Benny Cepeda

Benigno Cepeda

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 175 lb.

• School Ohio Dominican University

• Born May 2, 1983 in Rio Piedras Puerto Rico

BR register page

Biographical Information

Benny Cepeda pitched in the minors and for the Puerto Rican national team.

Cepeda was first-team All-American Mideast Conference in 2003 and second-team in 2004. He was taken by the San Francisco Giants in the 48th round of the 2004 amateur draft. He was 2-4 with a 4.61 ERA for the 2004 AZL Giants, striking out 43 in 41 innings. In 2005, he pitched for the AZL Giants (8.10 ERA in 5 G) and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (0-1, 6.43 in 6 G). Let go by the Giants, he began a long run in the independent leagues. With the 2007 Laredo Broncos, he was 3-4 with a save and a 6.35 ERA.

He was 1-0 with 3 saves and a 1.40 ERA in 13 games for Laredo in 2008 and also pitched for the Lincoln Saltdogs (0-1, 2 Sv, 3.68). He made his Puerto Rican League debut back home with the Indios de Mayagüez (2-0, 3.15 in 15 G). In 2009-2010, he was 0-1 with a 3.44 ERA for the Indios. The next summer, he was 0-1 with 7 runs in 5 innings for the Long Island Ducks. He had a superb winter with the Indios (1-1, 1.78 in 20 G). He was 10th in the league in games pitched. He struggled with the 2011 Road Warriors (0-1, 15.43 in 9 G, 16 BB in 9 1/3 IP). With Mayagüez in 2011-2012, he was 1-1 with a 2.79 ERA.

Benny was with Puerto Rico for the 2012 Haarlem Baseball Week. He beat Cuba and Ismel Jiménez, then relieved former major leaguer Juan Padilla with a 2-2 tie against Cuba in the finals. He blanked Cuba in the 6th and 7th. In the 8th, Yuli Gurriel walked and stole with one out. He walked Frederich Cepeda intentionally, retired slugger Alfredo Despaigne and then faced another huge power threat in José Abreu. He got Abreu to ground to third but an error by Jorge Jiménez cost Puerto Rico the game.

In 2012-2013, the right-hander was 1-0 with a 3.55 ERA in 6 games for the Indios and had a 5.14 ERA and a save in 7 games for the Cangrejeros de Santurce. He went 0-1 with a save and a 3.10 ERA for Santurce in 2013-2014 and 1-2, 5.66 for them in 2014-2015. He was 1-0 with a 4.36 ERA in the 2015 Pan American Games, beating Nicaragua and Samuel Estrada. In 2015-2016, he had a 6.52 ERA in nine outings for Santurce. He split 2016-2017 between Santurce (0 R in 1 IP) and the Tiburones de Aguadilla (0-1, 5.17 in 12 G).

He had gone 12-19 with 8 saves and a 4.75 ERA in 187 games as a pro, with most of that work (121 G; 6-7, 2 Sv, 3.71) coming in the Puerto Rican League. He had a 5.40 ERA in the affiliated minors and 6.35 in the indies.