Omar Quintanilla

Omar Quintanilla (born October 24, 1981) is an American professional baseball infielder for the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican Baseball League (MBL). He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Rockies (2005–2009), Texas Rangers (2011), New York Mets (2012, 2013-2014) and Baltimore Orioles (2012).

Early life

Quintanilla attended Socorro High School in El Paso, Texas, where he led the city of El Paso in home runs, RBI, and was elected to the Texas All-State shortstop. After graduating, he received a scholarship to the University of Texas, Austin, where he played for the Texas Longhorns baseball team. Quintanilla played second base, third base, and shortstop, and appeared in two national championship games, winning one.

Professional career

Quintanilla was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the first round (33rd overall) of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft. In 2003, he played for the Vancouver Canadians of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League and High-A Modesto A's of the Class A-Advanced California League, batting .358 in 40 games. He started 2004 with Modesto as the Athletics' seventh ranked prospect and after hitting .315 received a late-season promotion to the Midland RockHounds for the Class AA Texas League. He began 2005 with Midland as the A's 8th ranked prospect and on July 15, he was traded along with outfielder Eric Byrnes to the Colorado Rockies for pitchers Joe Kennedy and Jay Witasick.