Henry Cotto

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Henry Cotto

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Biographical Information[edit]

Henry Cotto played with four big league teams in a decade in the majors. He is perhaps best known for his time with the Seattle Mariners from 1988 to 1993.

Cotto was born in New York, NY but his Puerto Rican family moved back to the island when he was three months old. Pedrín Zorrilla scouted him for the Chicago Cubs, with whom he broke in during the 1984 season. He was the fourth outfielder on their division-winning team. He had a very unusual hitting streak from July 28-September 3, when he hit safely in 17 consecutive games. What is unusual is that he actually appeared in 33 games during that stretch, but did not bat in 16 of them, as he was either a defensive replacement or a pinch-runner; in three of the games, he got a hit in his lone plate appearance. He hit .274, but with only 5 extra-base hits (all doubles) and 10 walks, so his OPS+ was a measly 74 (not that anyone paid that any attention at the time). He went 1 for 2 with a run in the Cubs' loss to the San Diego Padres in the 1984 NLCS.

Cotto went to the New York Yankees in 1985, suffering a bizarre injury that May. While using a q-tip on the bench for some weird reason, he was bumped into by Ken Griffey and sustained a punctured eardrum. He shuttled between the AAA Columbus Clippers and New York from 1985 to 1987 before sticking for good with Seattle. In the 1987 Baseball Abstract, Bill James referred to Henry as the prototype of the overrated young player, who is given plenty of chances to play, in spite of a lack of production, because he has a decent batting average and "looks like a baseball player". He contrasted him with teammate Ken Phelps, a much more productive player who lingered in the minors for years without getting a serious look in spite of excellent power and on base percentages, because his batting average was low and he looked a bit clumsy.

Henry played a career high 133 games in his first year with the M's in 1988 and had his best batting line in a 66-game run in 1991 when he hit .305/.347/.463 in 177 at bats. His OPS+ of 123 that year was the only time in his career he was above 100. In 1992, he had 9 hits in 18 pinch at-bats. In 1993, his last season, after being moved to the Florida Marlins, he belted a 7th-inning pinch hit single against the New York Mets, which drove in a run and helped his team win, 2-1. Cotto played for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan in 1994 and was a replacement player the ensuing spring, catching on briefly for the Nashville Sounds in the Chicago White Sox organization before retiring in July. He began coaching in the Seattle Mariners system in 1996.

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