Édgar Rentería

Édgar Rentería - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Édgar Rentería

Édgar Enrique Rentería Herazo (born August 7, 1975), nicknamed "the Barranquilla Baby", is a Colombian former professional baseball shortstop. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, San Francisco Giants, and Cincinnati Reds. Rentería finished second to Todd Hollandsworth in the 1996 Rookie of the Year Award balloting. In 1997, his RBI single off Charles Nagy in the eleventh inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series won the first World Series in Marlins' history over the Cleveland Indians. In the 2010 World Series against the Texas Rangers, Rentería won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award with the San Francisco Giants after he hit game-winning home runs in Game 2 and Game 5. Rentería was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2025.

This profile of Édgar Rentería covers Early Life and Family Background, Minor leagues, Florida Marlins (1996–1998), St. Louis Cardinals (1999–2004) and Boston Red Sox (2005).

Early Life and Family Background of Édgar Rentería

Rentería was born on August 7, 1975, in Barranquilla, Colombia. As a youth, he attended Instituto Los Alpes High School in Barranquilla. After high school, he was signed by the Florida Marlins at the age of 16 by scout Levy Ochoa.

Minor leagues of Édgar Rentería

Rentería started his professional career in 1992 with the Gulf Coast League Marlins. He had a.288 batting average and 47 hits in 43 games that year. But his fielding percentage was only.897, and he made 24 errors. In 1993, he played for the Kane County Cougars of the Midwest League. He only batted.203 in 116 games with them, but he only committed 34 errors that year, and his fielding percentage increased to.934.

In 1994, Rentería was promoted to the Brevard County Manatees of the Florida State League. His average went up to.253 and his fielding percentage climbed to.959. 1995 saw Rentería have a breakout season with the Portland Sea Dogs of the Eastern League. He batted.289 with the team, and he hit seven home runs and stole thirty bases. Entering the 1996 season, Baseball America ranked Rentería as the best prospect in the Marlins' organization. He started the season with the Charlotte Knights of the International League, and he batted.278 with two home runs and fifteen runs batted in in 28 games with them.

Florida Marlins (1996–1998)

On May 9, Rentería was called up to the Marlins following an injury to shortstop Kurt Abbott. His first game came on May 10, in a 4–2 win over the Colorado Rockies, when he entered the game in the ninth inning as part of a double switch. He did not have any at-bats in that game, though, and he was just a backup infielder when he first came up because Alex Arias had replaced Abbott as the everyday shortstop. But Rentería replaced Arias as the starting shortstop on May 19 against the Chicago Cubs. He got his first hit (a single) in his first at bat (against Steve Trachsel) in a 3–2 Marlins victory. He got four hits in a game for the first time on June 10 in a 5–2 win over the Montreal Expos. His first home run came the next day, off Ugueth Urbina of the Expos, in a 3–2 loss.

Rentería did so well as a shortstop that the Marlins moved Abbott over to second base when he came off the disabled list. On June 23, Rentería strained a hamstring on a groundout in the sixth inning of a 5–3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was placed on the disabled list the next day, but he remained the starting shortstop when he returned on July 11. From July 25 to August 16 he had a 22-game hitting streak, which was the longest for a rookie since Jerome Walton of the Chicago Cubs had a thirty-game streak in 1989. Rentería finished the season with a.309 batting average, 68 runs scored, and sixteen stolen bases in 106 games. He was second behind Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Todd Hollandsworth in National League (NL) Rookie of the Year Award balloting.

In 1997, Rentería hit the first inside-the-park home run of his career to tie a game against the Cincinnati Reds on April 5, and he won the game 4–3 with an RBI single in the eleventh inning. On April 27, he had a game–winning single in the ninth inning that gave the Marlins a 4–3 win over the Dodgers. From May 13 to 29, he had a 13-game hitting streak. From July 16 through July 18, he had three hits in three straight games. On August 15, his RBI single in the ninth inning gave the Marlins a 6–5 victory over Pittsburgh. Rentería finished the season with a.277 batting average, 171 hits, and 32 stolen bases in 154 games. That year, the Florida Marlins won the wild card to advance to the playoffs for the first time in their history.

In Game 1 of the 1997 National League Division Series (NLDS), Rentería's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth off Roberto Hernández gave the Marlins a 2–1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. The Marlins swept the Giants in the series and defeated the Atlanta Braves in the 1997 National League Championship Series (NLCS) to face the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. In Game 7, with the score tied at two and two out in the eleventh inning, Rentería hit a walk-off RBI single off Charles Nagy to score Craig Counsell. The hit won the game 3–2 and won the first World Series in Marlins' history.

In 1998, Rentería had a.302 batting average by the All-Star break, and he was the only Marlin selected to the MLB All-Star Game. His RBI single in the eleventh inning on May 1 gave the Marlins a 6–5 victory over the San Diego Padres. He had a fourteen-game hitting streak from June 8 to 22, which was the longest by a Marlin in 1998. During the streak, on June 9, he had his first career pinch hit when he singled home Dave Berg in the ninth inning to give the Marlins a 5–4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Also, on June 14, he scored the winning run in a 5–4 win over the New York Mets. For his contributions from June 8 through 14, he won the NL Player of the Week Award.

On July 13, he scored four runs (which tied a Florida record) in an 8–7 win over the Expos. On August 24, he sprained his right knee sliding into second base in the third inning of a 7–4 loss to San Francisco. He was placed on the disabled list the next day, but he was reactivated on September 9. He finished the year with a.282 batting average and 146 hits in 133 games, along with a career-high 41 stolen bases. On December 14, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Armando Almanza, Braden Looper, and Pablo Ozuna.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89dgar_Renter%C3%ADa), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.