In the history of professional baseball, 35 players with the surname Pimentel have played in the minor leagues. Amazingly not a single one has played in the majors. Nary a Pimentel pitch has been thrown nor has a Pimentel plate appearance taken place. Further still there hasn’t been a Pimentel appear in the big leagues as a pinch runner or even as a defensive replacement.
The first Pimentel, according to Baseball Reference, was none other than Euripedes. Despite the unique name he was quickly forgotten as his pro career consisted of only 15.0 innings in the Appalachian League (D- at the time) during the 1961 season. Euripedes was the first Pimentel that failed to realize his major league dream – at 68 years old it’s safe to assume he’s not going to mount a comeback – but he certainly wasn’t the last.
Of the 34 not named Euripedes, 23 were not active during the 2011 season which leaves us with 11 candidates that could possibly break through this oddly present glass-ceiling. Let’s check out, and break down, each of these 11 and see if any of them will be the first Pimentel to make it to the show.
Since I don’t want to be accused of playing favorites, I’m going to go in alphabetical order, and since everyone loves numbers I’m going to handicap the likelihood of each Pimentel reaching the majors on a 1-10 scale. The higher their “score” the more likely they are to make it and end the collective drought.
OF – Candido Pimentel (21), Minnesota Twins
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: February 2nd, 2009]
As an 18-year old back in 2009 he hit 0.293/.419/.383 with 20 SB and a 42-42 SO-to-BB rate in 54 Dominican Summer League games, but he’s been unable to build upon that. Just as he did in 2010, Candido spent the entire 2011 season in the Gulf Coast League. Unfortunately his numbers took a step back across the board despite the fact he was repeating the level. He wound up hitting 0.252/.350/.272 with just 2 XBH in 157 PA. He was also thrown out on 5 of his 13 SB attempts.
Candido continues to show decent on-base skills, but as a speed-first outfielder his SB rates leave a lot to be desired. Unlike many speed-first, no power OF prospects his defense is not an asset at this point in his career.
Rating: 1/10
RHP – Carlos Pimentel (19), San Diego Padres
[Signed out of Venezuela: November 1st, 2008]
Carlos has spent all 3 years of his professional career in the Dominican Summer League and sports a 6.43 ERA and 1.89 WHIP in 56.0 IP. In his career he’s walked more hitters (44) than he has struck out (37) but much of that was a result of his 11-29 SO-to-BB rate in his first season. Carlos has shown some progress but his peripherals are still a mess. In 2011 he “boasted” a 10.1 H/9, 5.1 BB/9 and 8.4 SO/9. He’s still young and 56.0 innings over 3 years is a fairly small sample size, but he has a very, very long way to go.
Rating: 1/10
RHP – Carlos Pimentel (21), Texas Rangers
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: July 6th, 2006]
The “other” active Carlos Pimentel spent 2011 as a member of the Frisco RoughRiders (AA) rotation. He made 26 starts – and had 2 relief appearances – finishing with a 4.74 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and 1.38 SO/BB in 142.1 IP.
Since he’s at Double-A, he can at least sniff the majors and theoretically could get an “emergency” call-up in 2012 if a rash of injuries descended on the major league pitching staff. Unfortunately for all things Pimentel, the Rangers system is extremely talent laden and more to the point is loaded with pitching prospects.
Also working against him is the fact that his BB/9 is trending in the wrong direction as he climbs the affiliate ladder. After flashing a solid 2.6 BB/9 with Hickory (A) in 2009 his rate jumped to 4.1 in High-A and jumped again to 5.0 in his time in Double-A. His rate in High-A can be partially explained away since it came in the California League, but his performance in 2011 did little to suggest that the offensive environment was the only reason for the spike.
A move to the bullpen is probably in his future though he might be able to survive in Triple-A as an organizational arm. Again given his proximity to the majors he has a chance to pitch in the majors, but it’s far from a slam dunk. If he does make it to the show, I wouldn’t anticipate a long or productive career.
Rating: 6/10
LHP – Cesilio Pimentel (18), Pittsburgh Pirates
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: Date Unknown]
Cesilio made his professional debut in 2011 and fared well, throwing 23.1 innings in the Dominican Summer League. He pitched in 7 games – 3 of them starts – and wound up with a 2.31 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 2.7 BB/9 and 12.0 SO/9. It’s hard to put stock in the stats, especially until he gets stateside, but success at any level is still success. He’s still too far away to really assess and has a long road ahead of him, but given the results he gets a slightly better rating from me than some of his others on this list that are also in rookie ball.
Rating: 3/10
RHP – Elisaul Pimentel (23), Kansas City Royals
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: December 12th, 2006]
Elisaul was originally signed by the Dodgers. He made his way to the Royals, along with Lucas May, when LA acquired Scott Podsednikon July 28th, 2010. He’s advanced slowly and has performed reasonably well at most of his stops. With Wilmington (A+) this season he had a 3.59 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 2.1 BB/9 and 7.1 SO/9 in 133.0 IP. He also got a taste of Double-A by making 2 starts with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
Though he has spent the bulk of his career as a starter, his best path to the majors is most likely as a reliever where he will be able to get results with his low-to-mid 90s fastball and plus slider. He will most likely open the 2012 season on the Naturals roster which puts him on the major league radar. However, the Royals have a very young and very talented bullpen already in place in Kansas City and he’s not ready to help out in the rotation – where the team desperately needs help – so his debut figures to come in 2013 or 2014 instead of 2012. That is assuming he makes it at all.
