Carlos Guillén

A versatile player who played all four infield positions and left field, Carlos Guillén is among a long line of excellent shortstops from Venezuela that includes Chico Carrasquel, Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio, Dave Concepción, Ozzie Guillén, and Omar Vizquel. At 6-feet-1-inch and 215 pounds, Guillén did not look like a prototypical shortstop. When he first arrived in the United States at the age of 19, “his cheeks were chunky and he looked to many of his teammates as if he was more of a batboy than a ballplayer.”1 Seventeen years later, after a career that was both limited and defined by 11 visits to the disabled list, the three-time All-Star retired as one of the best shortstops in Detroit Tigers history.

Carlos Alfonso Guillén was born on September 30, 1975, in Maracay, Venezuela. Maracay, the capital city of Aragua State, is located in north-central Venezuela, approximately 90 minutes southwest of Caracas. The city is an industrial center that produces paper, textiles, chemicals, tobacco, processed foods, soap, perfumes, and baseball players. In addition to Guillén, notable players like Concepción, Miguel Cabrera, Bobby Abreu, José Altuve, Elvis Andrus, Martín Prado, and Aníbal Sánchez all hailed from Maracay.

He is one of the two children of DeGuillén and Maria Guillén. DeGuillén worked for an agricultural company as a supervisor of a truck farm that grew bananas, beans, mangos, green peppers, potatoes, and lettuce. Maria was a schoolteacher. Including his sister, Olegmary, the family shared a first-floor apartment.2 By all accounts the family was middle class and Guillén did not struggle as much as many other young ballplayers who came out of Latin America.

Growing up, Carlos loved animals and spent as much time with pets as he did playing sports. “Dogs, cats, a tortoise, peacocks,” Guillén told Lynn Henning of the Detroit News.3 Had he not gone into baseball, he said, he would have been a veterinarian.

Carlos was an all-around athlete who played soccer, basketball, volleyball, and baseball. His versatility as an athlete was one of the reasons the Houston Astros signed him as an undrafted free agent on September 19, 1992. Not yet 17 years old, he was allowed to continue his education and his amateur career in Venezuela for two more seasons before the Astros brought him to the United States.

Guillén was 19 years old when he began his professional career with the Gulf Coast League Astros in 1995. Freddy Garcia, a fellow Venezuelan, was also a member of the GCL Astros and the two made their way through the minor leagues together. After hitting .295 with two home runs, 15 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases in 118 plate appearances, Guillén was ranked number 74 on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list heading into the 1996 season. 

Guillén started the 1996 season with the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class-A Midwest League. The 20-year-old shortstop was off to a fast start and the team was 22-12 when he suffered a season-ending dislocation of his left shoulder making a diving attempt to stop a ball hit up the middle.4 Guillén finished the year with a .330 average, 3 home runs, 17 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases in 29 games. Despite his limited action, Guillén’s success did not go unnoticed. Baseball America ranked him as the number-27 prospect prior to the 1997 season.

Promoted to the Jackson (Mississippi) Generals of the Double-A Texas League for the 1997 season, Guillén appeared in 115 games and finished the season with a batting average of .254, 10 home runs and 39 RBIs. A converted outfielder, Guillén struggled defensively and committed 35 errors in the 109 games he played at shortstop.

During his time in Jackson, Guillén shared how he struggled with the English language and the challenges it created on and off the field. He often relied on second baseman Carlos Hernández

to interpret and translate for him. “Sometimes I’m scared,” Guillén told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. “I don’t speak too good. Carlos Hernandez … he help me a lot.”5

Fast-forward to 2010 and Guillén had become a leading advocate for organizations to have one Spanish interpreter per team. After Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén drew national attention for pointing out that Asian players had interpreters but Latin players did not, Carlos Guillén stressed the challenges Latin players had in learning English. “It’s not easy for us to come here and survive. How do you explain the way you feel?” he said. “It’s hard for you guys to understand what we are saying. And the communication is the key to everything,” Guillén said as he explained that English classes offered to Latin players were not an effective solution.6

Guillén continue to advance through the Astros’ minor-league system and was given a taste of Triple-A baseball at the end of 1997 season. In three games with the American Association’s New Orleans Zephyrs, he hit .308 (4-for-13).

