Rafael Orellano

The left-handed hurler began his professional baseball career in 1993, playing in the Boston Red Sox minor league system. In 1995, he was ranked the club's 6th-best prospect by Baseball America after going 11-3 with a 2.36 ERA for the GCL Red Sox and Sarasota Red Sox the year before. After going 11-7 with a 3.09 ERA in 27 starts for the Trenton Thunder in 1995, he was named Boston's 9th-best prospect for 1996.[1] His career soon soured, however, and he was out of the minor leagues after the 1997 season. He was 32-29 with a 4.70 ERA in 100 career games (81 starts) at that level.

Orellano signed with the Nippon Ham Fighters for 1998 and appeared in 14 games for the club that year, going 1-3 with a 7.50 ERA in 14 games (4 starts). In 30 innings, he allowed 29 walks and struck out 22 batters. In 1999, he was 1-5 with a 4.99 ERA in 21 games (5 starts) and in 2000, he made a single appearance, allowing two walks, one hit and an earned run in 1/3 of an inning. Overall, he went 2-8 with 58 walks, 49 strikeouts and a 6.17 ERA in 36 games (9 starts) in his NPB career.[2]