Dewis Navarro

Dewis Francisco Navarro Vivas

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.

• Born June 19, 1978 in Caracas, Distrito Capital Venezuela

Biographical Information

The brother of Dioner Navarro, Dewis Navarro has been a top performer in the Spanish leagues and for the Spanish national team.

Navarro hit .430/.473/.696 in 2004 for the Rojos de Candelaria, leading the Spanish league in slugging percentage. He was 10th in OBP and second in average, .004 behind Juan Padilla. In 2005, he hit .351/.424/.453 while playing every position except for center field and pitcher. He was on Spain's roster for the 2005 European Championship but did not play for the Bronze Medalists. He batted .313/.476/.688 in the 2005 Baseball World Cup as Spain's catcher and top hitter. In 2006, he hit .268/.359/.384 in an off-year in the Spanish leagues. He played every position except third base, center field and left field.

In the 2007 Spanish league season, Navarro moved to the Marlins Puerto Cruz and helped them to a title. He drove in 35, the most in the circuit. He was 6th in average (.402), 8th in slugging (.575) and had a .432 OBP. He was named the All-Star catcher. In the 2007 European Championship, Dewis batted .364/.500/.409 for Spain to help them win Bronze. In the 2007 Baseball World Cup, Navarro hit .429/.455/.619 for his second straight Baseball World Cup as Spain's top offensive force.

Navarro batted .263/.263/.316 in the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament and tied for Spain's lead with two RBI. He had the only hit in Spain's loss to Australia, a single off of Greg Wiltshire to prevent a no-hitter.

In the 2008 European Cup, Navarro hit .263/.238/.263 for the Marlins Puerto Cruz. He even pitched one inning, allowing three runs.

Navarro hit .339/.417/.466 for the Marlins Puerto Cruz in 2008, helping them to another pennant. He was 8th in the league in average, tied for 4th in RBI (25) and was second with 10 doubles.

Navarro was the 8th non-Italian European citizen to sign with a team in Serie A1 for 2009, after two decades of no non-Italian European citizens in that league. He followed fellow Spanish citizens Jorge Balboa, Fernando Gutierrez and Remigio Leal and 4 Dutch players. He debuted on April 11 as the #6 hitter for Nettuno and starting catcher. He had a double, run and 2 RBI in four at-bats in his Italian debut.

Sources

• IBAF site
• Mister Baseball
• Spanish baseball stats
• Wayback Archive of the 2005 European Championship site