Jilton Calderón

Jilton Arnoldo Calderón Palacios

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 9", Weight 175 lb.

• Born September 16, 1988 in Jinotepe Nicaragua

Biographical Information

Jilton Calderón debuted in the Nicaraguan summer league in 2006 with Matagalpa, hitting .261/.313/.392; he legged out four triples to tie Danilo Sotelo Jr., Adolfo Matamoros and Ramón Flores for the league lead. He was a backup outfielder for the Nicaraguan national team in the 2006 COPABE Olympic Qualifiers; he played 3 innings in left field and did not come to the plate. He was even better in 2007, showing no sophomore slump, batting .318/.400/.527 with 7 homers and 28 RBI in 34 games. He tied Yáder Hodgson for the league lead in dingers. In 2008, he hit .314/.389/.422 for Matagalpa. In the 2008 Americas Baseball Cup, he went 1 for 3.

Calderón moved to Carazo in 2009 and produced at a .372/.513/.504 clip for them, then played for Leon later that season, hitting .291/.402/.337. He split 2010 between Carazo (.405/.464/.557 in 47 G) and Boer (.268/.423/.329 in 28 G). During 2011, he dominated for Carazo, hitting .399/.499/.579 with 69 RBI and 21 doubles in 88 games. He led the league in average and total bases (111). In the 2011 Baseball World Cup, he batted third and manned either RF or LF but struggled on offense (.154/.233/.192, 2 R, 1 RBI in 7 G). He did have 12 putouts, one assist and no errors in the field. In the summer of 2012, he hit .321/.500/.470 for Carazo.

In the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, the Jinotepe native was 2 for 6 for Nicaragua. In 2013, his batting line for Carazo was .350/.488/.535. He scored the winning run in the finale of the 2013 Central American Games. The little flyhawk showed plenty of clout in 2014, split between Carazo (.388/.504/.654, 53 R, 29 2B in 68 G) and Rivas (.325/.504/.434, 7 2B in 28 G). He set a new league record for doubles, breaking the mark of 31 shared by Danilo Sotelo Sr. (1977), Orlando Mejía (1977), Henry Roa (1993) and Justo Rivas (2013). He was 1 for 8 with two walks and a run in the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, splitting the DH spot with Rivas. Jilton hit .331/.505/.484 for Carazo in 2015. In 2016, he produced at a .354/.488/.554 clip for them to bring his career batting line to .345/.466/.509 with 444 runs in 750 games.

The veteran was 1 for 7 with 3 walks and two runs for Nicaragua when they won the 2017 Central American Games.