Pedro Florimón

Pedro Florimón

Florimon with the Minnesota Twins
Free agent
Shortstop
Born: (1986-12-10) December 10, 1986
La Romana, La Romana, Dominican Republic
Bats: Switch Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 10, 2011, for the Baltimore Orioles
MLB statistics
(through 2016 season)
Batting average .200
Home runs 10
Runs batted in 62
Teams

Pedro Alexander Florimón, Jr. (born December 10, 1986) is a Dominican professional baseball shortstop who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) played for the Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, and Pittsburgh Pirates.

It has been stated by Scout.com that Florimón has trouble hitting a breaking ball, and that he often looks "lost at the plate."[1] However, they also stated that he has "impressive plate discipline, if all he is seeing are fastballs."[1] The site also described him as a "plus runner."[1]

Professional career

Baltimore Orioles

Florimón was signed by the Orioles as a non-drafted free agent on June 18, 2004.[2] He played in the Dominican Summer League in 2004, and 2005.[2] In 2006, he played for the rookie-level Bluefield Orioles, and the Class-A Short-Season Aberdeen IronBirds. With Bluefield, he batted .333 with 23 runs, 40 hits, 6 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 8 RBIs, and 7 stolen bases in 33 games. He led the Bluefields in stolen bases, and caught stealing (6); and was second in bases on balls (28), and batting average.[3] With the IronBirds, he batted .248 with 13 runs, 26 hits, 4 doubles, 1 triple, and 5 RBIs in 26 games. In 2007, he spent the entire season with the Class-A Delmarva Shorebirds and batted .197 with 50 runs, 73 hits, 14 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs, 34 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases in 111 games.

The next season, Florimón again played for the Class-A Delmarva Shorebirds. In 81 games, he batted .223 with 28 runs, 60 hits, 18 doubles, 1 triple, 19 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases. In 2009, he spent most of the season with the Class-A Advanced Frederick Keys of the Carolina League, however, he spent some of the season with the Double-A Bowie Baysox of the Eastern League. With the Keys, he batted .267 with 76 runs, 115 hits, 32 doubles, 5 triples, 9 home runs, 68 RBIs, and 26 stolen bases in 115 games. On the team, he was first in triples; second in runs, stolen bases, caught stealing (9); and was third in RBIs, and bases on balls (42).[4] Florimón was selected to the Carolina League mid-season all-star game.[5] He was also named the Carolina League's Player of the Week for the week of August 17–23.[2] Florimón played 7 games with the Baysox, and batted .091 with 2 hits, and 1 RBI. On November 19, Florimón was placed on the Orioles 40-man roster after his contract was purchased from Bowie.[6] He was re-signed by the Orioles on March 9.[7]

Florimón spent spring training with the Orioles until March 26, when he was assigned to Double-A Bowie.[8] Florimón started the 2010 season with Bowie. On May 26, he was placed on the seven-day disabled list.[9] He made his major league debut with the Orioles on September 10.

Minnesota Twins

On December 5, 2011, he was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Twins. In 2012, Florimón played in 43 games for the Twins, amassing 137 at bats. He hit just .219 with one home run and 10 RBIs.

The next season, Florimón competed for the starting shortstop position which he won by default. Florimón opened the 2013 season as the starting shortstop for the Twins. Despite his strong defensive play at shortstop, Florimón struggled mightily at the plate. In 443 at bats, he hit just .221 and displayed poor plate discipline, walking just 33 times while striking out 115 times.

For the 2014 season, Florimón was anointed once again the starting shortstop but lasted just 33 games before being demoted the Rochester Red Wings of the Class AAA International League. During his brief stint at the beginning of the season, Florimón hit under the Mendoza line (.092) as he collected just 7 hits in his 76 at bats for Minnesota. He finished the season with Rochester without receiving a September call-up.[10]

Washington Nationals

On September 18, 2014, the Washington Nationals claimed Florimón from the Twins off of waivers.[11]

Pittsburgh Pirates

On November 20, 2014, the Pittsburgh Pirates claimed Florimón from the Nationals off of waivers.[12] He was designated for assignment on April 5, 2015. On April 11, 2015 he was outrighted to the Indianapolis Indians. On July 22, 2015, he was called up and made his season debut as the starting shortstop, going 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts. Three days later on July 25, he switched his uniform number from 17 to 23 to accommodate the newly acquired Aramis Ramirez so Ramirez could wear number 17 since his longtime uniform number 16 was already being worn by first base coach Nick Leyva. On August 18, 2015, Florimon hit a walk-off triple against the Diamondbacks to give Bucs a 9-8 win in the 15th. He was outrighted on November 2, 2016, and elected free agency.[13]

Personal

Florimón was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic, which he described as a "medium-sized" town.[14] He stated that his favorite Major League Baseball player is Omar Vizquel.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Michael Hollman (November 25, 2007). "Prospect Countdown: #43 Pedro Florimon". Inside the O's. Scout.com. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Pedro Florimon Jr. Stats, Bio, Photos, Highlights — orioles.com: Team". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  3. ↑ "2006 Bluefield Orioles". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
  4. ↑ "2009 Frederick Keys". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
  5. ↑ Stan Goldberg (June 7, 2009). "Six Keys players on all-star team". The Frederick News-Post. The Frederick News-Post. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Baltimore Orioles Transactions - 2009". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  7. ↑ Brittany Ghiroli (March 9, 2010). "Orioles sign 22, renew contracts with four". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  8. ↑ Brittany Ghiroli (March 26, 2010). "Sarfate, Bell, Snyder cut by Orioles". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  9. ↑ Dean Jones, Jr. (May 26, 2010). "Minor league game previews -- May 26". The Baltimore Sun. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  10. ↑ "Twinsights: Terry Ryan explains reasoning behind September call-up decisions". TwinCities.com.
  11. ↑ Patrick Reddington. "Nationals claim INF Pedro Florimon on waivers from Twins, DFA outfielder Eury Perez". Federal Baseball.
  12. ↑ "Pirates DFA Ike Davis, clear path for Pedro Alvarez". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  13. ↑ "International League Transactions". MiLB.com. p. November 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  14. 1 2 Tom Bone (July 11, 2006). "Florimon's bat flourishing". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
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