Rusber Estrada

Rusber Estrada

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 216 lb.

• School Faulkner University, Southwest Tennessee Community College

• Born June 5, 1995 in Guacara, Carabobo Venezuela

BR register page

Biographical Information

Rusber Estrada has played in the minors and for the Spanish national team.

He hit .313/.411/.500 at Faulkner University in 2018, then the Atlanta Braves took him in the 24th round of the 2018 amateur draft; he signed for a $100,000 bonus. The scout was Hugh Buchanan. He made his pro debut with the Danville Braves and hit .241/.362/.291. With the 2019 Florida Fire Frogs, he batted .152/.251/.196. The 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estrada backed up Logan Brown at catcher for the 2021 Rome Braves, hitting .205/.324/.397. He split '22 between Rome (1 for 10, 2 BB) and the Augusta GreenJackets (.246/.395/.525 in 19 G). Moving on to the independent leagues, he finished the year with the Lexington Legends and did very well (.368/.442/.809, 9 HR, 19 RBI in 20 G). With the 2023 New Jersey Jackals, he hit .308/.402/.643 with 22 home runs in 67 games, tying for 9th in the Frontier League in dingers. He was third in slugging, behind James Nelson and Peter Zimmermann. He won All-Star honors at catcher.

Switching to the Charleston Dirty Birds in 2024, he produced at a .279/.383/.503 clip with 22 HR and 84 RBI in 109 games. He tied Justin Wylie for 9th in the Atlantic League in RBI. He again won honors as his league's top catcher. He played briefly that winter for the Leones de Ponce (6 for 39, HR, 7 BB) and Navegantes del Magallanes (2 for 5, 2B).

He then played for Spain in the 2026 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, held in 2025. With Gabriel Lino at catcher, he was used at DH. Hitting 5th in the opener, he singled off Yu-Hung Chen his first time up, driving in fellow Venezuelan Jesús Ustariz. He had a 3-RBI day in an upset win over host Taiwan. Against South Africa, he took Justin Erasmus deep. When Spain lost to Taiwan in the finale with a spot in the 2026 World Baseball Classic on the line, he had three hits and two RBI, with a homer off Jo-Hsi Hsu. For the Taiwan pool, he tied for 4th in runs, led in homers, tied Yu Chang for second in hits (7, one behind Po-Hsuan Wang), easily led in RBI (he had 7 while no one else had more than 3), was 6th in average (.412, between Brandon Leytón and Chang), ranked 10th in OBP (.474), was 5th in slugging (.765, between Chang and Ustariz) and was 4th in OPS (between Leytón and Wang).