| Benji Gil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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_(cropped).jpg) Gil atNaval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Charros de Jalisco – No. 30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Infielder /Coach /Manager | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born: (1972-10-06)October 6, 1972 (age 53) Tijuana, Mexico | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB debut | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 5, 1993, for the Texas Rangers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last MLB appearance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| July 31, 2003, for the Anaheim Angels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .237 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 32 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 171 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Stats atBaseball Reference  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Romar Benjamín Gil Aguilar (born October 6, 1972) is a Mexican former professionalbaseballinfielder andcoach. He played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theTexas Rangers and theAnaheim Angels with whom he won the2002 World Series. He was the infield coach for theLos Angeles Angels.
Gil has served asmanager of theMexico national baseball team in the2020 Summer Olympics and the2023 World Baseball Classic. He has also managed theTomateros de Culiacán andCharros de Jalisco, both in theMexican Pacific League.
Gil was a starpitcher forCastle Park High School inChula Vista, California.[1][2] In1990, he went 6–3 with 89strikeouts and aSan Diego County leading 0.52earned run average.[3] As a senior in1991, Gil pitched ano-hitter.[4] Gil was also a good hitter, however, and when theTexas Rangers selected Gil nineteenth overall in the1991 Major League Baseball draft, it was as ashortstop.
Gil displayed decent power, clubbing nine home runs for theSouth Atlantic League'sGastonia Rangers in1992. He made his major league debut in the1993 season opener at twenty years old, going 0-for-3 with awalk in fourplate appearances.[5] By late May, however, he was back in the minors with theDouble-ATulsa Drillers afterbatting .123 with two runs batted in for the Rangers.
He would not return to the majors until the1995 season. On May 3, his first major leaguehome run accounted for the Rangers' lonerun in a 5–1 loss to theSeattle Mariners.[6] He followed this up with home runs in his next two games[7][8] on his way to a career best nine for the season. He also appeared in a career high 130 games, and posted career highs inruns batted in (46), runs (36),hits (91) andextra-base hits (32), while also providing a steady glove at short (.974 fielding percentage, and a league-leading 5.18 range factor per nine innings as a shortstop).
A herniated disc inSpring training kept Gil off the1996 opening day roster.[9] By the time he was ready to return, off-season acquisitionKevin Elster had won the starting job, and Gil found himself back in the minors with theOklahoma City 89ers. He received a call up to the majors that September, and was 2-for-5 in seven plate appearances. He was once again the Rangers' starting shortstop in1997.
Gil was traded following the 1997 season to theChicago White Sox for pitchersAl Levine andLarry Thomas. Gil spent his one season in the White Sox organization with thePacific Coast League'sCalgary Cannons, where he batted .248 with fourteen home runs and 69 RBIs (a career high for Gil at any level). Coincidentally, Gil also spent the1999 season with Calgary after they became aFlorida Marlins affiliate, and he was drafted by the Marlins in the1998 minor league draft.
Just as spring training2000 was set to begin, Gil signed as afree agent with theAnaheim Angels. Slated to be the backup to incumbentGary DiSarcina, Gil soon found himself starting when an injury ended DiSarcina's season.[10]David Eckstein became the Angels' starting shortstop in2001, with Gil sliding into a backup middle infielder role.
In2002, Gil actually saw more playing time atsecond base than he did at short. He had a far more limited role than he had his previous two seasons in Anaheim, however, he made it to the postseason for the only time in his career. In game two of the2002 American League Division Series against theNew York Yankees, Gil had an RBIsingle offAndy Petitte.[11] In game four, he was 3-for-3 with a run scored.[12] In the Angels'2002 World Series victory over theSan Francisco Giants, Gil went 4-for-5 with adouble and a run scored.[13]
Gil's2003 season got off to a slow start, going 0-for-14. The Angels released him in early August with a .192 batting average, one home run and nine RBIs. Shortly afterwards, he signed with theCleveland Indians. He was released at the end of the season after batting .139 for the Triple-ABuffalo Bisons. Over the next two seasons, Gil spent time in theColorado Rockies,Chicago Cubs,Detroit Tigers,Seattle Mariners andNew York Mets organizations, but failed to make the Major League roster of any of these teams. Along the way, he also landed on theMexican League'sTijuana Toros.
When the Mets released Gil in July2005, it would turn out to be his final stint with a major league franchise. After finishing out the 2005 season with theNew Jersey Jackals of theCanadian-American Association, Gil would spend the next six seasons playing ball inMexico. In2007, he won the Mexican League Championship withSultanes de Monterrey. He spent one last season with theFort Worth Cats of theNorth American League before retiring.[14]
| Games | PA | AB | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | HBP | Avg. | Slg. | Fld% |
| 604 | 1767 | 1610 | 158 | 381 | 75 | 12 | 32 | 171 | 24 | 102 | 448 | 7 | .237 | .358 | .966 |
Gil pitched once while in the Chicago Cubs organization, once in the Mets organization and once for the Jackals. He pitched a total of fourinnings, allowing two hits and noearned runs.
Gil's coaching career began in 2014, as he became manager for theTomateros de Culiacán of theMexican Pacific League (LMP), a winter ball club where he previously played for 13 seasons and won six championships with.[15] He led the team to a championship in his first season, and was later brought back for the 2015–16 season. In 2015, the Tomateros posted a disappointing 28–40 record and did not make the playoffs, leading to Gil's firing after the season.[16] After another disappointing year in 2016, the Tomateros announced that Gil would return as manager for the 2017–18 season.[17] The Tomateros won their second title under Gil, defeating theMayos de Navojoa in the LMP Championship Series 4–3. After the season, Gil surprisingly announced he was stepping down as manager in order to attend to personal and family matters.[18] However, Gil once again returned as manager following the 2018-19 season and went on to win back-to-back championships during the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons and missing a third championship in a row after losing game 7 of the 2021-22 LMP championship series.
Gil was named the inaugural manager of theMariachis de Guadalajara, an expansion franchise of theMexican Baseball League (LMB) that began play in the 2021 season.[19] He led them to a stellar 46–17 regular season record, a first-place finish in the LMB North division, and a playoff berth. However, the Mariachis fell to the eventual league-championToros de Tijuana in the North Division Championship Series.[20] Gil was voted LMB Manager of the Year following the season.[21]
In 2021, Gil was selected as manager for theMexico national team at the2020 Summer Olympics.[22] Mexico lost to theDominican Republic,Japan, andIsrael.[23] He managed Mexico in the2023 World Baseball Classic.
On January 5, 2022, Gil was announced as a new coach for theLos Angeles Angels for the 2022 season.[24]
Gil was born in Tijuana, Mexico, but grew up inChula Vista, California. His mother died while he was in high school. He and his wife, Carly, reside inKeller, Texas, with their two children,Mateo and Gehrig. Mateo was drafted in the third round of the2018 Major League Baseball draft by theSt. Louis Cardinals.[25]
· Baseball Almanac
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