With a record of 1-14 over three years, it’s pretty clear that Matos just wasn’t going to adjust to playing ball in America. His ERA was 7.75 and his WHIP just under 2. Still, he played three years with many guys who ended up with the Rockies, such as Wright, Thomson and Clemente, and ended up with his face on three cards.

De La Cruz hit .283 in limited Dominican League action in 1992, but his average dropped a hundred points in ’93 and he was done.

Gonzalez played for two seasons in the Dominican before being signed by Colorado at age 20. He put up some decent numbers (he finished with a .275 batting average in the minors) and rose as far as Double-A with the Rockies. Migrated to the Indians organization in 1996 and had another good year at the plate, but did not return the next year. A dicey fielder, his bat was not enough to sustain his erratic glove.

Here it is, many years later, and Gonzalez is back in the Rockies organization. Since 2002, he has been the manager of the Rockies’ team in the Dominican Summer League, where his coaches have included Edison Lora, Florentino Nunez and Eugenio Jose, all formerly in the Colorado system themselves. Prior to that, he was pitching coach in 2001. A terrific career for the kid from Santo Domingo.

An Iowa kid who came to the Rockies by way of the Braves and the Reds. He never really caught hold with Mesa in ’92, and ended up playing indy ball in Minnesota in 1994. The Mesa Rockies didn’t issue cards in 1992 (none of the team’s Rookie League clubs did for quite a few years); so the card shown here is from the Princeton Reds in 1991, a year before he played in the Rox system. It’s actually the only baseball card he ever got.

The Rockies guides list him as Jamie, but in other places he’s often as not listed as Jim.

PEDRO HERNANDEZ
OUTFIELDER
B: Sep 24, 1974, Santo Domingo, DR
H: 6’1″    W:160    B:L    T:L
Undrafted free agent: Jan 17, 1992
Mesa 1992
Released following 1992 season

OLMEDO MONTERO
RELIEF PITCHER
B: Jul 8, 1975, Zamayo Barahona, DR
H: 6’2″    W: 156    B:L    T:L
Undrafed free agent: Jan 17, 1992
Salcedo (DR) 1992
Released following 1992 season

Rounding out the quartet of Dominican players signed on January 17, 1992. Unfortunately there weren’t many, if any, rookie league teams that released card sets in these days — Garcia and Hernandez both played for Mesa in 1992 — and I don’t know of any cards that are produced for the Dominican leagues, even to this day.  A damn shame, because it would be nice to have a cardboard record of these players.  As it is, you can’t even find a photo.

Garcia was signed as a catcher, but a lackluster season in Arizona had him back in the Dominican for 1993, where he had a pretty good season; however, it was his last. (He’s listed in the Rockies’ 1993 media guide as “Wandel”, but other sources have “Wendel”.) On the other hand, the outfielder Hernandez played very well for Mesa, but was through by 1993.  Montero pitched poorly for Salcedo in ’92 and, like Hernandez, was not heard from again.

Carlos Cristopher was only 17 years old when he was signed out of the Dominican Republic, one of four kids picked up in January of 1992. He played for the rookie level team the Rockies shared with the Cubs in 1992. In 1993, as an old man of 18, he hit .293 in limited action with the Bend Rockies. But, for whatever reason, he was released in August. It appears he turned up again with Rhode Island in the independent Northeast League in 1996.

Of the four players signed on December 17, 1991, Marc Morris’ Rockies career was the briefest. Following a few sparse appearances with the unaffiliated rookie level Pocatello team in 1991, he split 25 games between Mesa and Visalia in 1992, but never found a groove on the mound. He was released in the spring of 1993.

That said, Morris’ career doesn’t look like much. But still, brief as it was, no matter how you look at it, HE WAS THERE. You gotta hand it to the guys who get spotted, drafted, signed, and utilized at any professional level. It’s a dream most of us would give our [name one of your favorite body parts] to experience. And it’s as good a reason as any for doing this blog and recognizing these overlooked ballplayers — as well as the more successful ones.

Matt Connolly is the answer to a somewhat obscure Colorado Rockies trivia question:  Who was the first Rockies player to be traded to another team? He was signed in the special draft of December 17, 1991, following an undistinguished season in Class A Erie, but who wouldn’t be interested in giving a 6’8″ right-hander a shot? He followed up with a fairly decent 5-1 record with Visalia in 1992, where he both started and relieved. It was enough to pique the interest of Montreal, who took him as the Player to be Named in a deal for Travis Buckley that fall.

Connolly only pitched in 6 games in the Expo organization, but kept his career going with Sioux City in the independent Northern League through 1993-1994. He caught on with the Cubs system for two more seasons, finishing with a solid 37-20 record in 6 years in the minors.