January 22, 2024 The RailCats re-sign 25 year old Jesus Marriaga and sign 22 year old Guillermo Quintana who played 80 games last with The Cleburne Railroaders.

Guillermo Quintana 22 years old, 6-1, 215 LBS, he throws right and bats right. He plays catcher and can play 1st. He was a Free Agent Signing of the Kansas City Royals in July 14th, 2017. He reached Single-A in 2022 where he played 114 games and his slash line was .240/.331/.348 and an OPS of .679. He had 100 Hits, 54 RBI’s, and 8 Homeruns.

Last season he played for the Cleburne Railroaders in 80 games. His slash line was .277/.368/.449 and an OPS .817. He scored 38 runs, 76 Hits, 13 Doubles, 2 Triples, 10 Homeruns, and 36 RBI’s. He stole 6 bases and was caught stealing 4 times. He walked 35 times and had 48 strikeouts. His Runs Created was 44.18 which was 6th on the Railroaders and would have been 4th on the RailCats.

Defensively, he played 13 games at first base and had 1 error on 89 chances for a FLD% of .989. He played 64 games as a catcher and had 8 errors on 530 chances for a FLD% of .985. He caught 14 runners stealing and had 95 runners steal on him for a 13% CS%.

I believe Quintana is the answer that has plagued the RailCats for the past 2 years. He has the power and the ability to be a good defensive player. The pair of him and Noriega could make for a nice one two punch at the catchers position. Noriega isn’t a power hitter but can throw players out. So we could see a nice rotation at the catchers spot. Quintana I can see play around 90-95 games this year. I can see a down in Homeruns but an increase of Triples and Doubles. He gonna be a middle of the lineup hitter.

Now to the Face of The RailCats (my opinion) 2023 All-Star Jesus Marriaga is coming back for his 4th year in the American Association. I know he had a bit of a down year this year, but I could attribute that to the pressure of the World Baseball Classic, where offensively he numbers didn’t jump at you, but his defensive ability is what gained him notice. Plus, the American Association was putting him on the front page and in promo pictures, or he just had a down year, which happens in baseball to the best players.

Looking at last year he played in 98 games, had 366 At-Bats, scored 52 runs, 103 hits, 22 doubles, 5 triples, 9 Homeruns, 66 RBI’s, was hit by 16 pitches, 113 strikeouts, 32 walks, 28 stolen bases, and 6 times caught stealing. A batting average of 281, OBP 362, SLG 443, OPS 805. 

He played all 98 games in center field, FLD% of 992 and had 2 errors.

Best Offensive game was on August 2nd where the RailCats beat the Canaries 8-7 in 10 innings, and Jesus Marriaga had the walk off double that hit off the top of the wall which scored Will Decker. Jesus went 3 for 4, 2 runs scored, 4 RBI’s 1 walk 1 strikeout 2 Homeruns, A solo and a 2 run Homerun.

Jesus coming back is huge for this team, he is going to be surrounded by bats that will help him be more productive. Not saying he wasn’t productive last year. He lead the team in RBI’s at 66, doubles at 22, Triples at 5, 2nd in Homeruns at 9 and 2nd in Runs Created at 54.95. Even in his down year he was one of the best players on the team.