Juan Luis Rivera (born July 3, 1978 in Guarenas, Miranda State, Venezuela) is a Major League Baseball outfielder who plays for the Anaheim Angels. Previously, Rivera played with the New York Yankees (2001-03) and Montreal Expos (2004). He bats and throws right-handed.
Rivera was signed by the Yankees as a non-draft amateur free agent in 1996 and made his debut in the 2001 season. When he came up to New York in midseason 2002, and while he showed promise, his .265 of batting average and one home run was a disappointment for the Yankees standard.
Sent back to AAA Columbus, Rivera was again recalled in 2003. This time he hit seven homers (including a multi-homer game) with 26 runs batted in. But the problems of occasional distraction affected his fielding. Except for those lapses, he have a great jump and decent range, a strong arm and an aggressiveness that puts him in throwing positions as quickly as any outfielder, specially in the right field. He was traded to the Expos before the 2004 season. In Montreal he finished with
.289, 12 homers and 81 RBI.
Rivera is a .289 hitter with 20 home runs and 81 RBI in 222 games. On November 19, 2004, he was sent along with shortstop Maicer Iztúris to Anaheim in the same trade that brought OF José Guillén to the Washington Nationals.
Note
- The Washington Nationals is the name to be officially announced on Monday, November 22, 2004 as the new name of the relocated Montreal Expos in their new home city of Washington, D.C.
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