José Lorenzana
From BR Bullpen
José Anibal Lorenzana Oquendo
- Height 6' 2", Weight 194 lb.
- Born September 13, 1959
[edit] Biographical Information
Catcher José Lorenzana was a longtime member of the Puerto Rican national team, playing for them for over a decade.
He represented them in the 1984 Amateur World Series, hitting only .211/.231/.237 as their starting catcher but throwing out 9 of 13 attempted base-stealers. His backup was future major leaguer Hector Villanueva. He remained with Puerto Rico for the 1986 Amateur World Series. In the 1988 Baseball World Cup, he batted .357/.438/.357 and again showed off a cannon arm (5 SB, 9 CS). He played in the 1988 Olympics.
He helped Puerto Rico win the Bronze Medal in the 1989 Intercontinental Cup and was named the tournament's All-Star catcher, beating out notable players like Atsuya Furuta, Dan Wilson and Pedro Luis Rodríguez. He was only 4 for 20 with a walk and a double in the 1990 Baseball World Cup but no one dared try to steal against him in eight games. In the Bronze Medal game, he was 1 for 3 with a double and a run but Puerto Rico lost 7-4 to South Korea.
In the 1992 Olympics, the national team veteran was 1 for 6 as the backup to Efrain Nieves Sr. and allowed an uncharacteristic 6 steals in 6 tries. His lone hit was a single off Ron Villone. He also played in the 1994 Baseball World Cup at age 34, starting ahead of Nieves and having a fine performance both at the plate (.400/.455/.500) and behind it (allowing only 2 steals in 7 tries). The All-Star nod went to Italy's Luigi Carrozza but several other candidates also posted very good numbers (Alberto Hernández, Hideaki Okubo, Ki-moon Choi and Kab-yong Jin).
