| Salomón Torres | |
|---|---|
 Torres throwing a pitch for the Pirates | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: (1972-03-11)March 11, 1972 (age 53) San Pedro de Macorís,Dominican Republic | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| Professional debut | |
| MLB: August 29, 1993, for the San Francisco Giants | |
| KBO: 2001, for the Samsung Lions | |
| Last appearance | |
| MLB: September 27, 2008, for the Milwaukee Brewers | |
| KBO: 2001, for the Samsung Lions | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 44–58 |
| Earned run average | 4.31 |
| Strikeouts | 540 |
| KBO statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 0–2 |
| Earned run average | 20.25 |
| Strikeouts | 5 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
As player
As coach
| |
Salomón Torres Ramirez (born March 11, 1972) is a Dominican former professional baseball player. He began his career in1993 with theSan Francisco Giants, and also played for theSeattle Mariners,Montreal Expos,Pittsburgh Pirates, andMilwaukee Brewers.
Torres is best known for starting the last game of the 1993 season for the Giants, when he gave up threeruns over3+1⁄3 innings to the arch-rivalLos Angeles Dodgers. The Giants, winners of 103 games that season, finished in second place behind the 104-winAtlanta Braves, at that time in theNational League West division. Though he was then in his first month as a Major Leaguer, some Giants fans blamed Torres for ruining a promising season and apparently never forgave him; those fans continued to heckle him when he returned to San Francisco as an opposing player. Said Torres: "They come to the park and they pay my salary, so they have the right to heckle me. If that's going to make them feel better and get over what happened in 1993, OK. But it's time to move on.... I don't think I was treated fairly by some of my teammates. And I still don't think I'm being treated fairly by the fans."[1]
The Giants traded Torres to theSeattle Mariners in mid-1995 forShawn Estes andWilson Delgado. After two years with the Mariners, he was claimed off waivers by theMontreal Expos in mid-1997. After ending the1997 season with a 9.82ERA, Torres retired and returned to theDominican Republic to coach for the Expos' Dominican Summer League team.
In2001, Torres decided to make a comeback, and spent the year playing in the Dominican Winter League and inSouth Korea. He signed with thePittsburgh Pirates in January2002, spending most of the year with the Triple-A team inNashville before being called up in September. He split the2003 season between starting and relief work before being moved to thebullpen full-time in2004. On April 20, 2003, Torres hit Chicago Cubs right fielderSammy Sosa in the head with an errant fastball that shattered his helmet.
He served as the Pirates setup reliever in2006, before closerMike González was injured. That year, his 94 pitching appearances led the major leagues and tied the Pirates record held byKent Tekulve. González was traded to the Atlanta Braves before the start of the2007 season, making Torres the Pirates' top choice for closer entering the 2007 season. After blowing four saves for the Pirates, he was demoted from the closer role and replaced withMatt Capps.[2]
Torres was traded to theMilwaukee Brewers on December 7, 2007, for Kevin Roberts andMarino Salas. After beginning the2008 season as a middle reliever, Torres was moved into the closer's role whenÉric Gagné was put on thedisabled list, a role Torres kept for the rest of the year. Torres struggled mightily towards the end of the season, however. On September 18, Torres blew a 4-run lead to theChicago Cubs, giving up 4 runs with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 9th. He posted anERA over 8.00 in the month of September.
His season, though, was relatively solid: 28 saves in 35 chances, 51strikeouts in 80 innings of work, an ERA of 3.41, and a record of 7–5. During his time in Milwaukee, he introduced a new strike-out pitch in which he dropped down to a side-arm delivery.
During the middle of the 2008 season, Torres stated in an interview that he wasn't sure about his future in baseball, and on November 11 Torres told Brewers GMDoug Melvin that he was retiring from the game.[3]
In February 2024, it was announced that Torres would take on the role ofpitching coach for the newly establishedTri-State Coal Cats inHuntington, West Virginia, part of theAppalachian League.[4]
Torres is aJehovah's Witness.[5] He is married to Belkis Denia Donato and has three children.
· Baseball Almanac