Orlando Muñoz

Orlando Gregorio Muñoz Rada

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 170 lb.

• Born May 7, 1971 in Caracas Venezuela

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Orlando Muñoz played six seasons in the minor leagues and 15 in Italy, winning two MVP awards in the latter country.

He debuted with the 1989 AZL Angels, hitting .222/.279/.281. In 1991, he put up a .270/.364/.303 line as a utility infielder for the Palm Springs Angels. He became Palm Springs' starting second baseman in 1992 and batted .234/.340/.267 with 21 steals in 25 tries. He split 1993 between Palm Springs (.270/.388/.329) and the Midland Angels (.263/.374/.347), stealing 23 bases but being thrown out 18 times. In 1994, the 23-year-old hit .332/.402/.374 for the AAA Vancouver Canadians, backing up P.J. Forbes at second base. He led the team in average. The next year, he hit well with Midland (.314/.377/.411) but was 1 for 10 with Vancouver. After two straight .300 seasons with good plate discipline, the Angels did not keep him around for 1996.

Orlando hit .265 for the 1996-1997 Águilas del Zulia and signed with Italy's Modena BC for 1997. He batted .385/.486/.605 with 74 runs in 53 games, 42 walks and 23 steals in 30 tries. He was two runs shy of the league lead. In 1997-1998, he improved to .289 for Zulia. Back with Modena in the summer, he hit .425/.496/.589 with 27 steals in 35 attempts and 59 runs in 48 games; he was still .052 behind leader Federico Bassi. He was one steal shy of leader David Rigoli. Orlando hit .315 for Zulia in 1998-1999, 8th in the Venezuelan Winter League; players ahead of him included Magglio Ordonez, Luis Sojo and Bobby Abreu, while he ranked just ahead of Ramon Hernandez.

The Caracas native hit .385/.462/.465 in 1999, his third season with Modena, while moving from shortstop to second base. He was closer to the batting title, 26 points behind Luca Bischeri, as Italy made the transition from aluminum bats to wood ones. In 2000, he batted .380/.428/.500, finishing 4th in average in Serie A1 behind Claudio Liverziani, Christopher Madonna and Francesco Casolari. He hit .315 for Zulia in 2000-2001, 6th in the Venezuelan League, again surrounded by major leaguers. Muñoz followed in the summer with a .383/.464/.587 campaign while returning to shortstop at age 30. He was third in average (behind Manny Francois and Ramón Tavárez), 4th in OBP (trailing Tavárez, Francois and Jim Vatcher), 6th in slugging and tied for 8th with 45 runs. His 7 homers tied David Sheldon for 8th.

Muñoz hit .358 for the 2001-2002 Águilas, 5th-best in the Venezuelan League, between Liu Rodriguez and Alex Cabrera. He followed with his best season yet in Italy, at .385/.490/.590 with 40 walks and 43 runs in 54 games, to take MVP honors. He led the circuit in average (edging Davide Dallospedale by .001 on the season's last day), was second in slugging (behind Liverziani), ranked third in OBP (behind Liverziani and Tavárez), was 5th in walks and led in doubles (20).

In 2003, he had yet another big year, at .402/.498/.515 with 40 walks and 54 runs in 54 games. He finished second to Greg Martinez in average, second to Liverziani in walks, second to Liverziani in OBP, 5th in runs and second in doubles (19, trailing Massimo Fochi). He also fielded .993 at short. He took Modena to the finals, but they fell short of their first title, despite a strong championship run by Orlando (8 for 21, 2 doubles, homer, 7 runs, 3 RBI in 5 games in the finals). He had an off-year in 2004, hitting .295/.401/.395 and not making the top 10 in average. He tied Tavárez and Willie Canate for third with 37 walks.

The Venezuelan showed he wasn't washed up yet in 2004-2005, hitting .347 for Zulia. In Italy during 2005, he produced at a .328/.465/.394 rate with 43 walks in 51 games. He also moved to third base that year. He was 6th in average, 3rd in walks and second to Liverziani in OBP. Switching to second base in '06, he hit .306/.409/.381, 10th in average and 8th in OBP. He moved to Parma for 2007 and batted .325/.438/.380 with 34 runs and 34 walks in 42 contests. He was 8th in average and in OBP; at age 36, he led the league in runs. The third baseman also led in walks.

With Parma in '08, he hit .357/.448/.448, placing 5th in average and 8th in OBP. A year later, he batted .287/.360/.325, just his second time under .300 in 13 campaigns in Italy. Through that season, he had hit .360/.452/.486 with 429 walks and 514 runs in 653 games in Italy. He was 7th in league history in OBP and 7th in average.

Now 39 years old, Muñoz helped Parma to its first title in 13 years in 2010. He batted .343/.456/.463 in the regular season with 24 walks to 9 strikeouts. He was second in average (.006 behind Carlos Duran), 6th in slugging (between Juan Camilo and Max De Biase), second in OBP (.006 behind De Biase) and 8th in RBI (27). He edged Triple Crown winner Duran for the MVP, 31.6% to 30.7%.

He was a player-coach for Parma in 2011, hitting .319/.378/.370 to finish his Italian career with a batting line of .355/.446/.475 in 753 games. At the end of the 2012 season, he was promoted to manager of Parma, his playing career having ended the year before. He was manager of the year his first season. He managed ASD Rimini to the 2015 Italian Series title and guided them to the 2016 Italian Series, where they fell.

Post-playing Career

Muñoz managed the DSL Phillies White in 2017-2019 and 2021-2023. He returned stateside as a coach for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws in 2024.

Sources

• Baseball.it
• Italian Baseball and Softball Federation
• 1990-2010 Baseball Almanacs