Gabriel Lino

Gabriel Eloy Lino Correa

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 200 lb.

• Born May 17, 1993 in Maracay, Aragua Venezuela

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Biographical Information

Gabriel Lino has played in the Dominican Republic, USA, Venezuela, Spain and italy and for the Spanish national team. He was once traded for a Hall of Famer.

Lino was signed by Baltimore Orioles scout Calvin Maduro in December 2009. He hit .200/.359/.271 with 28 walks in 54 games for the DSL Orioles 2 in 2010. The next year, he was up to the US and batted .282/.371/.462 for the GCL Orioles. He began 2012 with the Delmarva Shorebirds, a teenager in a full-season league. He hit only .218/.282/.340 in 56 games then was traded with Kyle Simon for Jim Thome, becoming one of seven players in MLB history to be traded for a player with 600+ career home runs. After the deal, he batted .227/.311/.371 in 37 games for the Lakewood BlueClaws. He led South Atlantic League catchers with 28 passed balls but his 8 double plays tied Kellin Deglan for the lead.

In 2013, he played for Lakewood (.242/.297/.394 in 10 G) and the Williamsport Crosscutters (.256/.305/.372 in 46 G). He made his winter league debut with the Cardenales de Lara, hitting .304/.385/.435. He split the next summer between Lakewood (.180/.300/.340 in 16 G) and the Clearwater Threshers (.223/.281/.303 in 74 G). He was at .241/.327/.322 that winter for Lara. He made it to AAA in 2015, appearing for the Reading Fightin Phils (.266/.333/.431 in 32 G) and Lehigh Valley IronPigs (.215/.244/.272 in 53 G), throwing out 48.3% of would-be base-stealers. For the 2015-2016 Cardenales, his batting line was .219/.278/.277.

The Maracay native played in 2016 for Reading (.317/.411/.524 in 18 G) and Clearwater (.199/.264/.279 in 40 G). He hit only .189/.205/.270 for Lara in 2016-2017. A free agent, he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and split 2017 between the Springfield Cardinals (.267/.339/.419 in 58 G) and Memphis Redbirds (.236/.317/.347 in 22 G). He started the winter slowly for Lara (.146/.167/.244 in 14 G) and was traded to the Bravos de Margarita for Felipe Paulino. He was 2 for 18 with a walk for the Bravos.

In 2018, he returned to the Phillies chain, but hit .214/.279/.339 for Clearwater, apparently ending his US career. The Bravos traded him to the Tigres de Aragua for Erick Salcedo. He hit .194/.250/.323 for Aragua in 2018-2019 then went 2 for 8 in the postseason. He homered and walked in his two plate appearances for the 2019-2020 Tigres then was traded to the Caribes de Anzoátegui for Edwin Gomez. He hit .295/.347/.432 for the Caribes, and hit .182/.240/.409 in the finals. That winter, he was attacked by Alex Romero, who hit him a couple times with a bat after a close pitch from Angel Nesbitt.

He was on Spain's training camp for the 2020 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers before the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020-2021, he hit .176/.300/.353 for the Caribes and was 0 for 3 in the postseason. He then played for Spain's Tenerife Marlins in 2021, hitting .357/.550/.786 with 16 runs and 9 RBI in 8 games.

Lino played for Spain in the 2021 European Championship. He hit a three-run homer off Ukrainian national team pitcher Danyil Khodakovskyi his first at-bat. He later added another home run, against Croatia's Pavao Karin. He was Spain's top performer in the Bronze Medal Game, doubling twice in a 2-0 loss to Italy. For the Euros, he hit a strong .368/.455/.895 with 7 RBI in 6 games and threw out 2 of 4 would-be base-stealers to boot. He tied Oscar Angulo for the team lead in doubles (4), tied Edison Valerio for the lead in home runs (2), tied for 3rd in RBI, was 2nd in total bases (17, 8 behind Valerio) and was second to Valerio in slugging. For the tournament, he tied for 2nd in doubles (one behind Aaron Singh), tied for 5th in home runs, was 10th in total bases, was 6th in slugging (between Matěj Hejma and Lou Helmig) and tied Ray-Patrick Didder for 8th in OPS.

He was only 2 for 15 with a run and a RBI for ASD San Marino in the 2022 European Champions Cup. He did much better for them in the 2022 Serie A1 at .350/.451/.599, fielding .994 and throwing out 8 of 11 who tried to steal. He led with 8 dingers (one ahead of Alberto Mineo) and tied Dariel Rodriguez for 9th in RBI (39). San Marino won the 2022 Italian Series; in the finale, game 7, he drove in both runs including Erick Epifano in the bottom of the 12th with the tourney-winner. He was named finals MVP. It was the 4th time in 9 Italian Series that a Venezuelan catcher was MVP; Guillermo Rodríguez had won in 2014 and Osman Marval in 2016 and 2018. He then was with Spain for the 2023 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, hitting .214/.353/.214 as the main backstop.

For San Marino in the 2023 Serie A1, he hit .430/.551/.850 with 35 runs, 12 homers and 45 RBI and fielded .996. He tied for 10th in runs, led in homers (two ahead of Nathanael Batista), tied José Cuesta for the RBI lead, was 5th in average, ranked 3rd in OBP (after Cuesta and Gabriele Angioi), led in slugging (.027 ahead of Cuesta) and was was second in OPS (34 behind Cuesta). San Marino fell to Bologna in the 2023 Italian Series. In the 2023 European Championship, he batted .389/.450/.833 with two homers, six runs and nine RBI in five games, handling 45 chances error-free. He hit a 3-run shot off Greece's Dimitri Kourtis and a two-run bomb against the Czech national team's Marek Minařík. In the title game, he was 1 for 4 with a RBI as Spain won their first European Championship in 68 years, since the 1955 European Championship. He was among the event leaders in homers (tied for 6th) and RBI (tied for 10th with Juremi Profar and Bálint Piros).