USF alum Heintz signs with Orioles
Chris Heintz, the former USF star who has played parts of the last three seasons as a catcher with the Minnesota Twins, has accepted a spring training invitation and signed a minor-league contract with the Baltimore Orioles, USF coach Lelo Prado said Wednesday.
Heintz, 33, has been working informally with the Bulls as a volunteer assistant, helping especially with a group of first-year Bulls catchers. He made his major-league debut with the Twins after spending parts of 10 seasons in the minors. He has a .232 career batting average in 82 big-league at-bats.
Prado said former Yankees and Rays star Tino Martinez will continue in his role as a volunteer assistant with USF. Martinez has been invited by the Yankees to be a guest instructor during spring training, but he'll work with both teams while the Yankees are in Tampa. The two teams meet in a spring training exhibition Feb. 29 at Legends Field.
Times sportswriter Greg Auman, who covers USF, will post news and thoughts on the Bulletin and we invite your participation in the comments area.
Congrats to the Chris “Sarge” Heintz! Arguably one of the best baseball players to every play for USF!! One day he will be a great addition to the USF baseball group of coaches.
Posted by: PMR | January 30, 2008 at 03:59 PM
Hopefully Baltimore is the place Chris makes his mark. I wish him well.
Posted by: JoeB | January 30, 2008 at 07:25 PM
Well... now we have two catchers floating around in the Baltimore-Washington DC area. Last I recall, the Nationals affiliate out of Potomac, VA, has one of our catchers that they drafted three years ago. Maybe they'll catch up with each other while they're in town. They'll definitely see each other during Spring Training as the Nats and O's play each other.
Posted by: Terry Lucas | January 31, 2008 at 07:32 AM