33-year-old Michael Francisco Pineda Paulino was born on January 18, 1989. He is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers of the Dominican Republic (MLB).
He has played for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, and Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball. Pineda joined the Mariners as an international free agent in 2005 and made his Major League Baseball debut in 2011.
He was selected an All-Star in his first season and placed sixth in the voting for American League Rookie of the Year. He was traded to the Yankees after his first season.
Due to a series of shoulder problems, he missed the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Pineda’s 2017 season came to an end when he had Tommy John surgery, which forced him to miss the whole 2018 season. In 2019, he made his MLB comeback with the Minnesota Twins.
The Dominican Republic is where Pineda’s family resides. He shared a room with Navarro, who had become the Mariners’ bullpen coach when pitching for the Mariners in 2011.
Pineda was accused of driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol while in injury rehab in Tampa, Florida on August 20, 2012. The date was February 20, 2013.
Pineda entered a no-contest plea to driving while intoxicated. He was fined $500, given a year of probation, and required to attend DUI school as well as perform 50 hours of community service as a result of the incident.