Bio
C Wilfredo Gimenez returns for a second season with the X’s after spending the 2023 playing in 63 games while catching 53 for Sioux City. Last season Gimenez blasted seven home runs and drove in 39 runs. His 39 RBI were good for third on the team while he slashed a .277/.335/.427 line during the 2023 season. The catcher’s seven home runs and 39 RBI were his second highest single-season totals while his .277 clip was his full-season professional high. While Gimenez battled injuries during the latter part of the season, his bat was on fire during the post season for the X’s. He would go 10-for-19 over five games with one homer and three RBI while scoring three runs. Gimenez went 4-for-5 with two RBI in the X’s 8-1 win over Kansas City on September 11 in game one of the American Association West Division Championship Series.
Despite battling injuries during the second half of the season, Gimenez was a difference maker when in the lineup. He would hit .283 in August with four home runs and 19 RBI during the final full month of the season. The RBI total would lead the Explorers for the month of August. On August 27, the native of Venezuela would provide the key offensive punch for the Explorers in a 3-2 win over Fargo-Moorhead, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. The win was also the 500th win for Manager Steve Montgomery.
Gimenez had seven multi-RBI games and led the Explorers with five games that included three RBI in the box score. In a three-game stretch from August 19 to 23, he would drive in seven runs in three games with a three-RBI game on August 19 in an 11-3 win at Sioux Falls. Two nights later, he added three more RBI in a 3-for-4 night in a 9-4 win over Milwaukee at Lewis and Clark Park. Behind the plate, Gimenez would throw out 14 base runners in 80 stolen base attempts at a 17.5 percentage while the X’s pitching staff would post a 3.68 combined ERA with him behind the plate and a 35-18 record as a team in his starts.
Gimenez came to Sioux City, signing with the X’s on May 13, 2023 after spending the 2022 season with the Lake Country DockHounds. With Lake Country, he played in 79 games, stepping up to the plate 300 times and earning a .292 OBP. The 2022 season marked his return to full-season professional baseball stateside since 2019. Gimenez has been a mainstay in his native Venezuela, having spent parts of seven winter ball seasons in the Venezuelan Winter League. From 2019-22, he signed with Aragua, playing in 72 games. He had 233 combined plate appearances, batting a slash line of .296/.369/.796. Gimenez was traded from Aragua to Caracas in April of 2022 where he hit .342 last winter for the ball club. Gimenez returns this winter to Caracas for his second season in the nation’s capital. Gimenez has been one of the top offensive catchers in Venezuela in the past four seasons, never hitting below .270 in a season.
Gimenez first joined the American Association when he spent 2017-2019 with the Gary SouthShore RailCats. In his three seasons with the RailCats, he played in 117 games, hitting a combined .242 with seven home runs and 74 RBI. A late season trade would send Gimenez to Fargo-Moorhead in 2019 where he would finish as part of the RedHawks playoff run. Prior to joining Gary in 2017, Gimenez took two years away from baseball after his stint in the minor leagues with the Marlins organization. Gimenez, 32, was signed by the Florida Marlins in 2008, reaching double A in 2014. He was born in Maracay, Venezuela.