René Pinto Sr.

René Rafael Pinto Sandoval

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.

• Born July 17, 1977 in Maracay, Aragua Venezuela

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

René Pinto reached AA then played for the Venezuelan national team. His son René Pinto Jr. played in the majors.

Pinto made his professional debut with the 1994 GCL Yankees, hitting .284/.340/.410 at age 16 and throwing out 45% of attempted base-stealers. In '95, the youngster returned to the GCL Yanks and struggled, going 9 for 49 with 7 walks and one triple. He hit .206 for both of his teams in 1996, the Oneonta Yankees and Greensboro Bats, with a composite .251 OBP and .275 slugging percentage.

René was much better with Oneonta and Greensboro in '97, again putting up similar numbers at both stops - his batting line for the season was .288/.327/.428 in 87 games. Pinto spent all of 1998 with the Bats, but hit only .227/.303/.301 and allowed 72% of opposing base-stealers to succeed. He did lead South Atlantic League in both putouts (909) and fielding percentage (.996).

In 1999, the still-young Maracay native played for Greensboro (.259/.328/.414 in 19 G) and the Tampa Yankees (.229/.267/.400 in 22 G). The next year, he finished his Organized Baseball career with Tampa (.137/.203/.274 in 24 G) and the Norwich Navigators (.234/.274/.416 in 28 G).

Pinto played for two Northern League clubs in 2003, hitting a combined .277 and slugging .439. He hit .300 for Parma in Italy in 2005.

He batted .286 and slugged .429 in the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games; his 6 RBI tied for the Venezuelan team lead. He was just 3 for 17 with a walk in the '06 qualifiers in the Americas for the 2008 Olympics but did throw out 2 of 3 attempted base-stealers. He went 1 for 4 with two walks in the 2007 Pan American Games.