Tony Torcato Tony Torcato Anthony Dale Torcato (born October 25, 1979 in Woodland, California) is a former professional baseball player. Torcato was drafted in the 1st round (19th overall) of the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft by the San Francisco Giants. Before being drafted, Torcato signed a letter of intent to play college baseball at UNLV. He made his MLB debut on July 26, 2002 as the starting right fielder for the Giants against the Los Angeles Dodgers and singled to right field in his first at-bat off of the Dodgers Hideo Nomo. He played in parts of four seasons in Major
Alfonso Soriano disliked the intense Japanese practice schedule, and the Carp denied him a salary increase from $45,000 to $180,000 per year. Like Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu, who had previously left Japan to play in the United States, Soriano hired Don Nomura to help his situation. After first attempting to void Soriano's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) contract by unsuccessfully arguing that the player was legally a minor when he signed it, Nomura advised him, like Nomo, to retire from NPB and pursue a career in MLB. This prompted Carp executives to file an injunction against Soriano, and to send letters to