Paolo Espino throws the final pitch
The Panamanian journeyman retired this Monday and I had the chance to talk to him
There’s a well-known saying among pitchers: “Every pitcher is always one pitch away from never pitching again.”
For Paolo Espino, that moment arrived on the afternoon of March 9, 2026, at Hiram Bithorn Stadium. At 39 years old, the curtain quietly closed on a career defined by perseverance, a journey that leaves valuable lessons for pitchers still trying to carve out their own place in the game.
Panama manager José Mayorga slowly made the walk to the mound in the top of the fifth inning. When he reached Espino, the message was clear: it was time. The pitching change would become the final one of Espino’s professional career.
Yet there was no sadness in the moment. Teammates gathered around the mound, offering embraces and words of respect. Among them were infielders José Caballero and Edmundo Sosa. The right-hander, who spent six seasons in Major League Baseball, calmly handed the baseball to his manager.
Down the left-field line, Panama’s bullpen pitchers stepped toward the edge of the fence and raised their arms in salute. Espino then made the slow walk back to the dugout for the final time as an active professional baseball player.
From a performance standpoint, Espino’s fastball, once sitting around 90 to 93 mph, had begun to fade. In terms of raw power, he was no longer the same pitcher. Still, with his experience, command and pitching craft, Espino likely could have continued competing a while longer. But…
“Physically, the last few years have been very complicated,” Paolo Espino told me during the postgame press conference.
The game itself was not the ending Panama had hoped for. They lost 4–3 to Colombia, finishing fifth in Pool A in Puerto Rico. The result means Panama will have to go through the qualifying tournament to earn a spot in the next World Baseball Classic.
For Espino, however, retiring on the stage of the World Baseball Classic while wearing the uniform of his home country felt like the right moment. The decision came when Panama manager José Mayorga removed him from the game after 4.1 scoreless innings, allowing one walk and striking out four.
The final pitch of Espino’s career was a 69 mph curveball to Reynaldo Rodríguez, ending in a strikeout.
After being selected in the 2006 Draft by the Cleveland Guardians (then Cleveland Indians), Paolo Espino began a 12-year journey through the minor leagues before finally reaching the majors in 2017. Endurance became one of his most valuable weapons in the game.
Born in Panama City, Espino turned into a baseball journeyman, spending nearly a decade moving through Double-A, Triple-A, the Dominican Winter League, and international tournaments with Panama before eventually establishing himself between 2021 and 2022 with the Washington Nationals. I remember that in 2023 he chose to remain in Spring Training with the Nationals to compete for a spot in the rotation rather than join Panama for the tournament in Taiwan.
Espino told me he feels proud and grateful for everything he accomplished throughout the long and demanding path of his career.
“Plenty of ups and downs, but I’m very happy with everything I was able to do.”
Before walking toward the dugout, with all the infielders gathered on the mound, first baseman Christian Bethancourt asked the umpire for a new baseball so Espino could keep the one from the game.
As Espino made the roughly 20-second walk to the dugout, where the rest of his teammates were waiting, he tipped his cap, gripped the ball as if he were about to throw another pitch, and then raised his cap toward the bullpen group. Those were the final moments of his outing as an active professional baseball player.
“My tears didn’t come out, but I was close,” Espino said. “My throat tightened up.”
Along with Alexei Ramírez of Cuba and Shairon Martis of the Netherlands, Paolo Espino is the other player who appeared in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and returned again 20 years later.
Espino does not see many similarities after so much time has passed.
“The field looks similar. Everything is beautiful here. And baseball is still the same.”
After throwing his final pitch, reporters asked Paolo Espino about his immediate plans following retirement. He admitted he does not yet know what tomorrow will look like, though he did not rule out pursuing a future as a coach or working in baseball operations.
Espino was one of Panama’s most visible faces in Major League Baseball over the past decade. His name now joins a historic list of pitchers from the country that includes Mariano Rivera, Bruce Chen, Juan Berenguer, Ramiro Mendoza, Randall Delgado, Manny Corpas, Jaime Barría, Manny Acosta, and Pat Scantlebury.
At Hiram Bithorn Stadium, a light drizzle begins to fall around four in the afternoon. Espino walks out alongside manager José Mayorga and Panama’s press officer. Loud music echoes throughout the stadium. Soon, another game will begin.
Baseball does not stop for anyone, just as life does not. Espino lowers his head at times. He takes his cellphone from his left pocket, opens it, looks at it for two seconds, and then places it back in the same back left pocket of his pants.
They walk along the first base side of the stadium toward the visiting dugout. Espino looks out at the field as if it might be the last time. At moments he smiles, though the expression quickly turns serious amid the blowers and vacuums working on the field in preparation for the next game.
Espino keeps walking the same way his career unfolded over more than twenty years. He walks down the dugout steps, greets two people, and disappears from my line of sight.