Ronny Paulino
Florida Marlins — No. 29
Catcher
Born: April 21, 1981 (1981-04-21) (age 28) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 16, 2005 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Career statistics (through 2009 season)
Batting average	.277
Home runs	27
Runs batted in	155
Teams
Pittsburgh Pirates (2005-2008) Florida Marlins (2009-present)

Paulino with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2007.

Ronny Leonel Paulino (born April 21, 1981 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball catcher for the Florida Marlins.

Paulino signed as a non-drafted free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization on December 29, 1997, at the age of 16. In 2002, he was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the Rule 5 Draft, but he was returned to the Pirates in spring training of the following year. After making his major league debut in September 2005 with the Pirates, Paulino was selected to the Dominican Republic team for the 2006 World Baseball Classic as a backup catcher. The highlight of the World Baseball Classic for Paulino came on March 13, when Paulino started at catcher against the Cuban team. Paulino went 2 for 2 with a double, 3 walks, and 1 run scored in the Dominican's triumph over Cuba. On April 16, 2006, Paulino was recalled to the Major Leagues and quickly became the Pirate's every day catcher. As his time in Pittsburgh progressed, Paulino developed a reputation for lazy play. This reputation, and his on-field performance led to his demotion to Triple-A Indianapolis, as management would give Ryan Doumit the bulk of playing time behind the plate with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Paulino was praised by the Pirates' pitching staff as an excellent catcher to work with. The staff ERA is markedly better when Paulino is behind the plate. ^[1]

His .310 batting average made him the first rookie catcher since Mike Piazza to play in at least 100 games and bat at least .310. He is only the second rookie catcher since 1969 to have those numbers. ^[2]

On December 10, 2008, Paulino was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for minor league catcher Jason Jaramillo.^[3] He was then traded to the San Francisco Giants on March 27 for pitcher Jack Taschner. Two hours later he was traded to the Florida Marlins for pitcher Hector Correa.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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