José Luis Riera

Jose Luis Riera Castro

• Bats Left, Throws Left

• Born December 19, 1973 in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic

Biographical Information

Dominican Republic native Jose Luis Riera has played for the Spanish national team on several occasions.

In 2004, Riera had a .547 OBP and .538 slugging percentage for the Marlins Puerto Cruz in Spain's Division Honor. He is listed as finishing third in OBP behind Miguel Erroz and Xavier Civit, both of whom are oddly listed with lower OBPs.

Riera led the 2005 European Championship with two triples to help Spain win a Bronze Medal; he hit .217/.333/.522. He was 2 for 4 with two doubles and two runs in the 7-3 Bronze Medal Game win over Germany. In the 2005 Baseball World Cup, Jose Luis hit .364/.500/.455 as a 1B-DH for Spain; he led the team in OBP, walks (6) and hits (8). Riera batted .362/.474/.585 for the 2006 Marlins Puerto Cruz and fielded .994 at first base for the Division Honor champions.

In 2007, the 33-year-old hit .346/.444/.567 to help the Marlins win another pennant. He was with Spain for the 2007 European Championship, Riera was 3 for 9 with two walks, a double, 2 runs and a RBI, backing up former major leaguer Alejandro Freire at first base. Spain won the Bronze Medal.

During the 2007 Baseball World Cup, Riera batted .286/.267/.357 as Spain's primary first baseman. He remained with them for the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament, going only 2 for 15 while backing up Freire at first base; he did outperform Freire, who was 0 for 14. Riera was Spain's second-oldest player in the tourney, after Remigio Leal.

Riera batted .322/.400/.446 in 2008 after switching teams to CB Sant Boi.