Growing up, there was a family that lived on the third floor of the Guilléns’ building. They had a daughter named Amelia. Carlos and Amelia were childhood friends and later developed a romantic relationship. The couple were married in 1997 and had three children, Alfonso, Isaac, and Camelia.7

Guillén started the 1998 season with hopes of being promoted to the Astros, who were contending for the National League Central Division championship. He was enjoying a solid season in New Orleans (.291, 12 home runs, 51 RBIs), when on July 31 he, Garcia, and a player to be named later were traded to the Seattle Mariners for left-handed pitcher Randy Johnson.8

Garcia and Guillén reported to the Tacoma Rainiers, the Mariners’ Pacific Coast League affiliate, for the remainder of the PCL season. With the presence of Álex Rodríguez at shortstop in Seattle, Guillén, who played shortstop exclusively in New Orleans, was shifted to second base. In 24 games with the Rainiers, he hit .228 with one home run and four RBIs.

An end-of-season callup, Guillén made his major-league debut on September 6, 1998, at the Kingdome in Seattle. He started at second base and batted ninth. He went 1-for-3 against Baltimore Orioles starter Mike Mussina, an RBI single in the eighth. The Mariners mustered little other offense that evening and lost the game, 5-2.

Guillén was hitting .333 when his season ended on September 17, establishing a pattern of injuries that would plague him throughout his career. He injured his left knee as he tumbled after making an acrobatic catch of a pop fly off the bat of A’s shortstop Miguel Tejada in short center field. Mariners manager Lou Piniella ominously told reporters, “It’s more than a sprain, but we don’t know yet.”9 Later it was confirmed that Guillén tore his posterior cruciate ligament.

After rehabbing the knee throughout the offseason, Guillén started the 1999 season with a bang. On Opening Day he hit his first major-league home run, off the White Sox’ James Baldwin. Batting in the leadoff spot, Guillén deposited a 3-and-2 offering from the right-hander over the right-field fence in the bottom of the third. The solo home run tied the score, 1-1, before the White Sox scored one in the fourth and two in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to roll to an easy 8-2 victory.

When Rodriguez went down with a knee injury on April 6, Guillén was moved to the left side of the infield to fill the void at shortstop. On April 10, during just his third start at shortstop, Guillén’s season ended abruptly when he suffered a severe right knee injury during a collision with the A’s Tony Phillips on a run-down play. The injury, a torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn cartilage, was thought to be career-threatening.

After the game Piniella spoke to the severity of the 22-year-old Guillén’s injury. “We expect him to be out quite a while,” Piniella said. “We don’t know exactly what the prognosis will be, but it is not going to be good. It’s a shame because he is a good young player.”10

Guillén again battled his way back during the offseason and established a Mariners franchise record for hits in spring training to win the starting third-baseman job.11 He got off to a slow start, batting only .083 in the team’s first eight games of 2000, when a strained hamstring landed him on the disabled list for the third consecutive year. After returning to action on April 28, he continued to struggle. He was batting just .143 when he was optioned to Tacoma.

Guillén rediscovered his batting stroke in Tacoma. In 24 games with the Rainiers he hit .299 with 2 home runs and 11 RBIs before being recalled in early July. Guillén’s recall from Tacoma proved to be good timing for the Mariners. In just his second game back, Rodriguez suffered a concussion that kept him out of the lineup for much of the month allowing Guillén to move over from third to shortstop. Guillén continued to hit after his return to Seattle. In his final 67 games, he hit .289 with 7 home runs and 37 RBIs and finished the year batting .257.

The Mariners finished the season with a record of 91-71, a half-game behind the AL West winner Oakland A’s, earning a wild-card spot in the playoffs. The Mariners faced the Chicago White Sox in the American League Division Series. Guillén didn’t see any action until Game Three. With the Mariners leading the series two games to none, he entered the game as a pinch-hitter with the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, runners at the corners, and one out. After fouling off the first pitch, Guillén pushed a line-drive drag bunt past a diving Frank Thomas at first base to score pinch-runner Rickey Henderson from third and send the Mariners to their first-ever American League Championship Series.

