RAFAEL QUINTERO

9/3/87; NDFA '03 (Cleveland); Venezuela
R/R; 6-1, 145

Level

W-L-Sv

BB/9

K/9

WHIP

OAVG

ERA

2007 DSL (Cleve)

0-1-0

8.0

1.1

2.5

1.63

.353

4.50

2008 DSL (Cleve)

5-1-1

46.1

1.0

9.3

1.06

.240

1.36

2009 R

2-1-0

18.0

2.5

5.0

1.89

.387

9.50

Quintero was one of three players taken by the Pirates in the minor league phase of the 2008 Rule 5 draft. All three were selected out of the Latin American summer leagues, none having played previously in the US. The selections were part of a strategy the Pirates adopted to identify potential Rule 5 picks in the summer leagues, something they did by sending farm director Kyle Stark regularly to those leagues and by developing a statistical database on every available player. Drafting players from those leagues was unusual enough that, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, two of the former teams asked the Pirates about it. Given the sad state of the organization when Dave Littlefield was at long last fired as GM, finding alternative sources of talent is a must.

Up until 2007, Quintero played both behind the plate and in the infield. He converted to pitching at some point during the 2007 season, then put up good numbers in 2008, with an especially nice BB/K ratio. Quintero's selection continues a pattern of the Pirates obtaining players who were in the Indians' organization when Neal Huntington was there. (I'll bet teams just hate that.) He was a little old to be at the summer league level, but the position switch probably accounts for it. He was struggling with his control when I saw him in training camp. His fastball then was in the upper-80s. He spent the season in the GCL and got hammered in limited action. He may return there in 2010.

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