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Edgar Enrique Renterķa [ren-ter-EE-ah] (born August 7, 1975 in Barranquilla, Colombia) is a shortstop in Major League Baseball who plays for the Boston Red Sox (as of 2005). He bats and throws right-handed.
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Profile
At the plate, Renterķa has a short stroke and drives the ball with extra-base power to all fields. On the bases, he reads pitchers' moves well, and he usually gets very good jumps, which account for his good stolen base totals. He also is the kind of basestealer who does his thing when it means the most. He is a hard-nosed player, adept at breaking up double plays. Renterķa has superior range in the field. He has fluid range and soft hands, and, equipped with a strong arm and good reactions, he turns the double play with ease.
Career
Signed by the Florida Marlins as a non-amateur free agent in 1992, Renterķa made his debut in the 1996 season. He finished second behind Dodgers outfielder Todd Hollandsworth in National League Rookie of the Year balloting, after batting .309 with 68 runs scored and 16 stolen bases in 106 games played.
Renterķa is well remembered for his 11th inning two-out RBI single in Game Seven of the 1997 World Series to give Florida a 3-2 triumph over the Cleveland Indians. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals before the 1998 season.
An amazing transformation has taken place in Renterķa's game over the past three seasons. He's always been one of the best defensive players in either league, but now he has developed into a consistent hitter and one of the best all-around shortstops in the majors. In 2003, he became the first National League shortstop in 18 years to compile 100 RBIs in a season. He fell just six hits short of being the first NL shortstop in more than 90 years to have 200 hits and 100 RBIs in the same season. His .330 batting average ranked fourth in the league and he also stole 34 bases.
In a nine-season career, up to the end of the 2004 season, Renterķa was a .289 hitter with 83 home runs and 565 RBIs in 1296 games.
Since joining the Boston Red Sox at the start of the 2005 campaign, Renterķa has not shown his base-stealing ability of old, having stolen only two bases as of May 8th, 2005 - 28 games into his Red Sox career. He has batted .239 with two home runs and ten RBIs in that time for the defending World Series champions. After being jeered by Sox fans and switching numbers from 16 to 3, Renteria has gone on a hitting streak hitting in almost every game since May 22 and is now at .278 with 4 home runs and 21 RBIs.
Highlights
- 4-time All-Star (1998, 2000, 2003-04)
- Two-time Gold Glove Award winner (2002-03)
Facts
- A free agent at the end of the 2004 season, Renterķa was signed by the Boston Red Sox. His team switch is historic. According to Elias Sports Bureau, he is the fourth player in the last 40 years to play in the World Series and join the team he played against the following season. The others are pitcher Don Gullett, who went from the 1976 Cincinnati Reds to the Yankees in 1977; infielder/outfielder Gary Thomasson, who went from the 1978 Yankees to the Dodgers in 1979; and pitcher Tommy John, who went from the '78 Dodgers to the Yankees the following year. Renterķa's switch is particularly notable as, not only did he join the team which defeated his Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, but he was himself the final out of that series.
- Renterķa also is the only major league player to win a World Series with a walk-off hit (1997 with Florida) and make the last out in a World Series (2004 with St. Louis).
See also
External links
- Edgar Renterķa at:
- Baseball Library (biography) (http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/R/Renteria_Edgar.stm)
- Baseball Reference (statistics and analysis) (http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/renteed01.shtml)
- ESPN (profile and daily updates) (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5602)es:Edgar Renterķa