After the game reporters asked a smiling Guillén if he had ever had a bigger base hit. “Never, no,” he replied. “I just thought that I could hit a soft groundball to Frank Thomas at first base, and make it difficult for Frank to throw to home, and Rickey could score and we could win this game.”12

Guillén made two appearances in the ALCS against the New York Yankees. He started at third base in Game Four and went 0-for-3 as the Yankees shut out the Mariners 5-0. He also started at third base in Game Six and went 1-for-2 with two walks, including a fourth-inning, two-run home run down the right-field line off Orlando Hernández that gave the Mariners a 4-0 lead. The Yankees rallied for a 9-7 victory to win the American League pennant.

Before the start of the 2001 season, Rodriguez signed a lucrative contract with the Texas Rangers. His departure gave Guillén the opportunity to become the Mariners’ everyday shortstop. Acknowledging that he had big shoes to fill, the team’s new shortstop told reporters during spring training, “I can’t try to replace Alex Rodriguez. I can only play as well as Carlos Guillén can. Alex is one of the best. He played well, but I think I can, too.”13

Guillén once again got off to a slow start in 2001. Entering play on May 10, he was batting only .183. He hit .282 during the remainder of the season and finished with an average of .259 with 5 home runs and 53 RBIs as the Mariners, led by Japanese-import Ichiro Suzuki, won the American League West with a record of 116-46. The team’s 116 victories tied the major-league record held by the 1906 Chicago Cubs.

Guillén missed the last nine games of the regular season when he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, which eventually landed him in a Seattle area hospital and required him to have surgery to stop “minor bleeding” in one of his lungs.14 He had missed several games because of nosebleeds and had been battling the ailment for a few months prior to his diagnosis. The illness caused him to miss the ALDS against the Cleveland Indians, which the Mariners won, three games to two.

Guillén returned to action and appeared in three games of the ALCS against the Yankees. Guillén started Game One at shortstop and went 0-for-3 before being lifted for pinch-hitter Stan Javier in the bottom of the ninth of the Yankees’ 4-2 victory. In Game Three he pinch-hit for Suzuki in the top of the eighth and stayed in the game at shortstop as the Mariners blew out the Yankees, 14-3. Guillén started at shortstop, singled twice and scored a run in Game Five, a 12-3 Yankees victory that ended the Series.

Guillén got off to a quick start in 2002. He hit .337 for the month of April and was batting .306 when he was hit by a pitch while attempting to bunt in a May 31 game in Baltimore and suffered a bruised finger. The injury kept him out of the lineup for eight games.

Four days after his return to the lineup, in the early-morning hours of June 14, Guillén was pulled over doing 89 mph in a60-mph zone and arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in Clyde Hill, Washington. He pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge and later entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of first-degree negligent driving. The judge ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service and speak about the dangers of alcohol abuse.15

Guillén slumped late in the season, hitting just .209 with 1 home run and 11 RBIs, over his last 34 games. He finished the year with an average of .261, 9 home runs, and 56 RBIs.

The 2003 season was another injury-plagued campaign for Guillén. In early July he missed eight games due to a strained groin. The nagging injury cost him another six games later that month and he eventually landed on the disabled list, causing him to miss an additional 23 games. The injury forced the Mariners to acquire shortstop Rey Sanchez from the New York Mets to fill the void at short. When Guillén returned, he was moved to third base for the rest of the season. Limited to 109 games, he finished the year with a .276 average, 7 home runs, and 52 RBIs.

During the winter meetings, the Mariners signed Guillén to a one-year, $2.5 million contract that included up to $900,000 in performance bonuses.16 Yet the Mariners continued to shop the oft-injured Guillén during the offseason. When attempts to trade him to Cleveland for Omar Vizquel fell through, the Mariners signed free-agent shortstop Rich Aurilia and traded Guillén to the Detroit Tigers for minor-leaguer Juan González and shortstop Ramón Santiago on January 8, 2004.

