Albino Contreras

José Albino Contreras Estrella

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5'11", Weight 180 lb.

• Born April 30, 1980 in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora Mexico

The twin brother of Sergio Contreras, Albino Contreras has led the Mexican League in triples and made the Caribbean Series All-Star team. Unfortunately, numerous sources have confused Albino's identity.

Confusion over Albino Contreras

Among the sources misidentifying Contreras:

• The Baseball Cube (as of February 2008) lists him as Albino Contrera and includes only his 2000 season, ignoring his 1999 year and 2001-2007.
• From 2006 until early 2008, Wikipedia listed some of Albino's statistics under his brother's page. It was corrected after their error was pointed out here.
• The 2005 Baseball Guide lists him as Jose Contreras, using his first name, which he does not go by, instead of as Albino Contreras. It also misidentifies his batting and throwing hand.
• The 2006 Baseball Guide adds his statistics to his brother's, resulting in a player who appeared in 198 games in a season which lasted 100 games! Despite the impressive totals they list for this combined player, he does not show up on any of the league leader lists, though he would have led in many areas.
• Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database makes the same error for his 2004 statistics.

Angels farmhand

Albino broke in with the 1999 DSL Angels, just like his twin brother. He hit .239 with 2 homers and 37 RBI. In 2000, he performed well for the Butte Copper Kings, batting .298/.399/.473 - yet he had an OPS almost 200 points behind Sergio, who hit .399/.467/.601. It was Albino's last year in the Angels chain, though his brother would remain there.

Mexico

In 2001, Albino went to Mexico and hit .313 for the Puebla Parrots, slugging .490. He drove in 52 runs in 294 AB and had 9 triples, tying Demond Smith for the Mexican League lead.

Contreras hit .267 with 24 steals for Puebla in 2002. That winter, he only hit .128 for the Yaquis de Obregón. He batted .272 with 12 stolen bases in 2003 for Puebla. He had another bad winter, hitting .219 for the Culiacan Tomato Growers in 2003-2004.

In 2004, Albino batted .337/.432/.512 and stole 19 bases while only being caught four times. He was in the top 20 in the Mexican League in average and was only two triples behind leader Chad Meyers. His 10 outfield assists ranked 4th in the Liga.

Contreras hit .245 for Guasave in the winter of 2004-2005. In the summer of 2005, he hit .314/.411/.497 for Puebla. He tied for third in the Mexican League with 7 triples, three behind leader Donzell McDonald. Back with his hometown Yaquis in the winter of 2005-2006, he hit .288 with 6 homers for his best Mexican Pacific League season to that point.

In 2006, Contreras hit .328/.400/.474 with 8 triples, three behind leader Luis Arredondo. In the winter season, he hit .270 with five homers for the Yaquis. Albino batted .316/.393/.497 for the 2007 Tigres de Quintana Roo. In the winter season of 2007-2008, he slipped to .228/.321/.317 for the Yaquis and was thrown out in half of his 12 steal attempts. They won the Mexican Pacific League title despite his struggles (his brother also fared poorly).

In the 2008 Caribbean Series, Albino put on a show. He went 9 for 16 with two doubles, three RBI, two runs, a walk and a steal for a .563/.588/.688 batting line. He made the Series All-Star team, joining several major leaguers. He led the 2008 Series in batting average.

Contreras replaced his brother on the Mexican national team for the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament, going 3 for 10 with a double as Mexico failed to win a spot in the 2008 Olympics.

Sources

• Hitazos.com
• 2000-2008 Baseball Almanacs
• 2005-2006 Baseball Guides
• Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database
• MILB.com
• IBAF site

Related Sites

• SABR Minor League Database