Rating: 7/10
OF – Guillermo Pimentel (19), Seattle Mariners
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: July 2nd, 2009]
The younger of the two Guillermos on this list, he played in the Arizona League as a 17-year old in 2010 and hit 0.250/.276/.451 with a horrific 58-5 SO-to-BB rate in 51 games. In 2011 he played for the Pulaski Mariners in the Appalachian League and took a small step forward statistically. He hit 0.265/.308/.441 with 11 HR in 65 games played. The SLG was down a bit but that is largely based on the difference in triples (2010 = 6, 2011 = 0). Guillermo again struck out more than once a game but he paired his 73 SO with 15 BB. That’s still not a healthy ratio, but it’s a LOT better than 11.6 SO for every 1 BB he showed in 2010.
His plate discipline problems aside, Baseball America rated him the Arizona League’s #1 prospect after the 2010 season and the Appy League’s #14 prospect after this season. Guillermo is still very much a work in progress and is still very raw, but his plus-power is already showing through as a teenager which makes him someone to keep an eye on.
Rating: 4/10
OF – Guillermo Pimentel (21), Texas Rangers
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: November 6th, 2006]
The “elder” Guillermo just finished up his 5th minor league season in the Northwest League (A-) with the Spokane Indians. He hit 0.277/.373/.314 in 255 PA. Through 272 minor league games he has managed just 42 extra-base hits (25 2B, 4 3B and 13 HR) and 51 SB (24 of which came in 2008). Since we’re talking about a guy that lacks any sort of present power or speed on the bases would you be surprised to learn that his career SO-to-BB is 253 to 120?
Barring a major breakout he looks to be little more than organizational filler at this point in time.
Rating: 1/10
SS/3B – Javier Pimentel (17), Minnesota Twins
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: November 30th, 2010]
In his first professional season, Javier hit 0.192/.256/.326 with 50 SO and 14 BB in 53 games – fairly evenly split between the Dominican Summer and Gulf Coast Leagues. It’s far too early to tell what he could become but he did get a $575,000 bonus to sign and was one of the better Dominican prospects available in last year’s “class” so the potential is there. That aside, he is much too far away and too much of an unknown to expect he will reach the majors.
Rating: 1/10
SS/OF – Jerfry Pimentel (19), Baltimore Orioles
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: Date Unknown]
Jerfry played in just 16 games for the DSL Orioles after playing 35 games last season that the same level. That’s just 51 games of experience but we know one thing for certain: he played better in 2011 than he did in 2010. Jerfry improved in all 3 slash stats and bumped his OPS from 0.598 to 0.711 as a result. That’s not too shabby but what is really surprising is what happened to his SO-to-BB numbers. In 2010 he turned in a 25-6 SO-to-BB, but in 2011 he actually walked (11) more times than he struck out (9). He only has 157 PA on his resume, he’s 19 and he hasn’t come stateside yet so it’s hard to expect much from him as a prospect in the long term. That said, it’s not everyday you see a player reverse his SO and BB rates so dramatically from one season to the next.
Rating: 1/10
C – Jhoan Pimentel (22), Arizona Diamondbacks
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: March 10th, 2006]
He’s hit 0.203/.260/.242 in 180 games over 6 seasons and reached he Midwest League (A) in 2011. He’s a catcher so the offensive standards are naturally lower. Even still it’s hard to imagine he’ll get much further after hitting just 0.191/.230/.230 in 51 games with South Bend in 2011.
Rating: 1/10
RHP – Stolmy Pimentel (21), Boston Red Sox
[Signed out of the Dominican Republic: July 2nd, 2006]
Coming into 2011, Baseball America ranked Stolmy as the Red Sox 6th best prospect and asserted that he had the “stuff and feel to become a number 3 starter.” He opened the 2011 season as a part of the Portland Sea Dogs (AA) rotation but after 15 starts it was readily apparent he wasn’t ready for Eastern League competition. Stolmy was sent back to High-A leaving a 9.12 ERA, 1.95 WHIP and 1.30 SO/BB in his wake. In 50.1 IP he struck out just 30 while walked 23.
Back in Salem, where he spent all of 2010, he came close to recapturing his 2010 form and finished the year with a 4.53 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 2.19 SO/BB. Despite spending a half season repeating the level, he showed no significant improvement. Some of that can be written off as the result of recovering from the blows he took in Portland, but he’s never been all that dominant to begin with and certainly wasn’t in 2010.
Some preseason projections had him reaching the majors at some point in 2012 but given his track record, and based on what happened to him in 2011, a big league debut in the upcoming season would be surprising. 2013 is still a very real possibility, but Double-A could wind up being his career kryptonite.
Rating: 6/10
Conclusion:
Carlos Pimentel – the one with Texas – will most likely land in Triple-A to start the 2012 season and that gives him a leg up based on proximity. However given the Rangers minor-league depth and his track record he does not, and will not, have a clear shot at the big leagues unless a rash of injuries hits the big league roster and a number of other prospects fall by the wayside. That or something drastic happens in the offseason.
Stolmy and Elisaul reached Double-A in 2011 but both have significant hurdles to overcome. Stolmy needs to rebound after a disastrous first attempt against Eastern League competition. Elisaul, likewise will need to master Double-A and figures to remain a starter for the time being but his best chance to pitch in Kansas City is most likely out of the bullpen. Given that the Royals bullpen is loaded with talented, young, high-upside arms (and there will be more waiting in Triple-A) his chances at a big league debut in 2012 remain slim.
If it isn’t one of those three, then it falls to Guillermo – the one with Seattle – who should get at least a cup of coffee in several years based on his plus power alone. Then again, it’s a long way from Rookie Ball to the majors and a lot could happen.
The odds are that one of the 11 players listed above will break through and play in the major leagues, however the same could have been said for the 24 others, with the surname of Pimentel, that have come and gone from affiliated baseball.
This is just another one of those weird anomalies that makes baseball so enjoyable.
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