Ricardo Rincón Espinoza (born April 13, 1970 in Cuitláhuac, Veracruz, Mexico) is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher.

Rincón is a left-handed specialist who has spent nearly his entire career as a middle reliever and setup pitcher. In his 10-year career, Rincón has never started a game and has only accumulated 21 saves. Rincón played for several teams in Mexico before being signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1997, breaking into the major leagues at the relatively advanced age of 27. He later pitched for the Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, and St. Louis Cardinals.

Rincón played for his native Mexico in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, appearing in four games.^[1] Shortly after the Classic and five games into his Cardinal career, Rincón experienced shoulder pain and later underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff. He also had Tommy John surgery on his left elbow, forcing him to miss the remainder of the 2006 season.^[2] He played in the San Francisco Giants organization in 2007. On January 25, 2008, Rincón signed with the New York Mets. He was loaned to the Mexico City Red Devils for the 2008 season, and was returned on August 28 and assigned to Triple-A New Orleans.

Rincón was part of a combined no-hitter on July 12, 1997. After Francisco Cordova threw nine innings of no-hit ball, Rincón relieved him and pitched a scoreless 10th. Teammate Mark Smith then hit a three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th to give Rincón the win.^[3] To date, it is the last no-hitter in Pirates history. [1]

He throws a four-seam fastball, slider, changeup, and two-seam fastball.

He is currently married to his wife Jaqueline, they have two children, a daughter; Damaris (born 5-24-93), and a son, Ricardo, Jr. (born 7-4-98).

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[edit] External links

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