Édgar Enrique Rentería Herazo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈeðɣaɾ renteˈɾi.a]; born August 7, 1975), nicknamed "the Barranquilla Baby", is a Colombian former professional baseball shortstop. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, San Francisco Giants, and Cincinnati Reds. Rentería finished second to Todd Hollandsworth in the 1996 Rookie of the Year Award balloting. In 1997, his RBI single off Charles Nagy in the eleventh inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series won the first World Series in Marlins' history over the Cleveland Indians. In the 2010 World Series against the Texas Rangers, Rentería won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award with the San Francisco Giants after he hit game-winning home runs in Game 2 and Game 5. Rentería was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2025.
Rentería was born on August 7, 1975, in Barranquilla, Colombia. As a youth, he attended Instituto Los Alpes High School in Barranquilla. After high school, he was signed by the Florida Marlins at the age of 16 by scout Levy Ochoa.
Rentería started his professional career in 1992 with the Gulf Coast League Marlins. He had a .288 batting average and 47 hits in 43 games that year. However, his fielding percentage was only .897, and he made 24 errors. In 1993, he played for the Kane County Cougars of the Midwest League. He only batted .203 in 116 games with them, but he only committed 34 errors that year, and his fielding percentage increased to .934.
In 1994, Rentería was promoted to the Brevard County Manatees of the Florida State League. His average went up to .253 and his fielding percentage climbed to .959. 1995 saw Rentería have a breakout season with the Portland Sea Dogs of the Eastern League. He batted .289 with the team, and he hit seven home runs and stole thirty bases. Entering the 1996 season, Baseball America ranked Rentería as the best prospect in the Marlins' organization. He started the season with the Charlotte Knights of the International League, and he batted .278 with two home runs and fifteen runs batted in in 28 games with them.
On May 9, Rentería was called up to the Marlins following an injury to shortstop Kurt Abbott. His first game came on May 10, in a 4–2 win over the Colorado Rockies, when he entered the game in the ninth inning as part of a double switch. He did not have any at-bats in that game, though, and he was just a backup infielder when he first came up because Alex Arias had replaced Abbott as the everyday shortstop. However, Rentería replaced Arias as the starting shortstop on May 19 against the Chicago Cubs. He got his first hit (a single) in his first at bat (against Steve Trachsel) in a 3–2 Marlins victory. He got four hits in a game for the first time on June 10 in a 5–2 win over the Montreal Expos. His first home run came the next day, off Ugueth Urbina of the Expos, in a 3–2 loss.
Rentería did so well as a shortstop that the Marlins moved Abbott over to second base when he came off the disabled list. On June 23, Rentería strained a hamstring on a groundout in the sixth inning of a 5–3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was placed on the disabled list the next day, but he remained the starting shortstop when he returned on July 11. From July 25 to August 16 he had a 22-game hitting streak, which was the longest for a rookie since Jerome Walton of the Chicago Cubs had a thirty-game streak in 1989. Rentería finished the season with a .309 batting average, 68 runs scored, and sixteen stolen bases in 106 games. He was second behind Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Todd Hollandsworth in National League (NL) Rookie of the Year Award balloting.
In 1997, Rentería hit the first inside-the-park home run of his career to tie a game against the Cincinnati Reds on April 5, and he won the game 4–3 with an RBI single in the eleventh inning. On April 27, he had a game–winning single in the ninth inning that gave the Marlins a 4–3 win over the Dodgers. From May 13 to 29, he had a 13-game hitting streak. From July 16 through July 18, he had three hits in three straight games. On August 15, his RBI single in the ninth inning gave the Marlins a 6–5 victory over Pittsburgh. Rentería finished the season with a .277 batting average, 171 hits, and 32 stolen bases in 154 games. That year, the Florida Marlins won the wild card to advance to the playoffs for the first time in their history.
In Game 1 of the 1997 National League Division Series (NLDS), Rentería's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth off Roberto Hernández gave the Marlins a 2–1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. The Marlins swept the Giants in the series and defeated the Atlanta Braves in the 1997 National League Championship Series (NLCS) to face the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. In Game 7, with the score tied at two and two out in the eleventh inning, Rentería hit a walk-off RBI single off Charles Nagy to score Craig Counsell. The hit won the game 3–2 and won the first World Series in Marlins' history.
In 1998, Rentería had a .302 batting average by the All-Star break, and he was the only Marlin selected to the MLB All-Star Game. His RBI single in the eleventh inning on May 1 gave the Marlins a 6–5 victory over the San Diego Padres. He had a fourteen-game hitting streak from June 8 to 22, which was the longest by a Marlin in 1998. During the streak, on June 9, he had his first career pinch hit when he singled home Dave Berg in the ninth inning to give the Marlins a 5–4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Also, on June 14, he scored the winning run in a 5–4 win over the New York Mets. For his contributions from June 8 through 14, he won the NL Player of the Week Award.
On July 13, he scored four runs (which tied a Florida record) in an 8–7 win over the Expos. On August 24, he sprained his right knee sliding into second base in the third inning of a 7–4 loss to San Francisco. He was placed on the disabled list the next day, but he was reactivated on September 9. He finished the year with a .282 batting average and 146 hits in 133 games, along with a career-high 41 stolen bases. On December 14, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Armando Almanza, Braden Looper, and Pablo Ozuna.
St. Louis Cardinals (1999–2004)
On May 16, Rentería hit his first home run as a Cardinal off Ismael Valdes of the Dodgers in a 5–4 victory. He had three RBI, including the game-winner, on May 23 in an 8–3 victory over Los Angeles. He had two home runs on May 31 in a 5–2 win over Florida. On June 12, he had three hits, including a game–winning single in the fourteenth inning, in an 8–7 victory over the Detroit Tigers. From June 21 to July 1 he had a ten-game hitting streak, his longest of the season. On July 9, he had four hits in a 5–4 loss to the Giants. He had four hits again on August 31 in an 8–1 victory over the Marlins. On September 5, he stole four bases in a 13–9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. He hit ten home runs in a season for the first time when he homered on September 10 in an 11–5 win over Pittsburgh. Rentería finished the season with a .275 batting average. He led the Cardinals with 154 games, 585 at-bats, 161 hits, 36 doubles, and 37 stolen bases (which was also the seventh most in the National League).
In 2000, Rentería had a .273 average by the All–Star break, and he was selected to the All-Star Game to replace teammate Mark McGwire, who was injured. He homered in three straight games from April 9–11, and he set a new career high on the eleventh with four RBI in a 10–6 victory over the Houston Astros. On April 16, he reached base five times in a 14–13 loss to Colorado. On August 29, he hit his sixteenth home run of the year in a 3–1 loss to the Marlins. The home run broke Solly Hemus's record for most home runs by a Cardinals' shortstop. On September 4, his three-run triple gave the Cardinals a 4–2 win over the Expos.
He finished the season with a .278 batting average and 156 hits in 150 games. He led the Cardinals with 21 stolen bases, and his 76 RBI were the second most by a Cardinals' shortstop (in 1921 Doc Lavan had 82). His 76 RBI were also second only to Jim Edmonds's 108 that season, and he led the team with 32 doubles. He also won the National League's Silver Slugger Award for a shortstop. The Cardinals made the playoffs and swept the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS, but they were defeated in five games by the New York Mets in the NLCS.