Topic: Wil Nieves

Wilbert Nieves (born September 25, 1977 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Washington Nationals organization. He made his major league debut on July 21, 2002 for the San Diego Padres, and played 28 games with them during the 2002 San Diego Padres season.

Nieves had previously played for the New York Yankees, having been acquired by the team from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for pitcher Bret Prinz. Nieves won a spot on the Yankees 2007 roster by beating out Todd Pratt and Raul Chavez during Spring Training. He served as the back-up catcher to Jorge Posada, but was primarily considered Mike Mussina's "personal catcher." Joe Torre experimented with using Nieves to help bolster Mussina out of a rough stretch with good results.

Nieves made his first career non-catching appearance in the ninth inning of a game on July 8, 2007 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; he played first base when the Yankees ran low on position players.