José Lorenzana

José Anibal Lorenzana Oquendo

• Height 6' 2", Weight 194 lb.

• Born September 13, 1959

Olympics-Reference page

Biographical Information

Catcher José Lorenzana was a longtime member of the Puerto Rican national team, playing for them for over a decade.

Lorenzana catches while Lourdes Gourriel Sr. scores for Cuba at the 1986 Harlem Honkbal tournament.

He represented them in the 1984 Amateur World Series, hitting only .211/.231/.237 as their starting catcher but throwing out 9 of 13 attempted base-stealers. His backup was future major leaguer Hector Villanueva. He remained with Puerto Rico for the 1986 Amateur World Series, 1986 Haarlem Baseball Week and 1987 Pan American Games (Puerto Rico got the Bronze Medal in 1987). In the 1988 Baseball World Cup, he batted .357/.438/.357 and again showed off a cannon arm (5 SB, 9 CS). He played in the 1988 Olympics.

He helped Puerto Rico win the Bronze Medal in the 1989 Intercontinental Cup and was named the tournament's All-Star catcher, beating out notable players like Atsuya Furuta, Dan Wilson and Pedro Luis Rodríguez. He was only 4 for 20 with a walk and a double in the 1990 Baseball World Cup but no one dared try to steal against him in eight games. In the Bronze Medal game, he was 1 for 3 with a double and a run but Puerto Rico lost 7-4 to South Korea. He played in the 1990 Goodwill Games. He was with Puerto Rico when they won the Silver in both the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games and the 1991 Pan American Games.

In the 1992 Olympics, the national team veteran was 1 for 6 as the backup to Efrain Nieves Sr. and allowed an uncharacteristic 6 steals in 6 tries. His lone hit was a single off Ron Villone. He played for Puerto Rico in the 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games, when they won Bronze. He also played in the 1994 Baseball World Cup at age 34, starting ahead of Nieves and having a fine performance both at the plate (.400/.455/.500) and behind it (allowing only 2 steals in 7 tries). The All-Star nod went to Italy's Luigi Carrozza but several other candidates also posted very good numbers (Alberto Hernández, Hideaki Okubo, Ki-moon Choi and Kab-yong Jin). He helped Puerto Rico win Bronze in the 1995 Pan American Games.