Raynel Joseph Espinal (born October 6, 1991) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. Listed at and , he throws and bats right-handed.

Professional career

New York Yankees

Espinal began his professional career with the New York Yankees organization, first playing for the

Dominican Summer League Yankees The Dominican Summer Yankees are a minor league baseball team in the Dominican Summer League. The team plays in the Boca Chica South division and is affiliated with the New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional b ...

in 2013 and 2014. After not playing professionally during 2015, he played for four different Yankees farm teams during 2016, advancing to the Class A Short Season level with the Staten Island Yankees. In 2017, he played for three different teams and reached Double-A with the Trenton Thunder. Espinal then spent all of the 2018 and 2019 seasons in Triple-A with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. With the RailRiders, he appeared in 59 total games (15 starts) allowing 64 runs in 142

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

for a 4.06 earned run average (ERA). In July 2019, Espinal underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox selected Espinal from the Yankees in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft after the 2019 season. He did not pitch during 2020, due to cancellation of the minor-league season, then began the 2021 season in Triple-A with the Worcester Red Sox. The Red Sox promoted Espinal to the major leagues on August 30, 2021, to add

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

depth due to players being placed on the COVID-related list. He made his MLB debut that day, pitching in relief against the Tampa Bay Rays. He was returned to Worcester the next day and removed from the

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 ...

. Worcester named Espinal their pitcher of the year, having gone 11–4 with a 3.55 ERA in Triple-A. Espinal became a free agent following the 2021 season.

San Francisco Giants

On February 5, 2022, Espinal signed a minor-league contract with the San Francisco Giants. He began the season in Triple-A with the Sacramento River Cats of the

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 ...

Chicago Cubs

On July 31, 2022, the Giants traded Espinal to the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

for

Dixon Machado Dixon Javier Machado Moreno (born February 22, 1992) is a Venezuelan professional baseball shortstop in the Houston Astros organization. He made his MLB debut in 2015 with the Detroit Tigers and has also played for the Chicago Cubs and San Fran ...

. On August 16 the Chicago Cubs released Espinal making him a free agent.

Cincinnati Reds

On August 18, 2022, Espinal signed a minor league deal with the

. He had his contract selected on September 11, 2022. He elected free agency on November 10, 2022.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows

On December 5, 2022, Espinal signed with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball.

International career

Espinal pitched for the Dominican Republic national baseball team during qualification for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. He has played several seasons of winter baseball with Gigantes del Cibao of the Dominican Professional Baseball League (LIDOM).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espinal, Raynel Living people 1991 births People from Santiago Province (Dominican Republic) Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Major League Baseball pitchers Boston Red Sox players Cincinnati Reds players Dominican Summer League Yankees players Gulf Coast Yankees players Pulaski Yankees players Staten Island Yankees players Charleston RiverDogs players Tampa Yankees players Trenton Thunder players Gigantes del Cibao players Sacramento River Cats players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders players Worcester Red Sox players