On the surface the deal appeared to be a relatively minor one that included the two teams swapping shortstops. González was an added infield prospect who at 22 years old failed to impress the Tigers at Class-A Western Michigan and toiled in the minor leagues for 10 years with six different organizations. Santiago played in only 27 games with the Mariners during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, batting a combined .170 with just two RBIs before returning to the Tigers as a free agent in 2006.  Santiago played with the Tigers until 2013. The deal turned out to be one of the best trades in Tigers history.

The Tigers were coming off a 2003 season in which they finished with a dismal record of 43-119, one of the worst records in modern baseball history. Guillén was among the new faces general manager Dave Dombrowski brought in to turn the Tigers’ fortunes around.

The 2004 Tigers improved 29 games over the previous year and finished the year with a 72-90 record. Guillén’s breakout season was one of the reasons for this dramatic improvement. He hit .318 with 20 home runs and a team-leading 97 RBIs in 136 games, and was named to his first American League All-Star team. He was the only nonpitcher for either team not to appear in the All-Star Game.

Guillén was on pace to break the club record of 105 RBIs for a shortstop, held by manager Alan Trammell, when his season came to an end on September 11. He injured his right knee when he slid into third base as he unsuccessfully tried to advance from first to third on a base hit. Two and a half weeks later, Guillén underwent knee surgery to repair a torn ligament in his knee.

After another offseason spent rehabilitating yet another injury, Guillén and the Tigers entered 2005 optimistic that they would be able to improve on the previous year’s finish. He was hitting .355 on June 7 when he suffered a strained left hamstring that cost him 15 games. He missed another 39 games in August and September when tests on his surgically repaired right knee showed weakness in his quad muscle.17 Limited to 87 games, Guillén finished the season with a career-high .320 average, 5 home runs, and 23 RBIs.

The Tigers’ high hopes for 2005 came to fruition in 2006 when the team finished 95-67 and captured the American League’s wild-card spot under new manager Jim Leyland. Guillén was vital to the Tigers’ success. He established career highs in games played (153), runs scored (100), doubles (41), and stolen bases (20). He also matched his career-high .320 batting average, established a year earlier, and added 19 home runs with 85 RBIs as he finished 10th in voting for the American League MVP Award.

On August 1 Guillén became the 10th Tiger to hit for the cycle when he accomplished the feat against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He hit an RBI triple in the second, a solo home run to left-center to lead off the third, and a single in the sixth, and legged out a double to right in the eighth. He was the first Tiger to hit for the cycle on the road since Hall of Famer George Kell did it against the Philadelphia Athletics on June 2, 1950. As impressive as his regular season was, he saved the best for the postseason.

Guillén went 8-for-14 (.571) in the Tigers’ three-games-to-one upset victory over the Yankees in the Division Series. He hit safely in all four games and had a game-tying solo home run in the top of the sixth inning in Game Two and an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth of the Tigers’ series-clinching victory in Game Four.

In the Tigers’ four-game sweep of the Oakland A’s in the Championship Series, Guillén went only 3-for-16 with a run scored and a double. But for the first time in his career, Guillén was headed to the World Series.

The Tigers dropped the series to the St. Louis Cardinals in five games. Guillén was one of the bright spots for the Tigers. He hit .353, collecting 6 hits in 17 at-bats. In Game Two, a 3-1 Tigers victory, he went 3-for-3 with a double, triple, and RBI. He finished the 2006 postseason with a batting average of .362.

Guillén remained healthy for the entire 2007 season. In 151 games he hit .296 and had career highs in home runs (21) and RBIs (102). That summer, Guillén saw his first action in an All-Star Game when he entered the game to play shortstop in the bottom of the fifth and replaced teammate Iván Rodríguez in the seventh spot of the American League batting order. Guillén grounded out to second in the top of the sixth and led off the top of the ninth with another groundout to second as the American League dropped a 5-2 decision to the National League at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

In 2008 the 32-year-old Guillén began to show the cumulative effect of the long list of injuries suffered throughout his career. Given his diminished mobility, the Tigers attempted to switch him to first base and first baseman Miguel Cabrera to third to start the season. The experiment was short-lived.

