Giovanni Carrara

If there is a word to describe Giovanni Carrara during his 24 years of professional pitching, it is courage. As a starter or a reliever, it was hard to pull him from the game. Managers faced the tough task of going to the mound and asking for the ball, as Carrara showed no sign of leaving the field. His devotion to each game was evident.

Giovanni Carrara Jiménez was born in El Tigre, Anzoátegui state in Venezuela, on March 4, 1968, the youngest of five siblings. His parents were Héctor Carrara, owner of a construction company, and Omaira Josefina Jiménez. From a very young age, he showed an interest in baseball. At age 5, he joined Constructora Carrara, a local baseball team run by his mother, where he played until age 10. However, when his parents divorced, the team broke up, and Giovanni started to play for other teams, from pre-little league to junior categories.

Giovanni began as a shortstop, his favorite position because his idol was Dave Concepción. When he wasn’t playing shortstop, he was pitching. At shortstop, he showed great defensive prowess. At age 15, professional organizations in Venezuela and the United States observed his development and saw special potential in him.

While participating in the Junior Category Championship in 1986, Carrara was invited to try out with Águilas del Zulia, managed by former All-Star Rubén Amaro. Manuel Lunar, a pitcher with Águilas, had urged the team to see Carrara play. At shortstop, he showcased his solid arm; however, his hitting was nothing unusual. Still, the team invited him to its preseason workouts.

On the first day of workouts, the team asked him to try pitching. After a bullpen session where he showed the potential of his arm, Águilas signed Carrara for the 1986-87 season.

In the 1986-1987 season, Carrara pitched 2⅔ innings with a 6.75 ERA. The next season he played in three games and logged his first victory on October 22, 1988, against the Tiburones de La Guaira.

In 1986, Carrara was signed by the Chicago Cubs. In 1987, he attended the Cubs’ training camp, staying for the extended spring training. In May, he hurt his arm (tendinitis), and it took a full month for him to recover. The Cubs sent him to Venezuela to complete the rehab process in the Summer League. Despite recovering successfully, he did not return to the Cubs because the contract with the organization was never legally registered with the National League. As a result, Carrara spent four years (1986-1989) without being signed by any team from the majors.

Another setback occurred in 1988 when Zulia released Carrara after only 14 games pitched (1-1, 5.40 ERA). At the suggestion of Venezuelan baseball legend César Tovar, the Cardenales de Lara invited him to training camp for the 1989 campaign. Manager Domingo Carrasquel, with pitcher Luis Leal, who supported him from the beginning, told Carrasquel to keep him on the team because he would be helpful for a while. This would be the start of a prodigious career. “Luis Leal was one of the people who helped me the most during the practice with the Cardenales so that they kept me on the team,” Carrara told the author.1

Carrara made his debut with the Cardenales on October 27, 1989, and saw action in six games, with a 1-0 record and a 4.82 ERA.

Carrara continued with the Cardenales and was part of the team that won the franchise’s first title in the 1990-1991 season. He played in the Caribbean Series in Miami, leading the tournament with 15⅓ innings pitched. Those numbers were enough to convince Dominican scout Epy Guerrero to give him a chance with the Toronto Blue Jays.

After the Caribbean Series, Carrara was assigned to his first team in Organized Baseball, St. Catharines of the Low-A New York-Pennsylvania League. His days in the minors were rough, as for many Latino players, due to the discipline and struggles of the process to make it to the major leagues. Between 1992 and 1995, he pitched at least 100 innings in the minors.

Patience and effort were finally rewarded. The Blue Jays called up Carrara. He made his debut on July 29 in the Toronto SkyDome in a start against the Oakland Athletics, with Cuban Ariel Prieto as his opponent. The first hitter he faced was future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who walked. His first strikeout was against Scott Brosius. After three scoreless frames, in the top of the fourth, he yielded a two-run homer to Brosius. He ended with five innings, seven hits, two doubles, a triple, a homer, five walks, and two strikeouts, but got the win in a wild 18-11 game.

Carrara appeared in 23 games in 1995 and 1996 for the Blue Jays, mostly as a reliever, starting only seven games. His record was 2-5 with an 8.20 ERA, not very satisfactory stats for a 28-year-old pitcher. On July 3, 1996, the Cincinnati Reds selected Carrara off the waiver list, joining the big-league club in August after an impressive performance with the triple-A club in Indianapolis with an ERA of 0.76 in nine appearances, six as a starter, and a record of 4-0.

He joined the rotation and got his first win as a starter for the Reds on August 23 against the Florida Marlins.

Entering 1997, he signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles, getting assigned to Triple A in Rochester, but after eight games, he was released. The Reds picked up his contract and reassigned him to Indianapolis, where he ended up with a record of 12-5 and an ERA of 3.51. He spent the month of August with the big-league club, and after the season, he was released.

