Abraham Nunez (nunezab01)

Abraham Orlando Núñez Adames

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 160 lb.

• Debut August 27, 1997
• Final Game June 8, 2008
• Born March 16, 1976 in Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional, D.R.

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Biographical Information

Infielder Abraham Nunez is not to be confused with the other Abraham Nunez who was his contemporary but was an outfielder.

Nunez was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1994 as an amateur free agent and began his playing career in their minor league system. After the 1996 season the Blue Jays traded him and five other minor leaguers (including future Pirates regulars Craig Wilson and Jose Silva as well as Jose Pett, Brandon Cromer and Mike Halperin) to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for major leaguers Carlos Garcia, Orlando Merced, and Dan Plesac.

Nunez made his major league debut in 1997, though he bounced between the majors and minors for a few more seasons. The Pirates released him after the 2004 season and he joined the St. Louis Cardinals for 2005 when he had his most productive hitting campaign. He spent 2006 and 2007 with the Philadelphia Phillies. While playing for the Phillies, Nunez started an around-the-horn triple play against the Cincinnati Reds on April 21, 2007. In 2008 he joined the New York Mets organization, but played most of the year in the minors. Nunez completed his playing career in the Arizona Diamondbacks minor league system in 2009. Always known more for his glove than his bat, that glove allowed him to appear in twelve major league seasons and earn more than $5 million for his career.

After finishing his playing career, Nunez turned to coaching. He was the AZL Diamondbacks hitting coach in 2011. He then moved to the Kansas City Royals organization where he was the batting coach for the DSL Royals in 2012, the Burlington Royals in 2013, the Lexington Legends in 2014, the Wilmington Blue Rocks in 2015-2018, and Northwest Arkansas Naturals in 2019. He was scheduled to return to Northwest Arkansas in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19. Nunez did coach Northwest Arkansas again in 2021-2022.

Nunez also spent a number of winters coaching in the Dominican League with the Gigantes del Cibao. He began the 2015/2016 season as the assistant manager, but took over as manager on December 6, 2015 when manager Audo Vicente was fired. The next year Nunez began as the team's bench coach but replaced manager Bobby Dickerson on January 12, 2017 when Dickerson left the team for personal reasons. Things settled down after that for Nunez. In 2019/2020 he was the first base coach. In 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 Nunez worked as both the third base coach and infield instructor.

His first-born son is fittingly named Isaak.