Joel Fuentes

Joel A Fuentes

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

• Born May 27, 1976 in Aibonito, Puerto Rico

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Infielder Joel Fuentes played five seasons in the minors.

Fuentes signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1997. He hit .218/.403/.255 in 20 games for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes and was 1 for 5 with two walks for the San Jose Giants. In '98, Joel played for San Jose and the Bakersfield Blaze, hitting .288/.354/.384 between the two California League affiliates of the Giants. Fuentes fell to .198/.279/.228 in 1999.

Moving to the independent leagues, Fuentes batted .250/.310/.315 for the 2001 Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds and .293/.388/.341 for the 2002 Rio Grande Valley White Wings.

Fuentes later became a coach in the New York Mets chain, working with the Savannah Sand Gnats in 2007, St. Lucie Mets in 2008, and Brooklyn Cyclones in 2009-2010. He was hitting coach for St. Lucie in 2011, Savannah in 2012-2013, St. Lucie in 2014-2015, Columbia Fireflies in 2016-2017, St. Lucie in 2018, and GCL Mets in 2019. It is unclear if Fuentes was still in the Mets chain in 2020.

The Pittsburgh Pirates hired Fuentes in 2022 and he coached the DSL Pirates Black in 2022-2023. The Pirates promoted Fuentes to manager of the squad for the 2024-2025 seasons.

Fuentes also has considerable experience coaching internationally. He was a hitting coach for the 2007/2008 Lobos de Arecibo in what is now the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League. Fuentes may have coached the team in other years as well. According to a 2017 article, he was a coach for the Leones de Ponce in 2010/2011 - 2011/2012 and with the Gigantes de Carolina during the 2012/2013 through 2016/2017 seasons.[1] These could not be confirmed through other sources. Fuentes moved to the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League in 2017/2018 as manager of the Leones de León and served as the team's bench coach the following season. In 2019/2020 Fuentes was a bench coach for the Gigantes de Rivas. He returned to the team in 2020/2021 as their manager and led them to a League title. Fuentes next managed the Indios del Bóer during the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 seasons. He changed teams again in 2025/2026 when he managed the Tren del Norte. Fuentes was named the manager of the Costa Rican national team for the 2025 Central American Games, helping them win a Silver Medal, tying their best finish ever (from 39 years prior).

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
2024	DSL Pirates Black	Dominican Summer League	19-36	45th	Pittsburgh Pirates
2025	DSL Pirates Black	Dominican Summer League	34-20	8th	Pittsburgh Pirates
2026	DSL Pirates Gold	Dominican Summer League			Pittsburgh Pirates