Baseball Name Game 082814

This is the seventh and final installment for 2014 of the weekly series where I will look at players with similar names. The purpose is to sort out who is who and clear up any confusion. This week we will look at Jose Constanza, Jose Contreras and Mike Costanzo.

Constanza is an outfielder currently at Triple A Gwinnett of the Atlanta Braves. This season he has hit .294/.346/.326 with 0 HR, 34 RBI, 63 R, 30 SB in 108 games at Gwinnett. He does have three seasons MLB experience with the Braves from 2011 to 2013 as he hit .278/.322/.329 with 2 HR, 17 RBI, 31 R, 12 SB in 100 games. He bats left-handed and is 5-foot-9 and 185. He originally signed with the Indians in 2003 as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic. Constanza will be 31 on September 1st.

RHP Contreras is currently pitching for Toros de Tijuana in Mexico where he is 10-3, 3.49 ERA, 140 K, 1.15 WHIP in 134.0 IP over 23 games. He had split 2013 between Triple A Indianapolis, the Pirates and Triple A Pawtucket as he was 2-0, 0.93 ERA, 24 K, 0.93 WHIP, 1 SV in 19.1 IP over 16 games at Indianapolis, 0-0, 9.00 ERA, 5 K, 2.60 WHIP in 5.0 IP over 7 games with the Pirates and 0-2, 6.52 ERA, 15 K, 1.55 WHIP in 9.2 IP over 8 games at Pawtucket. He does have 11 seasons MLB experience pitching with the Pirates, Phillies, Rockies, White Sox and Yankees and is 78-67, 4.57 ERA, 889 K, 1.37 WHIP, 9 SV in 1173.0 IP over 299 games. The right-hander is 6-foot-four and 255. He originally signed with the Yankees in 2003 as an amateur free agent out of Cuba. Contreras will be 43 on December 6th.

Costanzo is a 3B\1B currently with Triple A Louisville of the Cincinnati Reds where he has hit .194/.279/.318 with 4 HR, 15 RBI, 9 R, 0 SB in 43 games. He did have a cup of coffee with the Reds in 2012 when he hit .056/.095/.056 with 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 R, 0 SB in 17 games. He bats left and is 6-foot-2 and 205. He was originally drafted by the Phillies in the second round in 2005 out of Coastal Carolina University. Costanzo will be 31 on September 9th.