Chapter 143: Omar Infante

There have been 630 players to appear with the Florida and Miami Marlins through their first 28 seasons of major league play.

Players in the series are sorted in ascending bWAR divided by PA/BF. Omar Infante earned 4.3 bWAR in 233 games for the Marlins.

23. Omar Infante

Omar Infante is a right-handed five-foot-11 infielder from Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. A 15-season major league veteran, Infante manned second base almost exclusively by the time he reached the Marlins in 2011.

In 1999, still just 17-years-old, Infante signed his first professional contract with the Detroit Tigers. After making his major league debut in 2002, he played in 494 contests through the following six seasons for the Tigers, hitting .253/.298/.386 with 32 home runs, 154 RBI, and 34 stolen bases in 48 attempts. After the 2007 season, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for Jacque Jones (#540), then flipped a month later with Will Ohman to the Atlanta Braves for Jose Ascanio.

Infante played three seasons for the Braves, making the National League All Star Team in 2010, hitting .321/.359/.416 in 134 games. After the end of the 2010 season, Atlanta sent Infante with Mike Dunn (#79) to the Marlins for Dan Uggla (#18).

In 2011, Infante played in a career-high 148 games for his only “full” season with Florida. He led the National League with 17 sacrifice hits, and hit .276/.315/.382 with seven homers and 49 RBI. Defensively, he racked up a career-best .989 fielding percentage in 1283 ¹⁄₃ innings at second base, and was worth 14 runs better than the NL “average” second baseman.

On September 19, Infante earned a WPA of nearly 1 against the Braves. With two outs and a runner on first, trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth, Infante cranked a 1-0 Craig Kimbrel pitch over the left field fence for a walk-off 6-5 victory.

After the name- and uniform-change for 2012, Infante played in another 85 contests for the Marlins. He hit .287/.312/.442 with eight homers and 33 RBI, also stealing 10 bases in 11 tries. In another 731 2/3 innings in the field at second base, he put up a .982 fielding percentage and was worth another five runs better than average. Near the trade deadline, the Marlins sent him with Anibal Sanchez (#35) back to the Tigers for Rob Brantly (#265), Brian Flynn (#420), and Jacob Turner (#106).

Infante finished the 2012 season with the Tigers, then played three seasons for the Kansas City Royals. Of the four teams he played for, he appeared in the fewest for the Marlins, totaling 233 games. Despite that, his work in South Florida was a bright spot for the Marlins, particularly on the defensive side of the equation. Stay tuned for more on the All-Time Marlins Countdown.