Sandy Moreno
From BR Bullpen
Sandy Osvaldo Moreno Alvarado
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 6", Weight 160 lb.
- Born October 16, 1967 in Ciudad Darío Nicaragua
Sandy Moreno spent many years with the Nicaraguan national team. He never played in Organized Baseball or one of Asia's top leagues.
He debuted in the 1988 Baseball World Cup as a shortstop, hitting only .200/.273/.200 while fielding .895. He stole two bases in two tries. In the 1990 Baseball World Cup, he moved to center field where he made no errors and had one assist in eight games; he batted .190/.280/.190, still not impressing at the plate. He was the weakest hitter on the Silver Medal winners. In the finals, he was 0 for 5 against Cuba.
Sandy hit .231/.231/.231 in the 1993 Intercontinental Cup, backing up Anibal Vega in left field. In the 1994 Baseball World Cup, he batted .306/.432/.361 with 8 runs in 10 games and 6 steals in 8 tries. The corner outfielder tied Julio Medina for the team lead in runs and was second to Nemesio Porras in OBP. He tied Jose Estrada and Kyung-hwan Cho for the tournament lead in swipes. Moreno was 0 for 4 against Masanori Sugiura in the Bronze Medal game, which Nicaragua lost 8-1.
The Ciudad Darío native was 3 for 12 with a double, triple, 3 walks, 2 steals and five runs in the 1995 Intercontinental Cup, backing up Henry Roa at DH.
Sandy played in the 1996 Olympics and did well, producing at a .321/.434/.357 rate with 2 steals in 2 tries. He was third on Nicaragua in average and OBP and his 7 runs were second to Roa on the club. In the Bronze Medal game against Team USA, Moreno drew a leadoff walk from Seth Greisinger in the bottom of the first and came around to score, but was retired his next two times up. He was replaced by Freddy Zamora in the 9th inning.
The little outfielder batted just .217/.269/.261 in the 1997 Intercontinental Cup with two steals in four attempts. In the 1998 Baseball World Cup, he bounced back up with a line of .297/.366/.324 and 8 runs in 10 games. He was 1 for 4 in the Bronze Medal game, in which Nicaragua beat Italy 5-1 behind the pitching of Marvin Zelaya.
In the 1998 Haarlem Baseball Week, Sandy was 2 for 7 with two walks, a double and a run. During the 2001 Baseball World Cup, the veteran of the international stage hit .357/.364/.464 for a fine adieu after four World Cups.
From 1988-2005, Moreno played in five World Cups, tying for the lead with Roa and Cubans Omar Linares, Orestes Kindelan and Antonio Pacheco. He appeared in 46 games, tying Roa for fourth behind the same three Cuban legends. He had 10 steals in that period, second to only Cuban Eduardo Paret.
In the Cuban amateur circuit, Moreno had 1,311 career hits (13th all-time through 2008, as are all career rankings listed here), 62 triples (1st all-time) and 453 steals (first by 206 over Arnoldo Muñoz). His 59 steals in 1990 were the all-time single-season record as well.
Moreno coached for Nicaragua in the 2009 Baseball World Cup.