Guillén appeared in his final All-Star Game in the American League’s 15-inning, 4-3 marathon victory at Yankee Stadium. He entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Joe Crede in the bottom of the eighth and struck out and stayed in the game to play third base. He was intentionally walked in the bottom of the 10th, led off the bottom of the 12th with a double to left, and lined out to short in the bottom of the 14th.

After missing a handful of games in August due to a stiff back, Guillén played his final game of the season on August 25. Later it was determined that the inflammation was coming from a nerve root in his lower back. While he did not require surgery, the injury required an extended period of rest that ended a disappointing season for Guillén. Limited to 113 games, he batted .286 with 10 home runs and 54 RBIs, far below what the Tigers had projected for their All-Star shortstop.

Guillén started 2009 splitting time as the team’s left fielder and designated hitter. He was off to a slow start when on May 5 he was placed on the disabled list with inflammation in his right shoulder, an injury he suffered earlier in the season when he crashed into the left-field wall trying to make a catch. When he went on the disabled list, he was hitting just .200 with six RBIs.

The injury caused Guillén to miss 68 games. He returned to the lineup as the team’s designated hitter on July 24 and played both ends of the doubleheader against the White Sox, with a solo home run in the nightcap. He bounced back offensively and by mid-August he made it back to left-field. He finished the year with a .242 average, 11 home runs, and 41 RBIs.

Guillén appeared in even fewer games in 2010. He was hitting .311 to start the season when he landed on the disabled list again and missed more than a month with a strained hamstring. When he was activated in late May, he returned to the infield as the team’s second baseman. His season came to an end on August 16 when he hurt his knee while turning a game-ending double play against the Yankees. Initial tests indicated the knee suffered no major damage and he was diagnosed with a bruised knee. Later he learned he had suffered a season-ending microfracture that required surgery. In 68 games he hit .273 with 6 home runs and 34 RBIs.

Still recovering from the microfracture surgery he had the previous fall, the switch-hitting Guillén spent the first half of the 2011 season on the disabled list. He played his first game of the season on July 16, but was placed back on the disabled list on August 13 with a sore left wrist. He returned to the lineup on September 3, but played only six games the rest of the season, including his final game on September 18, which he left in the fourth inning with a strained right calf. Limited to 28 games, Guillén hit .232, with 3 home runs, and 13 RBIs.

Guillén failed to return to the Tigers lineup during the regular season and was ineligible for the postseason. The Tigers beat the Yankees in the ALDS, three games to two, and lost to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS, four games to two.

The 2011 season brought an unceremonious conclusion to Guillén’s Tigers and major-league career. After being granted free agency by the Tigers following the 2011 season, Guillen signed as a free agent with the Seattle Mariners in February 2012. After reporting to spring training, Guillén voluntarily retired on March 6, stating he was unable to return from the injuries that plagued him in 2011. In eight seasons with the Tigers, Guillén hit .297 with 95 home runs and 449 RBIs. In his 14-year major-league career, during which he conservatively missed 750 games due to injury, he hit .285 with 124 home runs and 660 RBIs.

Guillén was a nonroster invitee to the Mariners’ spring training in 2012. Unable to recover from a series of injuries he experienced in the final years of his career, Guillén announced his retirement in March 2012. “It’s a tough decision for me, for my family, for everybody because I tried so hard to come back,” Guillén said. “I’ve been through a lot of injuries,” he said, explaining that the body tells you when it is time to quit.

Guillén remained active in baseball. In 2016 he was named general manager of the Venezuelan Baseball Team that competed in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. His tenure as GM was surrounded by controversy. In November of 2016, Guillén asked manager Omar Vizquel to resign as team manager. Supported by many star Venezuelan players, Vizquel refused to resign and asked Guillén for an explanation. Eventually the two made peace and Vizquel stayed on as manager. Guillén said, “There was some miscommunication. These situations happen among teams and you try to keep them within the clubhouse, so to speak. The important thing is we’re here.”18 

Asdrúbal Cabrera, who also publicly feuded with Guillén, was not as not as fortunate and was eventually removed from the team’s star-studded roster. The team finished a disappointing eighth in the WBC with a record of 2-5. 

