Henry Blanco

Henry Ramón Blanco (born August 29, 1971) is a Venezuelan professional baseball coach and former player.

He is currently the catching and strategy coach for the Washington Nationals.

He led National League catchers with a 58.2% baserunners caught stealing percentage, the highest percentage since 1982 when Bob Boone also had a 58.2% success rate.

Blanco began his professional baseball career in 1989 when, he was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent.

He didn't begin to play as a catcher until 1995.

He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1997 to 2013, appearing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, and Seattle Mariners.

He later served as quality assurance coach for the Cubs.

Although a light-hitting player, he was regarded as one of the best defensive catchers in Major League Baseball.

After 7 years in the minor leagues, he finally blossomed in 1997 when he hit for a .313 batting average in 91 games for the Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League.

At the age of 25, Blanco made his major league debut with the Dodgers on July 25, 1997.

He returned to play for Albuquerque in 1998 and was granted free agency in October of that year.

In December 1998, Blanco signed a contract to play for the Colorado Rockies and won the starting catcher's role for the 1999 season.

Hitting for a .232 batting average, he embellished his defensive credentials by leading National League catchers with 39 baserunners caught stealing.

In December 1999, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers as part of a three-team trade.

Blanco caught the majority of the Brewers' games in 2000, posting a .236 batting average with 7 home runs, 31 runs batted in.

His batting average fell to .210 in the 2001 season and, in March 2002, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Paul Bako and José Cabrera.

While Blanco served as a reserve catcher with the Braves working behind Javy Lopez, he also became known as Greg Maddux' personal catcher, a role he inherited from fellow Venezuelan catcher, Eddie Pérez.

Although he only produced 22 runs batted in, he had 5 game-winning RBIs and provided solid defense, helping the Braves win the National League Eastern Division title.

Blanco was the starting catcher for the Braves in Game 3 of the 2002 National League Division Series and was a late-inning replacement in Game 5 as the Braves were defeated by the San Francisco Giants.

In January 2003, Blanco signed a $1.3 million, one-year contract with the Braves.

The Braves repeated as Eastern Division champions in 2003 however, Blanco's batting average dropped to .199 and he was left off the post-season roster in favor of catcher Johnny Estrada as, the Braves lost to the Chicago Cubs in the 2003 National League Division Series.

When the Braves assigned him to the Triple-A Richmond Braves at the end of the season, Blanco opted for free agency and, in December 2003, he signed a one-year, $750,000 contract to play for the Minnesota Twins.

Blanco became a valuable member of the Twins when rookie catcher Joe Mauer was injured early in the 2004 season.

He was credited for helping the Twins pitching staff with his game-calling skills, guiding them to the lowest team earned run average in the league.

Twins pitcher, Johan Santana, gave Blanco credit for helping him win the 2004 American League Cy Young Award.

He caught the majority of the Twins' games helping them to clinch the American League Central division title.

Blanco posted career-highs with 10 home runs and 37 runs batted in, while leading the American League catchers with a 49.2% caught stealing percentage.

He started all four games of the 2004 American League Division Series, hitting 1 home run along with a .250 batting average as the Twins lost to the New York Yankees.

After failing to reach a contract agreement with the Twins after the 2004 season, Blanco opted for free agency again and, in December 2004 he signed a two-year, $2.7 million contract to play for the Chicago Cubs.

He worked as a backup catcher to Michael Barrett although, many of the Cubs pitchers preferred pitching to Blanco as his 2005 catcher's earned run average of 3.58 was almost 1 run lower than the 4.45 average posted by Barrett.

In the 2006 Caribbean Series, Blanco had a walk off double off the top of the opposing shortstop's head in the championship game to give the Leones del Caracas the series championship win over the Tigres del Licey.

In the 2006 major league season, he hit for a .266 batting average with a career-high 37 runs batted in and, in November, signed a two-year contract for $5.25 million to remain with the Cubs.

Blanco appeared in only 22 games for the Cubs in 2007, missing two months of the season due to a herniated disc.

The Cubs went on to win the National League Central division although, Blanco did not appear in any post-season games.

In 2008, Blanco hit a career-high .292 while serving as backup and mentor to rookie catcher Geovany Soto, who went on to win the 2008 National League Rookie of the Year Award.

After the 2008 season, Blanco's option was declined making him a free agent.

In January 2009, he signed a $750,000, one-year contract to play for the San Diego Padres.

During the 2009 season, he was a pinch-hitter, late-inning defensive replacement, and a mentor for Padres starting catcher Nick Hundley.

Blanco signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the New York Mets on December 3, 2009.

On May 8, 2010, Blanco hit a walk-off home run to help the Mets defeat the San Francisco Giants 5–4.