José Cardona (minors03)

José Alejandro González Cardona
(Pepe)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 175 lb.

• Born March 16, 1994 in San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León Mexico

BR register page

Biographical Information

José Cardona (technically named José González, but going under the Cardona name throughout his baseball career) has played in the minors.

Cardona was signed by Texas Rangers scouts Gil Kim and Bill McLaughlin. He hit .264/.377/.364 for the DSL Rangers in his pro debut in 2011. The next year, he batted .263/.385/.332 for the same team, with 51 RBI and 47 walks in 69 games. Despite his low slugging, he was second in the Dominican Summer League in RBI (3 behind Gabriel Guerrero. He was also 5th in walks, between Juan Heredia and Vicente Lugo.

Pepe split 2013 between the DSL Rangers (.289/.396/.356 in 13 G) and AZL Rangers (.280/.340/.365 in 50 G). In 2014, he was with the AZL Rangers (.316/.350/.421 in 20 G), Spokane Indians (.333/.378/.427 in 20 G) and Myrtle Beach Pelicans (4 for 22). He made his winter league debut with the 2014-2015 Naranjeros de Hermosillo, producing at a .163/.241/.265 clip. He hit .254/.317/.380 for the 2015 Hickory Crawdads and stole 30 bases but was caught 18 times. He led Rangers farmhands in swipes (one ahead of LeDarious Clark) and caught stealing (by eight). He was 4th in the South Atlantic League in times caught but did not make the top ten in steals.

With Hermosillo that winter, he was at .162/.230/.176. With the 2016 High Desert Mavericks, he hit .300/.371/.463 with 81 runs and 13 steals in 17 tries. He was third in the Texas farm chain in runs (behind Scott Heineman and Luke Tendler). In the California League, he tied for 5th in runs. His winter production improved a bit (.212/.241/.288). He split 2017 between the Frisco RoughRiders (.277/.317/.385 in 109 G) and Round Rock Express (3 for 17, 2 BB), reaching AAA. He tied for fourth in the Texas League with nine outfield assists.

His winter stats continued to improve as he batted .250/.299/.344 in 2017-2018. He spent most of '18 with Frisco (.268/.348/.387 in 54 G) and Round Rock (.228/.260/.292 in 47 G), with a three-game stint with the AZL Rangers (presumably for rehab; 4 for 9, 3 2B, 3B, 4 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB, SB). For the 2018-2019 Naranjeros, he was at .276/.358/.410. He briefly played in the Chicago Cubs' AZL Cubs 2 in 2019 but spent most of the summer with the Bravos de León (.277/.321/.317 in 31 G). He hit .211/.262/.281 in 33 games that winter.

The 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. He hit .279/.321/.333 for the Naranjeros in 2020-2021 and stole 16 bases while only being caught once. He was second in the Mexican Pacific League in swipes, a distant 12 behind leader Alonzo Harris. He then was 3 for 12 with two RBI in the 2021 Caribbean Series, reinforcing the Tomateros de Culiacán.

He made the Mexican squad for the Tokyo Olympics.