Renato Morales

Douglas Renato Morales Flores

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.

• High School Liceo Miguel de Cervantes

• Born June 22, 1986 in Masaya, Masaya Nicaragua

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Douglas Morales played in the minors and for the Nicaraguan national team.

Morales was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies shortly before his 17th birthday. He made his pro debut with the VSL Phillies, batting .233/.370/.288. In 2004, he improved to .337/.423/.459, finishing third in the Venezuelan Summer League in batting average. Coming stateside in 2005, the youngster batted .301/.397/.398 and stole 12 bases in 16 tries for the GCL Phillies. In 2006, he played for the Clearwater Threshers (9 for 36, 2B, BB), the Lakewood BlueClaws (4 for 22, 3 BB) and the Batavia Muckdogs (21 for 88, 11 BB, 2B; one run in two innings pitched), moving down the system as the year progressed.

In 2007, Morales played all year for Lakewood and hit .250/.307/.304 in 104 games. Douglas split 2008 between Clearwater (3 for 6) and the Williamsport Crosscutters (.225/.273/.324 in 29 games) to end his US career. He was one of Nicaragua's outfielders in the 2008 Americas Baseball Cup, going 4 for 15 with a homer to help his country qualify for the 2009 Baseball World Cup. Debuting in the Nicaraguan summer league in 2009, he hit .359/.449/.490 with 21 doubles in 76 games for San Fernando. He was 3 doubles behind co-leaders Ramon Flores and Jimmy Gonzalez.

At the 2009 Baseball World Cup, he started in center for Nicaragua and hit .250/.308/.250 with one run and one RBI in six games. He batted .313/.386/.450 for San Fernando in 2010. He was with Nicaragua for a Silver Medal in the 2010 Central American Games and a Bronze Medal in the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games. In the 2010 Pan American Games Qualifying Tournament, he was 1 for 9 with a run and two RBI. In 2011, he played for San Fernando (.270/.374/.461 in 59 G) and Boer (.324/.678/.394 in 25 G). The Boer OBP is likely a typo as the Nicaraguan Baseball Federation lists him with 74 BB in 25 G which would make him the league leader with his 14 for San Fernando but they do not list him as that year's leader. He saw action in all three outfield slots for Nicaragua at the 2011 Baseball World Cup, hitting .250/.250/.250 in a back-up role and handling 13 putouts error-free.

He had a strong debut 2012 for San Fernando - .349/.453/.590, 21 2B, 14 HR, 70 R in 78 G. He led the league in runs, tied Dwight Britton for the most home runs, led in slugging, led in total bases (154) and tied for the most times hit by pitch (17). In the 2012 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, he was 2 for 6 with a RBI double (off Gilberto Méndez). That let him tie Cheslor Cuthbert and Ofilio Castro for the team lead in RBI on a low-offense team. Of the starters, only Cuthbert finished with a better slugging percentage. He helped Nicaragua win the 2013 Central American Games. His numbers were down a bit in 2013 (.345/.419/.503) and then a bit higher in 2014 (.358/.449/.535) as he remained productive.

Morales hit .211/.286/.263 with one run and one RBI in five games in the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, fielding .909 in left. He batted .404/.482/.647 with 63 runs in 68 games in 2015; his 21 doubles were 3 shy of the lead and he led in runs. Despite topping .400, he lost the batting title to Darrel Campbell by .026. In the 2015 Pan American Games, he hit .333/.333/.375 with 3 runs and 0 RBI in 6 games, fielding .857 in LF. He led Nicaragua in average, .033 ahead of Sandor Guido. He did very well in the 2016 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, batting .455/.462/.545 in four games; his five hits tied for 6th in the qualifiers while his 3 RBI tied Alex Blandino for the team lead.

The Masaya native had a .417/.507/.594 batting line for San Fernando in 2016 to win the batting title; he scored 84 runs and hit 14 homers in 105 contests. In the 2017 Central American Games, he scored three runs against both Costa Rica and Honduras. He finished the round-robin phase at .385/.500/.462 with 6 runs in 5 games, tying for 6th in the event in runs and tying for 7th in OBP with Omar Obregón and Andres Velasco. He was 0 for 3 in the Gold Medal Game but Nicaragua still topped Panama, 3-1.

Sources

• 2008 Phillies Media Guide
• Old IBAF site
• Nicaraguan Baseball Federation
• World Baseball Classic
• 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games site
• 2015 Pan American Games site