Iván Marín

Iván Salvador Marín Rodriguez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 140 lb.

• Born December 21, 1988 in Granada Nicaragua

BR register page

Biographical Information

Infielder Iván Marín has led the Nicaraguan Amateur League in steals four times (through 2016) and played regularly for the Nicaraguan national team,

He hit .255/.321/.255 in 21 games for Granada as a rookie in 2006 and was 0-for-1 in steals. The teenager was only 4 for 31 with 3 walks in 2007 and stole one base in three tries. In '08, he batted .231/.278/.291 and started to show off his wheels (8 SB, 0 CS). The next year, he hit .240/.351/.306 for Granada and stole 11 bases but was caught 9 times. Debuting for Nicaragua in the 2009 Baseball World Cup, he went 0 for 6 and made two errors in ten chances, backing up Mario Holmann at 2B. With Granada in 2010, he hit only .148/.246/.167 and stole one base. He played for the GCL Braves that year, his only summer in affiliated baseball, and acquitted himself well (.297/.375/.375 at the plate, error-free defense), but the Braves did not retain him for 2011.

Switching clubs to Carazo in 2011, he made big strides, producing at a .299/.391/.372 clip and scoring 47 runs in 66 games. He kept it up in the 2011 Baseball World Cup, splitting short with Ofilio Castro and going 4 for 11 with two walks, two times hit by pitch and fielding .955; only Dwight Britton had a better average for Nicaragua, though Marín failed to qualify for the leaderboard.

Returning to his hometown Granada team, he hit .300/.415/.403 and stole 47 bases in 64 tries. It was the most steals in Nicaragua since Sandy Moreno had 59 back in 1990. 2013 was more of the same - a .293/.416/.397 batting line, 40 steals in 55 tries and 63 runs in 85 games. He led in steals again and was 10 runs behind leader Britton. He helped Nicaragua win Gold at the 2013 Central American Games. During 2014, the 25-year-old batted .285/.434/.347 with 68 runs in 91 games and 36 swipes while only being caught ten times. He led in steals for a third year in a row, the first player to do that since Moreno won 10 in a row from 1990-1999. In the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, he was 0 for 11 with a walk and a run while fielding .933 at short for the Silver Medalists.

Marín hit .324/.431/.451 for Granada in 2015 but his steals were down (10 SB, 2 CS) and Edgard López broke his run of steal titles. In the 2015 Pan American Games, he went 0 fir 9 with a walk and hit-by-pitch; he played error-free ball at short, which he split with Castro. For Granada in '16, he batted .287/.428/.332 with 33 steals in 45 tries and 64 runs in 94 games. He drew 61 walks. He won his 4th stolen base title; only Moreno had won more. In 2017, he reached 200 career steals, the 6th player to that mark; he had been preceded by Moreno, Arnoldo Muñoz, López, Ramón Solano and Juan Cabrera.

Getting his second chance to play in the US, he signed with the Lincoln Saltdogs and spent most of the summer of '17 with them. He hit only .218/.310/.255 and stole six bases in nine tries but fielded .975 at short. Splitting time with Omar Obregón in the 2017 Central American Games, he hit 9th three games. He was 3 for 3 with a double, 3 runs and 2 RBI in a rout of the Honduran national team but went 0 for 3 with an error against top rival Panama and was again 0 for 3 with an error (leading to an unearned run) in the 3-1 Gold Medal Game win over Panama.