In 1998, after three seasons in the major-league system, Carrara signed to play in Japan with the Seibu Lions in Nippon Professional Baseball. In 33 outings (five of them as a starter), he had a 1-2 record with a save and a 4.91 ERA. “It was the toughest league in my career because it was competitive and tough with the training. You must grind from the first day of practice,” he said.2

After his stint in Japanese baseball, Carrara suited up for Lara earlier than expected, and again his name became a staple for the rotation of Cardenales, being not only a workhorse but also a fan favorite. Lara advanced to the finals against Leones del Caracas, and Carrara’s legacy reached a peak on January 29, 1999, in the fifth game of the Championship Series. Carrara pitched 6⅔ innings in perhaps one of the most brilliant relief appearances in the history of Venezuelan baseball finals.

There were several emotional moments during the game: the game-tying homer by Bobby Abreu for Caracas in the ninth, which triggered Carrara to prolong his relief appearance up to the 10th inning. “I either kill them or get killed here,” he said, referring to the epic game.

Lara scored twice in the top of the 10th, and Carrara held on for the 5-3 win. Lara led the series 3-2, and his performance provided the momentum to win the third title for the franchise.

“During every inning, manager Omar Malavé would tell me he was going to pull me. I would reply: ‘Listen, Omar, we are going to have a problem, you and I, if you pull me.’ You take me out of this game dead,” he said.3

In 2000, Carrara was back in the big leagues, this time with the Colorado Rockies, where he pitched in just eight games. However, it was with the Los Angeles Dodgers that he had his best major-league performances.

In 2001 and 2002 with Los Angeles, Carrara had a 12-4 record with a 3.22 ERA in 110 games (four of them as a starter). On April 20, 2002, Carrara got the first save of his career against the San Diego Padres in Dodger Stadium.

After his great season with the Dodgers in 2005 (7-4, 3.93 ERA in 72 games), Carrara was part of Team Venezuela in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. The country’s fan base was very enthusiastic because it was the first national team ever assembled with MLB players, generating great expectations. Despite the great roster, the team performance was disappointing, including Carrara’s, who was severely criticized despite having but one outing (against Cuba during Round 2).

“Both Robert Pérez and manager Luis Sojo, along with myself, were pointed out by the fans,” Carrara told the author. “I had enough merit to be on the team in the first tournament, and Robert is, in my opinion, the best batter in the history of the LVBP and had to be there. Some people suggested that we were part of the team because of our friendship with Sojo. That hurt a lot.” Carrara remembers barely pitching a game against Cuba in the second round. In two-thirds of an inning, he allowed three hits, five runs, two homers, and a walk.

September 23, 2006, was Carrara’s last outing in the majors. He faced the Arizona Diamondbacks and came in relief of Elmer Dessens with one out; he gave up a single to center by Eric Byrnes but retired both Orlando Hudson and Luis González to end the inning. After the season, the Dodgers released him.

During his five seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Giovanni Carrara made a significant impact as a key component of the bullpen. Appearing in 249 games with an impressive ERA of 3.32, Carrara established himself as one of the most effective and feared relief pitchers in the National League. His record of 24 wins and 11 losses, along with a WHIP of 1.24, highlighted his consistent performance and ability to manage high-pressure situations. Carrara’s dominance on the mound came from his strategic approach and solid control of the strike zone, rather than sheer power. With just 255 innings pitched, he exemplified the role of a dominant reliever during an era where precision and tactical prowess were paramount, earning him a lasting reputation among Dodgers fans and peers alike.

Carrara always hoped to pitch in the majors again. He tried a comeback in 2007 in the Mexican Baseball League for Piratas de Campeche, but an injury kept him from completing the season. That same year, he signed with Nettuno of the Italian League, where he pitched for three years. “The advantage of playing in Italy is that they play during the weekends, and pitchers can only perform once,” he said. “It allowed me to recover from the injury I suffered in Mexico and stay active for the Venezuelan season,” he remembered.4

Carrara had a farewell season in Venezuela with the Cardenales de Lara. On December 20, 2009, he faced the Navegantes del Magallanes. The righty was 41 years old and became the only pitcher with 24 seasons in the history of the Venezuelan league (21 of them with Lara).

The last hitter he faced in the Venezuelan league was Elvis Andrus, who singled up the middle. The line for the last game of his career was two-thirds of an inning, allowing two hits and two runs.

The right-handed pitcher was a member of four championship Cardenales teams and one of three players in the league with over 50 wins and 50 saves, along with Roberto Muñoz and Luis Aponte. He closed his career with 67 wins and 56 saves, ranking ninth all-time in both categories in Venezuelan baseball, while also sporting a 2.93 ERA. He led the league in wins in 1994-95 (seven), in strikeouts in 1997-98 (64), and in ERA in 1997-98 (1.30) and 2007-08 (2.30).

Carrara’s 1.205 WHIP was the third best in the history of the LVBP with at least 180 games pitched, surpassed only by stellar pitchers Diego Seguí (1.18) and Luis Mercedes Sánchez (1.196).

Carrara never earned the Carrao Bracho Award, the Venezuelan winter season’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award. In 1997-98, possibly one of his best seasons in Venezuela, it was his teammate Beiker Graterol, with a record of 9-1, and a 1.67 ERA, and 50 strikeouts in 80⅔ innings pitched.

