Humberto Quintero

Humberto Quintero

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 215 lb.
• High School U.E. Andres Bello (Maracaibo)
• Debut September 3, 2003
• Final Game September 27, 2014
• Born August 8, 1979 in Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela

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Biographical Information

Venezuelan catcher Humberto Quintero was originally signed by scout Hector Rincones for the Chicago White Sox. He made his pro debut with the Guacara 1 in 1997, hitting .262/.333/.310. In 1998, Quintero played for Miranda, posting a .205/.266/.219 line. He came stateside with the Bristol White Sox in 1999. He steadily rose through the Sox system and earned a solid reputation for his defensive skills. Midway through the 2002 season, the Sox traded him to the San Diego Padres for D'Angelo Jimenez, late in the 2003 season, he made his big league debut with the Padres. Quintero split 2004 between the Padres and the AAA Portland Beavers, where he hit .317.

Before the 2005 season, Quiroz was sent to the Houston Astros for Tim Redding. He split that season between the Astros and the Round Rock Express despite missing some time due to an appendectomy. He returned to Round Rock to begin the 2006 season, hitting .298 in 82 games. He ended up playing only 11 games at the major league level that year, hitting .333, and also spent most of 2007 in the minors, playing 53 games for Round Rock with a .333 average. When he was with Houston, he hit .226 in 29 games.

From 2008 to 2011, Quintero was with the Astros for most of the four seasons, playing in slightly less than half of his team's games, but also making short stays in the minor leagues three of the four years. His batting average improved slightly over the period, from .226 in 2008 to .236 in 2009, .234 in 2010 and .240 in his last season with Houston. He never hit more than 4 home runs in a season, and his highest RBI total was 25, in 2011. In spite of his limited offensive production, the Astros liked to have him around because of his excellent defensive skills, and particularly his strong throwing arm. It also helped him that a couple of catching prospects on which the team was counting, first J.R. Towles and later Jason Castro, failed to grab the starting job outright because of either poor performance at the plate or injuries, making Quintero a valuable back-up option.

On March 20, 2012, he was traded to the Kansas City Royals, along with OF Jason Bourgeois, in return for minor league P Kevin Chapman and a player to be named later. The Royals had lost two catchers, Santiago Perez and Manny Pina, to injuries since the start of spring training, while Humberto had fallen to third on the Astros' depth chart, behind Chris Snyder and Castro, making him expendable.

In 2017, he was named as a bullpen catcher with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Related Sites

• Humberto Quintero on mlb.com