Yorvit Torrealba

Yorvit Adolfo Torrealba (born July 19, 1978) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee Brewers.

He bats and throws right-handed.

Torrealba signed with the San Francisco Giants as a minor league free agent on September 14, 1994.

He made his major league debut with the Giants on September 5, 2001, as a September call up.

His first major league hit was a triple.

He had 136 at-bats in 2001 and 200 in 2002.

Torrealba became the Giants back up catcher for the 2002 season after a strong spring training.

During Torrealba's early career, his defensive abilities were his key strength, particularly his ability to throw out baserunners.

During the 2002 postseason, Torrealba would still serve as the backup catcher although he made no appearances as the Giants lost the 2002 World Series to the Anaheim Angels.

Yorvit showed some potential, but when Benito Santiago left via free agency in 2003, the Giants opted to trade for A. J. Pierzynski rather than test Torrealba as a full-time player.

He continued to serve as the backup catcher when the Giants signed Mike Matheny prior to the 2005 season; in fact, he played less than when Pierzynski was the starter.

Torrealba expressed frustration over his lack of playing time to the media more than once, saying he believed he was capable of playing every day.

Manager Felipe Alou publicly discussed the possibility of converting Torrealba into a utility player to get him more playing time, but that never came to pass.

Torrealba was traded, along with pitcher Jesse Foppert, to the Seattle Mariners for outfielder Randy Winn at the trading deadline of the 2005 season.

The Mariners were in the midst of a 93-loss season and were rebuilding, and Torrealba competed for the opportunity to be Seattle's starting catcher.

After the 2005 season, the Seattle Mariners traded Torrealba to the Colorado Rockies for Marcos Carvajal after signing Kenji Johjima to be their starting catcher.

With the Rockies, Torrealba had a chance to be the starting catcher, but lost the job after he was injured prior to the 2006 season, establishing Danny Ardoin as the Rockies starting catcher.

Torrealba's injury was a lingering shoulder injury that was caused by overtraining.

During November 2007, rumors that Torrealba would sign with the Mets intensified.

Torrealba and the Mets agreed on a deal for $14.4 million over three years.

The deal had seemed to be done, but with the failing of Yorvit's physical he was never sent to New York.

Torrealba would later file a grievance against the Mets.

On November 29, 2007, he re-signed with the Rockies.

Torrealba began the 2007 season for the Rockies platooning with rookie catcher Chris Iannetta.

When Iannetta struggled, Torrealba won the starting job.

On May 29, 2007, against the St. Louis Cardinals, Torrealba hit a grand slam, the 3rd of his career.

He finished the season with a .255 average and 47 RBIs in 396 at-bats and he threw out only 17 percent of potential base-stealers, down from his success in previous seasons.

Torrealba had some big hits for the Rockies during late 2007, when the Rockies won 12 of their last 13 to force a one-game playoff against the San Diego Padres, which the Rockies won.

Torrealba homered off Jake Peavy in that game.

Torrealba also hit a 3-run home run off of former teammate Liván Hernández in Game 3 of the 2007 National League Championship Series.

Torrealba led the Rockies to the World Series for the first time ever but lost the series to the Boston Red Sox in a 4-game sweep.

Through the 2007 season, Torrealba posted a career .251 batting average with 30 home runs and 173 RBIs in 440 games.

As a catcher, he compiled a .997 fielding average with only seventeen errors in 2587 chances; Torrealba's defense has been above average throughout his career.

He has thrown out over 32% of all baserunners attempting to steal.

His ability to throw out runners was a career low 19.7% in 2007.

Due to his impressive postseason play, Torrealba has recently been dubbed "Mr. Rocktober."

Torrealba has an unusual throwing motion, as he brings his hand to earside and then snaps his arm in a quick motion, although it seems to work for him, given his success at throwing out baserunners.

No other MLB player would record a triple for his first MLB hit until Jason Perry in 2008.

On November 6, 2009, the Rockies decided to go with youngster Chris Iannetta as their primary catcher and declined their 2010 contract option with Torrealba, making him a free agent.