Grégor Miguel Blanco Pedraza (born December 24, 1983) is a Venezuelan former 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 ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. He played in

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(MLB) for the

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Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, and

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. His nickname was "White Shark", as blanco is white in Spanish, and he played for Los Tiburones de La Guaira, The Sharks of CUA.

Early life

Grégor Miguel Blanco Pedraza was born on December 24, 1983, in

Caracas, Venezuela Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

Professional career

Blanco was the center fielder and leadoff hitter for Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League, hitting .315 (178 AB) in the 2006–07 season, .345 (229 AB) in the 2007–08 season (finishing second in MVP voting) and .349 (172 AB) in the 2008–09 season.

Atlanta Braves (2008–2010)

Blanco signed with the Atlanta Braves on July 4, 2000, as an undrafted

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

. He beat out Josh Anderson in spring training to become the Braves' backup outfielder in 2008. He began to see regular playing time after Mark Kotsay injured his back on May 26. In 2008, he had the lowest home run per plate appearance percentage in the majors (among regular home run hitters) (0.2%

Kansas City Royals (2010)

On July 31, 2010, Blanco was traded to the Kansas City Royals along with Jesse Chavez and Tim Collins for Kyle Farnsworth and

Rick Ankiel Richard Alexander Ankiel (; born July 19, 1979) is an American former professional baseball center fielder and pitcher. He spent most of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the St. Louis Cardinals, but also played for the Kansas City Roya ...

Washington Nationals

On May 8, 2011, Blanco was traded to the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

in exchange for a player to be named later. During the offseason of 2011, Gregor played in the Venezuelan Winter league and was named the MVP for the 2011 season.

San Francisco Giants (2012–2016)

Blanco signed a minor league contract with the

on November 16, 2011, and was selected to be part of the Giants' 2012

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roster as an outfielder. On June 13, 2012, Blanco made a fully extended diving catch in deep right-center field, catching the ball in the end of his mitt, to rob Jordan Schafer of a hit in the top of the 7th inning of Matt Cain's perfect game. The Mercury News wrote "In a town very familiar with the words "The Catch", Blanco made one for the ages: he took off on a dead sprint at the crack of the bat and made a diving catch on the warning track in center field, 400 feet from home plate." On July 13, 2013, in a 9–0 win over the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

at Petco Park, Blanco caught the final out of Tim Lincecum's first career no-hitter in the ninth inning. It was the first no-hitter in the history of the ballpark. On September 5, 2014, Blanco made an error that ended his 306-game errorless streak. He dropped the ball on a Bryan Holaday line drive. On July 8, 2016, Blanco hit his first career pinch-hit home run, and his first of the season. In 2016 with the Giants he batted .224/.309/.311.

Arizona Diamondbacks (2017)

On January 17, 2017, Blanco signed a minor league contract with the

that included an invitation to spring training. He was released on March 27, and re-signed to a new minor league contract the next day.

Second stint with San Francisco Giants (2018)

On January 29, 2018, Blanco signed a minor league contract to return to the Giants. His contract was purchased by the Giants on March 28, 2018, and he was assigned to the Opening Day roster. He was designated for assignment on June 2, 2018. In his second stint, he hit .217/.262/.317 with 2 home runs.

New York Mets

On December 21, 2018, Blanco signed a minor league contract with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

that included an invitation to

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. In 118 games for the Triple–A Syracuse Mets, he slashed .246/.339/.406 with 13 home runs, 43 RBI, and 11 stolen bases. Blanco elected free agency following the season on November 4, 2019.

Post-playing career

On February 6, 2020, Blanco retired to take on a new post in the baseball operations department for MLB.

Personal life

Blanco has three Sons, Grenyer Blanco, Gregor Blanco Jr. and Grecia Blanco. He is married to Mirna Castro de Blanco. His father's name is Hernan Blanco, and his brothers are named Gregory and Gregsman.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco, Gregor 1983 births Living people Arizona Diamondbacks players Atlanta Braves players Gwinnett Braves players Kansas City Royals players Macon Braves players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball players from Venezuela 21st-century Venezuelan sportsmen Mississippi Braves players Myrtle Beach Pelicans players Omaha Storm Chasers players Reno Aces players Richmond Braves players Sacramento River Cats players San Francisco Giants players Baseball players from Caracas Syracuse Chiefs players Syracuse Mets players Tiburones de La Guaira players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States Visalia Rawhide players World Baseball Classic players of Venezuela 2009 World Baseball Classic players