César Quintero (minors01)

César Ivan Quintero Martinez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 200 lb.

• Born March 19, 1981 in Panama City Panama

Biographical Information

César Quintero signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1998. He played for the VSL Pirates in 1999 and DSL Pirates in 2000. In 2001, he came to the USA with the GCL Pirates but did not play in a game.

Returning to his native Panama, Quintero was 2 for 4 with a double in the 2005 Baseball World Cup as the backup to Carlos Munoz at catcher. Panama won a Bronze Medal but Quintero did not play in the Bronze Medal game. In the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games, the 25-year-old went 5 for 11 with 2 doubles, a walk and a homer in an excellent show.

Quintero hit an impressive .452/.528/.677 in the 2006 COPABE qualifiers for the 2008 Olympics and threw out 3 of 5 attempted base-stealers. He was third in the tourney in average behind Bobby Hill and Earl Agnoly and ahead of many former and future major leaguers or Cuban stars. Despite his performance, Panama failed to advance to the Olympics or to the final Olympic qualifier.

Quintero starred again in the 2008 Americas Baseball Cup, hitting .577/.593/.846 with 5 runs and 4 RBI in 7 games and stole more bases (2) than he allowed runners to steal (1). Unfortunately, Panama failed to make the 2009 Baseball World Cup as Quintero's teammates did not perform as well. Quintero made the All-Star team at catcher, beating out former major leaguer Noe Munoz among others. He led the event in average (by .077), was second in OBP, third in slugging (behind Ardley Jansen and Abraham Ayala), led in hits (15) and tied for the most doubles (4). He was 4th with 22 total bases, trailing Jansen, Agustin Murillo and Carlos Rivera.

He helped Panama win the 2009 Bolivarian Games and 2010 Central American Games and appeared in the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games. In the 2010 Pan American Games Qualifying Tournament, he was 1 for 10 with 4 walks and a run.

Primary Sources

• IBAF
• 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games
• Interview at Panamadeportivo.com