As of 2021 Guillén owned the Carlos Alfonso Guillén (CAG) Baseball Academy in Maracay. The academy, which hosts three dozen amateur baseball players at a time, has worked to develop prospects to meet the rigors of the game both on and off the field. Guillén summarized the mission of the academy in simple terms: “Baseball is not easy. If you teach those kids what they’re gonna face when they sign (to play) professional baseball and they prepare themselves, there’s going to be more baseball players in the big leagues.”19

He and his wife split time between their homes in Miami and their native Venezuela. Together they operated the Venezuelan Chamos Foundation, a charitable organization they established when Guillén played for the Tigers.

Last revised: January 31, 2026

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also relied on Baseball-reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

Photo credits: Carlos Guillén, Getty Images.

Notes

1 Dan Holmes, “Carlos Guillén Made a Name For Himself as One of Detroit’s Best Shortstops,” Vintage Detroit Collection, May 15, 2016. https://www.vintagedetroit.com/blog/2016/05/15/carlos-guillen/.

2 Lynn Henning, “Hurts, but So Good: Injury-Ravaged Guillen Remains Model Tigers Teammate,” Detroit News, August 10, 2011. Retrieved from https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-detroit-news/20110810/281994669172098.

3 Henning.

4 Steve Batterson, “Bandits Rally for Win,” Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa), May 17, 1996: 27. 

5 Robert Falkoff, “Gens’ Guillen Depends on DP Partner Hernandez as Translator,” Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion-Ledger, June 30, 1997: 15.

6 Steve Kornacki, “Tigers’ Carlos Guillen, Ramon Santiago Stress Importance of Latin Players to Learn English,” Michigan Live, August 3, 2010. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/tigers/2010/08/tigers_infielders_carlos_guill.html.

7 Henning.

8 Left-hander John Halama was sent to Seattle to complete the trade on October 1, 1998.

9 Associated Press, “Injury Sidelines Seattle Prospect,” Lansing (Michigan) State Journal, September 18, 1998: 23.

10 Associated Press, “Mariners: Jaha Puts on Display at Plate for A’s,” Spokane (Washington) Spokesman-Review, April 11, 1999: 41.

11 Larry LaRue, “Sharing the Pain,” Spokane Spokesman-Review, April 25, 2000: 23.

12 Matt Glade, “Mariners: Guillen’s Drag Bunt Sends 48,000 Safeco Fans into Delirium,” Longview (Washington)  Daily News, October 7, 2000: 10.

13 “Guillen Fills Gigantic Shoes,” Greenfield (Indiana) Daily Reporter, March 13, 2001: 16.

14 “Guillen, Battling TB, Undergoes Minor Surgery to Stop Bleeding,” Spokane Spokesman-Review, October 3, 2001: 14.

15 Angelo Bruscas, “Gullen Will Speak Out on DUI: M’s Shortstop Sentenced to Community Service,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 5, 2003. Retrieved from https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Guillen-will-speak-out-on-DUI-1108953.php. 

16 Tim Korte, “Mariners Ink Aurilia to One-Year Deal, Ship SS Guillen to Detroit,” Longview Daily News, January 9, 2004: 20.

17 Gene Guidi, “Gullen on DL with Weak Quad,” Detroit Free Press, August 18, 2005: 52.

18 Jorge L. Ortiz, “After Heated Dispute, Venezuela’s Omar Vizquel, Carlos Guillen Unite for WBC,” USA Today Sports, December 6, 2016, retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/12/05/after-heated-dispute-venezuelans-omar-vizquel-carlos-guillen-unite-wbc/95023128/.

19 Andy Patton, “Detroit Tigers Shortstop Carlos Guillen May Have Retired in 2012, But He’s Still Very Active in the Venezuelan Baseball Community,” Motor City Bengals, June 21, 2018. Retrieved from https://motorcitybengals.com/2018/06/21/detroit-tigers-now-carlos-guillen/.