Blue Jays are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays. The team plays its ...

and the

Rookie Advanced 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 ...

Bluefield Blue Jays The Bluefield Blue Jays were a minor league baseball team of the Rookie Appalachian League representing the twin cities of Bluefield, West Virginia, and Bluefield, Virginia. The team played their home games at Bowen Field at Peters Park, a histori ...

, slashing a cumulative .359/.395/.575 with four home runs and 36 RBI. The following year, Moreno played for the

Single-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams cl ...

Lansing Lugnuts The Lansing Lugnuts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Athletics (baseball), Athletics. They are located in Lansing, Michigan, and play their home games at Jackson Field (Lansing), Jackson Fie ...

, hitting .280/.337/.485 with career-highs in home runs (12), RBI (52), stolen bases (7), and walks (22). Moreno did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league 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 ...

. The Blue Jays added him to their 40-man roster after the 2020 season. Moreno was assigned to the Double-A

New Hampshire Fisher Cats The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are a Minor League Baseball team based in Manchester, New Hampshire. The team, which plays in the Eastern League (1938–present), Eastern League, is the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Ja ...

to begin the 2021 season, where he excelled, batting .373/.441/.651 with eight home runs and 45 RBI in 32 games. On July 3, 2021, Moreno underwent surgery on his right thumb after suffering a fracture. Moreno returned from the injury later in the season and was promoted to the Triple-A

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

. After the season, he played for the

Mesa Solar Sox The Mesa Solar Sox are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Mesa, Arizona, at Sloan Park, which is also the spring training facility of the Chicago Cubs. The team was establi ...

of the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

, where he hit .329 with a home run and 18 RBI in 22 games, as well as 18 games with the

Cardenales de Lara The Cardenales de Lara () is a baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP). Founded in 1942 and based in Barquisimeto, the Cardenales have won seven domestic titles, including back-to-back in 1998 and 1999, 2019, 2020 and ...

of the Venezuelan Winter League. In March 2022, Moreno participated in

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

with the Blue Jays. He began the 2022 season with Buffalo. Moreno joined the Blue Jays in Detroit on June 9, 2022, following an injury sustained by catcher Danny Jansen, but was not activated until June 11, when he was added to the day's starting line-up at the catcher position and batting eighth in the order. He was slashing .324/.380/.404 in 36 games with the Bisons prior to his call up. Moreno earned his first major league hit on June 11, 2022, a single, in his fourth at-bat of the day. On October 5, Moreno hit his first career home run, a three–run shot off of

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 ...

reliever Mike Baumann.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On December 23, 2022, the Blue Jays traded Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to the

in exchange for Daulton Varsho.

2023

After backing up

Carson Kelly Carson Franklin Kelly (born July 14, 1994) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers, and Texas ...

to start the 2023 season, Moreno became the Diamondbacks' primary catcher midway through the season after Kelly was designated for assignment. In his first full season in MLB, Moreno finished with a 3.1 defensive

WAR War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, the highest in the majors. Moreno also caught 39% of potential base-stealers, which was the best in all of MLB (minimum 20 attempts), and he led all MLB catchers in defensive runs saved with 20. With his offense, he had a slash line of .284/.339/.408 with seven homers, 50 runs batted in, and six stolen bases. Moreno was awarded the

Rawlings Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances. It is awarded at each fieldin ...

for National League catchers. On October 7, 2023, in game 1 of the NLDS against 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, Moreno hit a three-run home run off

Clayton Kershaw Clayton Edward Kershaw (born March 19, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). A left-handed starting pitcher, Kershaw has spent his entire MLB career with the Dodgers s ...

in the first inning to blow the game wide open that extended his team's lead from two to five runs before Kershaw recorded the first out, scoring

Tommy Pham Thomas James Pham (born March 8, 1988) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, San Diego Padres, Cin ...

and Christian Walker. In game 3, Moreno was one of four Diamondbacks hitters to hit a home run in the third inning off Dodgers pitcher Lance Lynn. After his first initial home run was deemed foul, Moreno sent the next pitch he saw over the left field wall, covering 420 feet. After the Diamondbacks went down 2–0 against the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

in the

NLCS The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a Playoff format#Best-of-seven playoff, best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Major League Baseball po ...

, Moreno was moved up from fifth to third in the batting lineup. With Moreno hitting third, the Diamondbacks won four of the next five games to clinch their first National League pennant and their first

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

appearance since 2001, with Moreno driving home the game-winning runs in games 4 and 7. In game 2 of the

against the Texas Rangers, Moreno hit a home run in the Diamondbacks 9–1 victory, their lone victory of the series.

2024

On August 5, 2024, Moreno suffered a left groin strain and was removed from the game. He was later placed on the 10-day injured list with a left adductor strain.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreno, Gabriel 2000 births Living people Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks players Arizona Diamondbacks players Bluefield Blue Jays players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Cardenales de Lara players Dominican Summer League Blue Jays players Florida Complex League Blue Jays players Gulf Coast Blue Jays players Lansing Lugnuts players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from Venezuela 21st-century Venezuelan sportsmen Mesa Solar Sox players New Hampshire Fisher Cats players Reno Aces players Toronto Blue Jays players