Richard Montiel

Richard Humberto Montiel Siritt

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 183 lb.

• Born August 13, 1979

Richard Montiel has played in the Division de Honor. In 2004, he hit .410/.420/.629 as the starting catcher for the Marlins Puerto Cruz. He was 7th in the league in average and second in slugging behind fellow backstop Dewis Navarro. In 2006, he batted .326/.367/.537 for the Marlins, rotating between catcher, the corner outfield slots and DH.

During 2007, Montiel hit .443/.481/.753 while playing mostly right field for Puerto Cruz. He lost the batting title to former AAA player Jhonny Carvajal by .006. He was fifth in OBP given his free-swinging nature but he led in slugging. For the 2008 Marlins, Richard's batting line was .373/.414/.619 and he drove in 35 runs in 32 games while moving to first base. He was 5th in the league in average, led in slugging (by .077), tied for second in runs (27), was second in hits (50), led in RBI, led in home runs (8) and tied for 7th in doubles (8). He led with 83 total bases.

Montiel also played well in the 2008 European Cup in Grosseto, hitting .476/.476/.810 in five games. He had four runs, four doubles, a homer and 7 RBI. He led the Cup in average, tied Dirk van 't Klooster for the most hits (10), tied three players for the RBI lead, led in doubles and tied Bryon Bell for the most total bases. He lost MVP honors to Denny Beljaards of Kinheim.

Remaining hot in 2009, Richard batted .400/.445/.700 with 10 doubles, 9 home runs, 31 runs and 40 RBI in 32 games, once again leading Puerto Cruz to a title. He was among the leaders in average (3rd), slugging (2nd behind former California League batting champion Luis J. Pérez), OBP (10th), runs (7th), hits (52, 2nd to Dirimo Chavez), RBI (1st by 8), homers (1st), doubles (tied for 9th) and total bases (91, 13 more than anyone else).

In the 2009 European Cup, Montiel fell to .238/.273/.381 but still drove home five runs in five games, though he made 3 errors at first. He tied for 4th in RBI and tied for second with 3 doubles, one behind Klaus Hopfensperger.

Montiel was put on Spain's preliminary 29-man roster for the 2009 Baseball World Cup.