Héctor Olivera Jr.
From BR Bullpen
Héctor Olivera Amaro
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1", Weight 163 lb.
Héctor Olivera is one of the top infielders in Cuban baseball and made his national team debut in 2007. His father, Héctor Olivera Sr., had also been a star in Cuba and a member of the national team.
Olivera debuted for Santiago de Cuba in 2003-2004, hitting .319/.367/.445. The next season, the teenager hit .326/.362/.454 as the regular second baseman for Santiago de Cuba. In the last game of the finals, Olivera led off the 9th with a single and scored on a Pedro Poll hit for the winning run that gave Santiago de Cuba the title.
Olivera slumped to .262/.351/.364 in 2005-2006 but bounced back with a .315/.372/.412 batting line in 2006-2007. He made the Cuban "B" team that played in the 2007 World Port Tournament and hit .270/~.316/.405 and led the team with 11 runs in 9 games; he scored both of Cuba's runs in the Gold Medal 2-0 win over Taiwan. Olivera led the tourney in runs, three ahead of José Julio Ruíz and Jordan Danks. He tied for second with two doubles and tied for 7th with 10 hits.
Olivera was moved up to the "A" Cuban national team for the 2007 Baseball World Cup to replace Alexei Ramírez at second base. Olivera was injured in the game against South Korea and forced to leave early; he returned later in the tourney but was not at full health and was therefore yanked during the Gold Medal game against Team USA. He still hit .320/.433/.480 with 7 runs in 8 games and scoreless defense at second base; Rudy Reyes filled in while he was hurt.
Olivera took a major step forward in 2007-2008. He hit .353/.467/.542 for a OPS 193 points higher than his previous best; he stole 21 bases in 22 tries after going 21 for 39 in steal attempts the prior three years. He drew 55 walks, 20 more than in any prior campaign. His 38 extra-base hits were 16 more than in any previous season. He tied for 5th in the Serie Nacional with 25 doubles and was third in steals behind teammates Ruíz and Alexei Bell. He again scored the winning run in the finals; this time, he reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and came home on a hit by Bell. Olivera also set a playoff record with 22 runs. Olivera was named to the Serie Nacional All-Star team at second base.
Olivera hit .353/.353/.588 with 5 runs in 7 games in the 2008 Olympics, easily outhitting starting 2B Yulieski Gourriel. Due to Gourriel's presence at second, though, Olivera wound up seeing most of his time at first base, where he unseated Alexander Mayeta; the move was an odd one as Gourriel was normally a third baseman and was a more realistic candidate to be moved to first - as it was, both Olivera and Gourriel played out of position. He tripled in one run and scored another to start Cuba's offensive against USA in their semifinal win. In the 9th inning of the Gold Medal game, with a 3-2 deficit, he led off with a single against Hyun-jin Ryu but was stranded on third as Cuba settled for Silver.
Olivera hit .313/.389/.500 for Cuba in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, manning second base when Gourriel played third. He was 5th on Cuba in both average and OBP.
In 2008-2009, Olivera batted .346/.444/.590 with 84 runs in 84 games. He was third in the league in runs behind Ramón Tamayo and Yoilán Cerce and lost out All-Star honors at 2B to Cerce. His 196 total bases were 8th in the circuit.
