Joaquín Antonio Benoit Peña (born July 26, 1977, in Santiago, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher who is currently a free agent.

[edit] Baseball career

Signing with the Rangers at the age of 16, Benoit has been with the organization for his entire professional career. Except rehab assignments after stints on the disabled list, he has been with the Major League club full-time since midway through the 2003 season. Benoit's seven years with the Texas Rangers makes him the second-longest tenured member of the team after Michael Young.

Originally a starter, Benoit was moved to the bullpen part-time in the 2003 season. Since then, he has filled one of the Rangers' long relief roles, making spot starts as necessary.

Benoit holds the Major League record for having recorded the longest save in history.^[1][2] He relieved Todd Van Poppel at the start of the third inning of a game against the Baltimore Orioles on September 3, 2002.

In 2006, Benoit ranked in the top-10 American League relievers in strikeouts, innings pitched, and percentage of inherited runners who scored.^[3]

On January 27, 2009, Benoit underwent surgery to fix a torn rotator cuff, and will miss the 2009 season.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

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