Ronny Cedeno

From BR Bullpen

Ronny Alexander Cedeno

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.

Debut April 23, 2005
Born February 2, 1983 in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo, Venezuela

[edit] Biographical Information

Ronny Cedeno is in his 5th major league season in 2009.

Cedeno was signed by the Chicago Cubs at age 16. He debuted as a pro with the 2000 VSL Cubs, hitting .287/.370/.425. He seemingly had a breakout year in 2001 with the AZL Cubs, batting .350/.398/.466 with 17 SB in 27 tries; promoted to the Lansing Lugnuts for 17 games, he hit .196/.257/.357. He led the 2001 Arizona League in average (by .007) and was second with 72 hits (2 behind Alejandro Cadena). He tied for the most putouts at shortstop (83) but also tied Andy Gonzalez for the most errors there (22). He lost All-Star honors at SS to Gonzalez. Baseball America rated him as the #5 prospect in the AZL, right ahead of Johan Santana.

Ronny struggled in 2002, split between Lansing (.213/.269/.295, 14 SB, 10 CS in 98 G) and the Boise Hawks (.218/.275/.300 in 29 G). He moved up to the Daytona Cubs in 2003 but eked out a .211/.257/.295 batting line; the lone positive was his baserunning, as he was 19-for-25 in steal attempts.

In 2004, Cedeno improved to .279/.328/.401 with the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx but was only 10-for-20 in stealing. Cedeno led Southern League shortstops in both putouts (168) and fielding percentage (.963) in a good all-around campaign.

Cedeno split 2005 between the Iowa Cubs (.355/.403/.518 in 55 G, 11-for-14 in SB) and the majors (.300/.356/.375 in 41 G in a solid debut). His MLB debut came against the Pirates as a pinch-runner for Ben Grieve. His first hit was off Danny Graves and his first home run against Gary Glover. His great year ended early when Brad Hennessey drilled him in the left hand on September 10. Baseball America rated him as the #3 prospect in the Chicago system.

In 2006, Ronny became the youngest Opening Day shortstop for Chicago since Shawon Dunston in 1986. Cedeno hit .245/.271/.339 as the regular Cub shortstop with only 17 walks to 109 strikeouts. His OPS+ was a measly 54. He was just 8-for-16 in steal attempts. He fielded .956, below league average, and his range factor was also below average. That was it for his starting job as Ryan Theriot would take over the next year.

Cedeno hit .440/.481/.480 for the Tigres de Aragua in the 2007 Caribbean Series but did not make the event's All-Star team as Miguel Tejada was chosen at shortstop instead.

Ronny only played 38 games for the 2007 Chicago Cubs, hitting .203/.231/.292; he spent most of the year in Iowa, where he batted .359/.432/.537 with 10 homers and 52 runs in 75 games. Had he qualified, he would have led the Pacific Coast League in average.

In the 2007-2008 Venezuelan Winter League, the 24-year-old helped Aragua win a title, but he did not remain with them for the 2008 Caribbean Series (which they won).

Cedeno played 99 games for the 2008 Cubs, improving his batting line to .269/.328/.352 for a 75 OPS+, backing up Theriot at short and Mark DeRosa at second.

He was then traded to the Seattle Mariners with Garrett Olson for Aaron Heilman. For the 2009 Mariners, Cedeno only batted .167/.213/.290 as the backup to Yuniesky Betancourt at short. He was traded again, this time with Brett Lorin, Aaron Pribanic, Jeff Clement and Nathan Adcock to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ian Snell and Jack Wilson.