Gabriel Moreno

Venezuelan catcher who won a Gold Glove in his first season with the Diamondbacks and helped the team reach the 2023 World Series.

Gabriel José Moreno (born February 14, 2000) is a Venezuelan professional baseball catcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2022 before being traded to the Diamondbacks during the offseason. In his first season with Arizona, Moreno won a Gold Glove Award and aided in the team's first National League pennant since 2001.

Quick Facts

Position: Catcher
Affiliation: Arizona Diamondbacks
Birthplace: San Felipe, Venezuela
Draft year: 2017
Mlb debut season: 2022
Primary skill: Defensive framing and contact hitting

Lore & Background

Moreno signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as an international free agent on August 13, 2016. He made his professional debut in 2017 with the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Blue Jays. In 2018, he split the year between the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Blue Jays and the Rookie Advanced Bluefield Blue Jays, slashing a cumulative .359/.395/.575 with four home runs and 36 RBI. The following year, he played for the Single-A Lansing Lugnuts, hitting .280/.337/.485 with career-highs in home runs (12), RBI (52), stolen bases (7), and walks (22). He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Blue Jays added him to their 40-man roster after the 2020 season. Moreno was assigned to the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats to begin the 2021 season, where he batted .373/.441/.651 with eight home runs and 45 RBI in 32 games. On July 3, 2021, he underwent surgery on his right thumb after suffering a fracture. He returned from the injury later in the season and was promoted to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. After the season, he played for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .329 with a home run and 18 RBI in 22 games, as well as 18 games with the Cardenales de Lara of the Venezuelan Winter League. In March 2022, he participated in spring training with the Blue Jays. He began the 2022 season with Buffalo. Moreno joined the Blue Jays in Detroit on June 9, 2022, following an injury sustained by catcher Danny Jansen, but was not activated until June 11, when he was added to the day's starting line-up at the catcher position and batting eighth in the order. He was slashing .324/.380/.404 in 36 games with the Bisons prior to his call up. He earned his first major league hit on June 11, 2022, a single, in his fourth at-bat of the day. On October 5, 2022, he hit his first career home run, a three-run shot off of Baltimore Orioles reliever Mike Baumann. On December 23, 2022, the Blue Jays traded Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Daulton Varsho. After backing up Carson Kelly to start the 2023 season, Moreno became the Diamondbacks' primary catcher midway through the season after Kelly was designated for assignment. In his first full season in MLB, he finished with a 3.1 defensive WAR, the highest in the majors.

Reader's Guide

Gabriel Moreno is a catcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was signed as an international free agent by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2016 and traded to the Diamondbacks in December 2022. He won a Gold Glove Award in 2023 and helped the Diamondbacks reach the World Series that year.