After retirement, Carrara worked in the Venezuelan Winter League as a coach. In September 2012, he was the pitching coach of the Cardenales de Lara in the Liga Paralela (Parallel League). In a published story with El Impulso, he said, “This was something I was hoping for since retirement. I wanted people from the Cardenales to give me the chance to go back to the organization. I am very happy for the opportunity they are giving me. I hope I can be up here (with the main team) soon.”5

On December 22, 2013, in Estadio Antonio Herrera Gutiérrez in Barquisimeto, the club honored him by retiring his number 28, which he had worn for over two decades. “It never crossed my mind that at some point they would retire my number,” he said during his remarks. “I will always be grateful for the opportunity they gave me. … I think Zulia made a mistake when they let me go because, in my second year here, we won the championship.”6

Carrara was in the Development League with the Lara team until 2014 when he was hired by the Tigres de Aragua as a bullpen instructor. His dream of becoming a pitching coach in the LVBP seemed close, but by the end of November that year, he parted ways with the organization following the departure of manager Luis Sojo.

It wouldn’t be long before Carrara found a new job, his first outside of Venezuela. In 2015, he was hired by the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitching coach for one of their affiliates in the Dominican Summer League. From day one in the organization, Carrara showed character in leading a group of talented young aspiring major leaguers. “The first thing I try to teach the minor-league guys with the St. Louis Cardinals is discipline, as I was taught by Mr. Domingo Carrasquel. Discipline and perseverance help a lot of people apart from doing things with love. He was like a father to me, teaching me about respect not only on the field but also off the field.”7

In 2016, he became a pitching coach with the Gulf Coast League Cardinals, where he advanced to two championship finals and helped lead the team to a league title.

After appearing on the ballot for the first time in 2016, Carrara was elected to the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame on August 1, 2017. He said, “I am very grateful to all the fans in Venezuela, but especially to the fans of the Cardenales de Lara, with all the people from Barquisimeto, who always supported me.”8

Carrara’s biggest regret was not attending the induction ceremony because of personal commitments. However, this didn’t keep the former major leaguer from writing a speech that was read at the ceremony where he showed his gratitude to his great friends:

“To my brothers Robert Pérez and Luis Sojo, we were together through the good and the bad, supporting each other, because, as you all know, our career is not easy. One goes through difficult moments that the fans don’t know about, and it is then that we, as teammates, and brothers, are there to support each other. And that is what counts the most in the life of a ballplayer: brotherhood and family, who are always there in difficult times.”9

The right-hander’s solid career was recognized not only because of the numbers he had in any league but also because of the courage and integrity he displayed with the teams he played for. Venezuelan fans always expected the best from him, and he proved it in every inning as a pitcher.

After induction, Carrara continued to carry out his role as a minor-league pitching coach for the Cardinals, as well as in the winter circuits with the Cañeros de Los Mochis and the Águilas de Mexicali in the Mexican Pacific League, in both the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons.

Carrara returned to Cañeros de Los Mochis for the 2022-23 season as a pitching coach working alongside Venezuelan manager José Moreno. They won the fourth title for the franchise in the Mexican Pacific League and represented Mexico at the 2023 Caribbean Series in Caracas, Venezuela. It was an emotional return for Carrara, who expressed his gratitude for opportunities in Mexico upon his arrival in Caracas. Los Mochis finished in third place in the tournament.

Outside baseball, Carrara devoted most of his time to his family, especially his wife, Dorien, and his two sons, Cristian Giovanni and Giovanni Gabriel. “They are the biggest accomplishment of my life,” reflects Carrara, considered one of the most ferocious competitors on the mound in the history of Venezuelan Baseball.

Last revised: January 31, 2026

Sources

All citations from this article are attributed to a personal interview of the author with Giovanni Carrara in the winter of 2023.

Apart from the sources in the Notes, the author also consulted:

Guía de Medios, Cardenales de Lara temporada 2016-17 (Barquisimeto: Editorial Horizonte C.A, 2016).

Saer, Alfonso. Cardenales de Lara, 50 años de pasión (Barquisimeto: Editorial Horizonte C.A, 2015).

Interview by the author with Giovanni Carrara.

www.pelotabinaria.com.ve.

www.baseball-reference.com.

www.museodebeisbol.com.

Photo credit

Giovanni Carrara, Getty Images.

Notes

1 Interview by the author with Giovanni Carrara, March 2018.

2 Interview with Giovanni Carrara. March 2018.

3 Interview with Giovanni Carrara. March 2018.

4 Interview with Giovanni Carrara. March 2018.

5 Diario El Impulso, September 19, 2012.

6 Diario El Impulso, December 23, 2013.

7 Interview by the author with Giovanni Carrara, August 2017.

8 Interview by the author with Giovanni Carrara, August 2017.

9 Prensa Museo del Béisbol, “El Salón de la fama recibió a la clase 2017,” LVBP.com, December 16, 2017.