No, he is not the longtime infielder of the Pittsburgh Pirates with the same name. However the Abraham Nunez, who will join DANESI NETTUNO of the 2009 campaign in the Italian Baseball League, also played in the MLB. The outfielder, who was born on February 5th, 1977 in Haina, Dominican Republic signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks organization in 1996. He stayed with the club until December 1999, when he was traded to the Florida Marlins. In Miami he finally made his Major League debut in September 2002 against the New York Mets.
Two years later again he was traded, this time to the Kansas City Royals. 2004 also was his most accomplished season in the big leagues, as he played 117 games for Kansas City and Florida. It was also his last. The following years he was with Minor League teams of the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals. Following his release after the 2007 season, Nunez joined Chinatrust Whales of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan last year.
He celebrated his 32nd birthday ten days ago and looks back at a total of 136 MLB games, batting .209 (OBP .288/SLG .308) with six homeruns, 42 runs and 35 RBI. During his Minor League career he had a line of .268/.365/.452 with 134 homeruns, 622 runs, 581 RBI and 162 stolen bases in 1068 games. Nunez is capable to play all three outfield positions, but spent most of his career in the corner spots.
The club also announced that the Venezuelan pitcher Giovanni Carrara, a former Major Leaguer himself, returns for a third straight season with NETTUNO. The 40-year-old veteran, who had a career ERA of 4.69 in 313 MLB games for five teams, had a 8-2 record with an ERA of 2.35 in 14 games (12 starts) for DANESI last season. He struck out 49 (23 walks) in 72 innings. During the winter he pitched for Cardenales de Lara in the Venezuelan Winter League, going 3-3 with an ERA of 6.14 and 24 strikeouts (21 walks) in 51 1/3 innings. Carrara also has an Italian passport and doesn’t block a foreign spot on the roster.
Photo: © FIBS (Giovanni Carrara)