Rey Ordóñez

Infobox MLB retired
name=Rey Ordóñez
position=Shortstop
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1971|11|11
Havana, Cuba
debutdate=April 1
debutyear=by|1996
debutteam=New York Mets
finaldate=July 19
finalyear=by|2004
finalteam=Chicago Cubs
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.246
stat2label=Hits
stat2value=767
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=287
teams=
* New York Mets (by|1996-by|2002)
* Tampa Bay Devil Rays (by|2003)
* Chicago Cubs (by|2004)
highlights=
* 3x Gold Glove Award winner (1997, 1998, 1999)

Reynaldo Ordóñez Pereira (born November 11, 1971 in Havana, Cuba) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop who played for the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Chicago Cubs.

In 1993, in Buffalo, New York, Ordóñez became the second Cuban baseball player in history to defect to the United States. Ordóñez was a promising young player for the Havana Industriales club in Cuba at the time.

In by|1994, Ordóñez signed with the Mets as an undrafted free agent. Ordonez joined the Single-A St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League and later moved up to Double-A seeing playing time with the Eastern League's Binghamton Mets as well in 1994. While in the minors, he was constantly compared to future hall-of-fame shortstop Ozzie Smith. Ordóñez made his major league debut in by|1996. On opening day in 1996, Ozzie Smith and the Cardinals faced the Mets in Ordóñez's major league debut. After Ordóñez's stunning relay throw to home plate from his knees during his first major league game, Smith responded "I can definitely say he is the second-coming of me." Ordóñez went on to win three consecutive Gold Glove Awards for his outstanding defensive play with the Mets. During the by|1999 and by|2000 seasons, Ordóñez set a Major League record for shortstops by playing 101 consecutive games without committing a fielding error. Furthermore, in 1999, Ordóñez committed only four errors while posting a near mint .994 fielding percentage, a performance that one could argue may be the best defensive season ever by a shortstop. [ [http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=8502 8 Upper by Tom Scocca: Fools' Gold | 11/17/1999 ] ]

Offense was another story for Ordóñez. Though he rarely struck out and was capable of laying down sacrifice bunts, he was not a particularly effective hitter. Besides a career batting average of just .248, he was not a good base stealer, drew few walks and rarely hit with any power. His lifetime OPS of .599 was almost 200 points lower than the Major League average (.782 in 2000, for example). [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/aggregate?sort=runs&split=0&group=8&season=2000&seasonType=2&statType=batting&type=reg]

Ordóñez's defensive play never truly recovered after breaking his left arm on May 29, 2000, when attempting to tag the Los Angeles Dodgers' F.P. Santangelo out at second base, an injury that prevented the perennial Gold Glove contender from playing in the 2000 World Series (the "Subway Series") against the New York Yankees. Given that he offered little offensively, with his defense diminished, his value as a player became drastically reduced. Ordóñez was taunted by unhappy Mets fans throughout the by|2002 season, particularly because the much-heralded double play combination of he and Roberto Alomar failed to produce. In a year-end interview, Ordóñez lashed out, calling the Mets fans "too stupid". [http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0928/1438053.html , Sep 28, 2002] Later in the year, Ordóñez was traded to Tampa Bay. Ordóñez missed most of the by|2003 season due to injuries and played briefly for the Chicago Cubs before being given his release.

In August 2004, Ordóñez became a U. S. citizen. In 2004, incoming rookie Khalil Greene beat out Ordóñez for the position of shortstop with the San Diego Padres during spring training. [ [http://www.sandiego-online.com/media/San-Diego-Magazine/April-2005/Grounding-out-to-Greene/ Grounding out to Greene] By Michael Huang.] He was unsure at the time whether he would ever play Major League Baseball again, and in fact did not play for any MLB organization during the by|2005 and by|2006 seasons.

On November 14, 2006, Ordóñez was signed to a minor league contract by the Seattle Mariners. [http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/ , Nov 14, 2006.]

On April 1, by|2007, Ordóñez was reassigned to the Mariners minor league camp, but stated to the Seattle Times newspaper that at the age of 35, he was "too old for that." According to reports, Ordóñez was originally included on the Mariners final 25-man roster, but an 11th hour trade with the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Jason Ellison led to his reassignment. Ordóñez hoped to catch on with another Major League franchise, but never did.

See also

* List of NL Gold Glove Winners at Shortstop

References

External links

*
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5560 2004 daily statistics at "ESPN"]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ct2/reyordonez Rey Ordonez Acrobat In Spikes ]