Ricardo Nanita

{{Infobox baseball biography

| name = Ricardo Nanita

| image = Ricardo Nanita Chunichi Dragons.jpg

| position = Outfielder

| bats = Left

| throws = Left

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1981|6|12}}

| birth_place = Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

| debutleague = NPB

| debutdate = March 27

| debutyear = 2015

| debutteam = Chunichi Dragons

| finalleague = NPB

| finaldate = August 13

| finalyear = 2016

| finalteam = Chunichi Dragons

| statleague = NPB

| stat1label = Batting average

| stat1value = .293

| stat2label = Home runs

| stat2value = 8

| stat3label = Runs batted in

| stat3value = 50

| teams =

Chunichi Dragons ({{npby|2015}}–{{npby|2016}})

|medaltemplates=

{{Medal|Country|{{bb|DOM}}}}

}}

Ricardo Michael Nanita (born June 12, 1981) is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played for the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and for the Dominican Republic national baseball team.

Amateur career

Nanita attended Chipola College, and then transferred to Florida International University (FIU), where he played college baseball for the FIU Panthers baseball team.{{cite web|author=Richard Griffin |url=https://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/2014/03/03/blue_jays_minorleague_outfielder_ricardo_nanita_dreams_of_a_shot_in_the_majors_griffin.html |title=Blue Jays' minor-league outfielder Ricardo Nanita dreams of a shot in the majors: Griffin | Toronto Star |work=Thestar.com |date=March 3, 2014 |access-date=June 20, 2017}}

Professional career

=Chicago White Sox=

The Chicago White Sox drafted Nanita in the 14th round of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft.

Nanita spent his first season in the minors with White Sox affiliate Great Falls in the Pioneer League registering a .384 batting average with 37 RBIs in 212 plate appearances.{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=nanita001ric|title=Baseball Reference|access-date=March 8, 2016}}

=Toronto Blue Jays=

Nanita played for the Toronto Blue Jays Triple-A affiliate Las Vegas 51s in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.{{cite web|url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-66879970|title=Jays sign Ricardo Nanita|date=January 20, 2014|access-date=January 20, 2014|work=Buffalo Bisons}} The Blue Jays invited him to spring training in 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.noticiassin.com/2013/02/ricardo-nanita-y-su-familia-disfrutan-su-juego/ |title=Ricardo Nanita y su familia disfrutan su juego |publisher=Noticias SIN |date=February 21, 2013 |access-date=June 20, 2017}}

Nanita played for the Dominican Republic national baseball team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.{{cite web|last=Calcaterra |first=Craig |url=http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/01/can-japan-be-beat-previewing-the-world-baseball-classic/ |title=Can Japan be beat? Previewing the World Baseball Classic | HardballTalk |publisher=Hardballtalk.nbcsports.com |date=March 1, 2013 |access-date=June 20, 2017}}

Nanita started the 2013 season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He was promoted to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons on May 21.{{cite web|url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-48191162|title=Nanita, Weber join Bisons Beck falls on DL, Batista released|date=May 21, 2013|access-date=May 21, 2013}}

On January 20, 2014, the Blue Jays announced that Nanita had been signed to a minor league contract for 2014 with an invitation to major league spring training. He was assigned to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons before the end of spring training. Nanita was transferred to the temporarily inactive list on May 11, 2014, after he opened the season batting .118 over 6 games.{{cite web|url=http://jaysjournal.com/2014/05/11/week-blue-jays-minor-leagues/|title=This Week in the Blue Jays Minor Leagues|last=Mueller|first=Ryan|work=jaysjournal.com|date=May 11, 2014|access-date=May 14, 2014}} On May 17, it was announced that Nanita had been loaned to the Tigres de Quintana Roo of the Mexican Baseball League.

=Chunichi Dragons=

Nanita was signed by the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball on December 15, 2014.{{cite web|url=http://dragons.jp/news/2014/14121501.html|title=新外国人選手獲得のお知らせ|date=May 21, 2013|access-date=March 8, 2016}}

On October 29, 2016, it was confirmed that Nanita would be released from the Dragons along with Leyson Séptimo, Juan Jaime, Drew Naylor, and Anderson Hernández.{{cite web | url=http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/news/1730492.html | title=中日ナニータら外国人５選手と契約更新せず (Nanita and 4 other foreign players not given renewals) | publisher=Sports Nikkan | date=October 28, 2016 | access-date=October 31, 2016 | language=Japanese}}{{cite web | url=http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/news/2016/10/28/kiji/K20161028013617550.html | title=中日ナニータ、エルナンデスら外国人５選手が戦力外成績残せず (Chunichi: Nanita, Hernandez and 3 others released; did not leave an impact) | publisher=Sponichi | date=October 28, 2016 | access-date=October 31, 2016 | language=Japanese}}

=Guerreros de Oaxaca=

On March 14, 2018, Nanita signed with the Guerreros de Oaxaca of the Mexican League.{{cite web|title=Ricardo Nanita vestirá el jersey bélico|url=http://guerreros.mx/noticias.php?id=896|language=Spanish|access-date=March 14, 2018}} He was released on March 30.