Huascar Ynoa

Huascar Jose Ynoa Ventura

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 175 lb.

• Debut June 16, 2019

• Born May 28, 1998 in Puerto Plata, Puerto Plata D.R.

BR page

Biographcial Information

Pitcher Huascar Ynoa was signed by the Minnesota Twins as a 17-year-old before the 2015 season. He began his professional career that year with the DSL Twins, going 2-5, 2.70 in 14 starts. In 2016, he moved to the United States, lining up for the GCL Twins. There he went 3-5, 3.18 in 11 starts, allowing only 44 hits and 12 walks in 51 innings while striking out 51. In 2017, he moved up to the Elizabethton Twins of the Appalachian League. After 6 starts, he was 0-1, 5.26 when he was traded to the Atlanta Braves on July 24th, straight up for two major leaguers: P Jaime Garcia and C Anthony Recker.

He made his major league debut with the Braves during the 2019 season. He gave up 6 runs in 3 innings in his two appearances that year, then in 2020 had no decisions in 9 games, including 5 starts. He gave up a lot of baserunners, with 23 hits and 13 walks in 21 2/3 innings, resulting in an ERA of 5.82. He did make one appearance in the postseason, but it was a good one: in Game 3 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 14th, he came on in the 3rd inning after starter Kyle Wright and reliever Grant Dayton had both been battered around, allowing 15 runs between them. He managed to stabilize things with four solid innings in which he gave up just one hit and walked four, not giving up any runs. While the game was already well and truly lost, his outing preserved the Braves' bullpen in what could have been a disastrous game.

In 2021 injuries gave him a shot to be in the starting rotation at the start of the season. He pitched well, going 3-1, 2.36 over his first 7 games, but it was his hitting that got him into the headlines. On April 28th, he hit his first career homer off Kyle Hendricks in a 10-0 win over the Chicago Cubs, then in his next start on May 4th, he did even better, hitting a grand slam off Tanner Rainey of the Washington Nationals in a 6-1 win.

His unusual first name comes from one of the last Emperors of the Incas at the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru.

Notable Achievements

• Won one World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 2021 (he did not play in the World Series)

Related Sites

• Huascar Ynoa on mlb.com
• BR Minors page