Henry Centeno (minors02)

Henry Jesus Ysiah Centeno Gutierrez

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

• Born August 24, 1994 in Araya, Sucre Venezuela

BR register page

Biographical Information

Henry Centeno has pitched in Venezuela, the US, Japan, Italy and Mexico and for the Venezuelan national team.

Centeno was signed by Tampa Bay Rays scout Ronnie Blanco in December 2010. He made his pro debut with the 2011 VSL Rays, going 4-3 with a 3.24 ERA. He tied for 8th in the Venezuelan Summer League in wins. In 2012, he fell to 0-5, 4.31 for the same club, while his opponent average from .201 to .308. He tied for 4th in the VSL in wins. Returning to the same team for a third season, he was 2-2 with a 2.62 ERA. He came stateside in 2014, going 4-2 with a 1.50 ERA for the GCL Rays and 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in one game for the Princeton Rays. He led the Gulf Coast League in ERA (.24 ahead of Angel Yepez), opponent average (.203) and K/9 IP (8.5). He also tied for 8th in wins and was 4th in K (51, between Simon De la Rosa and Anthony Castro). He was named the All-Star right-handed pitcher.

In 2015, he pitched for the Bowling Green Hot Rods, posting a 8-8, 3.89 record. He split 2016 between the GCL Rays (0 R in 3 IP), Bowling Green (5-1, 1.34) and the Charlotte Stone Crabs (3-3, 2.72). He tied for 6th in the Rays chain in wins. He then made his Venezuelan Winter League debut, going 0-2 with a 10.45 ERA for the Navegantes del Magallanes. Let go by the Rays, he signed with the Minnesota Twins, going 0-1 with a 2.89 ERA in five games for the 2017 GCL Twins. That winter, he gave up one run and retired nobody. He was then traded with Frank Díaz to the Bravos de Margarita for Omar Poveda, Angelo Castellano and Carlos Gallardo.

He struggled his first winter with Margarita (2 R in 2 2/3 IP) but made major strides in 2019-2020 (4-0, 1.34). He won the LVBP ERA title (.53 ahead of Angelo Palumbo) and tied for 7th in wins. He was 1-1 in the postseason. By this point, he had also played in an indy league in Japan, the Baseball Challenge League. He was 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA for Margarita in 2020-2021. He finished second in ERA (.73 behind Erick Leal). He fell to 0-2 in the playoffs.

Centeno then pitched for Mexico's Rieleros de Aguascalientes in early 2021, going 1-2 with a 12.79 ERA, allowing 28 hits and 22 runs (18 earned) in 12 2/3 IP. He still made Venezuela's squad for the 2020 Americas Olympic Qualifier (delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic pushing back the Olympic schedule). He was not the first player by his name to appear for Venezuela - the earlier minor leaguer Henry Centeno had been with them in 1998. In his first game for his homeland, he closed out a one-hitter against Team Canada, relieving Harold Chirino in the 9th. He got Jacob Robson and Eric Wood on grounders then struck out Daniel Pinero. His other outing in the event, he relieved Andrés Machado in the 4th with a 5-0 deficit against the Dominican national team. He easily had the longest outing of the 7 Venezuelan hurlers that day, pitching four innings (4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) before Andrés Sotillet took over. Both runs came on a homer by two-time AL home run king José Bautista. The USA won the event, but Venezuela did well enough to move on to the 2020 Final Olympic Qualifier alongside the Dominicans, the Netherlands, Australia and Taiwan but the latter teams withdrew prior to the event.

Centeno remained with Venezuela for the final qualifier for the Tokyo Olympics. He replaced Jhonathan Díaz with a 3-0 lead in the second against the Netherlands and struck out Yurendell de Caster, then got Sharlon Schoop on a fly. After Calten Daal singled, he whiffed Randolph Oduber. Eduardo Paredes relieved in the third. In the semifinals, he again pitched against the Netherlands, tossing a two-hit, one-walk gem (Roger Bernadina and John Polonius had the lone hits). He struck out six in seven innings in a mercy rule-shortened win against a team that had lost 4-3 to the Dominicans a day before. The win over Jair Jurrjens got Venezuela into a battle with the Dominicans for a spot in Tokyo, but they fell in that game, 8-5. His 8 innings with a 0 ERA made him the event's ERA leader; Osvaldo Bidò was next at 0.00 in 4 IP.

Let go by Aguascalientes, he next stopped over in Europe, signing with ASD San Marino. He was 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA, fanning 42 in 33 1/3 IP. He finished third in the 2021 Serie A1 in ERA, behind Fernando Baez and Gabriele Piumatti. In the 2021 Italian Series, he went 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA and striking out 18 in 9 1/3 IP; he beat Bologna in Game 3. He led the Series in ERA (.15 ahead of Series MVP Tiago Da Silva) and Ks (2 ahead of Da Silva). San Marino won 3 games to 1.