Adolfo Torrealba

Yorvit Adolfo Torrealba is a professional baseball player from Venezuela who plays primarily as a catcher. In 1994, Torrealba began his professional career after he was picked by the San Francisco Giants as a free agent. He began in the Rookie Leagues and slowly made his way up the ladder to make his debut for the Giants in 2001.

In 2002, he became the first choice catcher after a strong performance in the Spring Training before the season. He was brilliant in defense and was known for his ability to throw out base-runners. In 2003, he finally had the chance to shine to his fullest after Benito Santiago left the Giants. Unfortunately for Torrealba, the Giants didn’t have enough confidence in his abilities yet and decided to bring in A. J. Pierzynski to the team rather than put Torrealba in the starting position.

Torrealba remained a backup through the season and the trend continued in 2004 as well. At the end of 2004, the Giants brought in Mike Matheny and that meant that Torrealba’s outings would further shrink as he became third choice. After he went to the media, more than once, about getting frustrated on the bench, there were public discussions by the team management to play him as a utility player however, it never happened and soon, Torrealba was on his way out.

The trade saw Randy Winn come from the Seattle Mariners while Torrealba went to Seattle along with Jesse Foppert. The Mariners were coming out of a terrible season and that gave Torrealba a chance to be a contender for the top spot. It wasn’t to happen though as Torrealba was soon traded out at the end of the season to the Colorado Rockies. Torrealba all but sealed the starting job at the Rockies but an injury right before the 2006 season meant that he would sit out and watch Danny Ardoin take his place.

In 2007, Torrealba was back in the team although he was sharing time with Chris Iannetta, a rookie. Iannetta struggled in the season and that gave Torrealba the starting job and he paid back with a grand slam home run against the St. Louis Cardinals. The season ended with a .255 batting average for Torrealba with 47 RBI in 396 at-bats.

He was re-signed by the Rockies at the end of the year after a sensational season behind the plate where he made just 17 errors in 2,587 chances to set up a fielding average of .997.