El Pasoan Omar Quintanilla Gets First Homer as an Oriole

While El Pasoan, and former Socorro Bulldog stand-out, Omar Quintanilla, has been passed around a few professional and minor league teams, he has said he won't give up. And today that held true...

On July 20, 2012, the New York Mets released Quintanilla to make room for Jason Bay on the 25-man roster. It was said Quintanilla would drop back down to the minor leagues and play once again with the Buffalo Bisons. However, things changed quickly and Quintanilla suited up with the Baltimore Orioles staying in the big leagues. Quintanilla was hitting .257 with one home run under his belt, 4 RBI's in 29 games with the Mets.

Quintanilla was drafted in the first round, 33rd overall, by the Oakland Athletics in 2003. In today's matchup against the A's, Quintanilla was the first to score and the last to secure the 6-1 victory over his former team with a solo homer off Jim Miller's 6th-inning pitch. Quintanilla has come full-circle in his struggle to stay afloat in the big leagues.

Quintanilla had a bunt single to start the third and was the first bird to home-plate as Adam Jones gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead with an RBI double.

In addition to Wei-Yin Chen's 12 strikeouts against the A's and Matt Wieters 3-1 shot for a 4-0 Oriole lead at the bottom of the third, El Paso's own came through with three big hits, which tied his career high.

The Orioles took the win 6-1 in their finale of a three-game series. Quintanilla finished 3-for-4 with one RBI.

A good start to his new career as an Oriole. Leaving behind a struggling Mets team in the NL East who trails 12 wins behind the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves. His new team, however, is just seven wins behind the New York Yankees in the AL East. The Orioles take on the Yankees Monday, July 30, at Yankee Stadium at 5:05 PM MST.

A collegue of mine, Jeff Power, who covers the Texas Rangers and Class AA Frisco Roughriders for Fox Sports Southwest/Houston had the opportunity to talk with Quintanilla and highlight his career before his move to the Orioles.