Benito James Distefano (born January 23, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Chunichi Dragons. He made his MLB debut in 1984 and played his last game in 1992.
Biography
Distefano attended Lafayette High School in Brooklyn, New York, followed by college at Alvin Community College in Alvin, Texas. Distefano was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second round of the 1981 MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase.[1]
Distefano remains the most recent left-handed-throwing player to catch an MLB game, catching in three separate games for the Pirates in 1989.[2]
On April 28, 1992, David Cone of the New York Mets brought a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Distefano broke it up with an infield hit. [3]
In 2010, Distefano was hired by the New York Mets to serve as the hitting coach for the Single A Brooklyn Cyclones.[4] After serving as the hitting coach for the Class A St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League for a few years, Distefano returned to Brooklyn for the 2014 season.
Distefano was named as the bench coach for the Syracuse Mets of the New York Mets organization for the 2019 season. In the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Distefano was a roving instructor in the Mets’ system.
Distefano is in the Houston area hosting a boys baseball camp annually.[citation needed]
References
- ^ “Benny Distefano Minor & Japanese Leagues Statistics”. Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
- ^ Schwarz, Alan (August 15, 2009). “Left-Handed and Left Out”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 20, 2023 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ “Cone hurls 2-hit shutout”. Google News.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ “Brooklyn Cyclones”. MiLB.com.
External links
- Career statistics from ESPN · Baseball Reference · Fangraphs · Baseball Reference (Minors) · Retrosheet · Baseball Almanac
