Omar Vizquel

Omar Vizquel
Omar Vizquel
San Francisco Giants – No. 13
	Shortstop
	Bats: Both Throws: Right
debut
	April 3, 1989, for the San Francisco Giants
Career statistics ; (through July 4, 2006)
Hits	2390
Runs scored	1246
Batting average	.275
	Stats at Baseball Reference
Former teams
	Seattle Mariners (1989-1993); Cleveland Indians (1994-2004);

Omar Vizquel (IPA /vɪz.ˈkɛl/, or approximately "viz-KELL"), born Omar Enrique Vizquel González (April 24, 1967 in Caracas, Venezuela), is a Major League Baseball shortstop who plays with the San Francisco Giants. Previously, Vizquel played for the Seattle Mariners (1989-93) and Cleveland Indians (1994-2004). He is a switch-hitter and throws right-handed.

Career

Vizquel represents another link in the chain of gifted shortstops from Venezuela, a chain that includes Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio, Dave Concepción and Ozzie Guillén. He has very soft hands and recovers quickly from miscues. With a good range to both sides, he can throw off-balance with a quick release. Vizquel turns the double play fearlessly, and no one handles popups in short left field or down the line with such ease. His barehanded plays on slow bounding balls constantly frustrate opposing batters. In 2002, he made only seven errors in 150 games, but the Gold Glove Award went to Alex Rodriguez to end Vizquel's nine-year run as the reigning shortstop in the American League. Even in the latter stages of his career, Vizquel is known as one of the elite fielding shortstops in baseball.

Vizquel was signed by Seattle as a non-drafted free agent in 1984 and made his debut on April 3, 1989. His glovework was evident when he broke in the American League, but it took him some years to master the art of hitting. At the beginning Vizquel was strictly a singles hitter. In his first three seasons with Seattle, he batted .220, .247 and .230 with only 39 extra bases. After hitting .294 in 1992, he was headed for a repeat performance in 1993. Vizquel was hitting .292 at the All-Star break, but he batted only .202 the rest of the way finishing with .252. The problem was mere fatigue. A small man at 5'9 and 163 pounds, Vizquel had never had 550 at-bats in a full season. But he nonetheless contributed on offense, bunting to advance runners and drawing some walks. At the end of the season he was traded to Cleveland for two players and cash.

A strict workout routine and adjustments in the batting cage made Vizquel a stronger, more complete hitter with the Indians. In 1996 he batted .297, with nine home runs, 64 runs batted in, 98 runs, 36 doubles, and a .362 on base percentage. In the years to come, he hit .280 .288, a career-high .333 in 1999, and .287 the next year. In the same period he stole 179 bases. On the field, Vizquel has teamed with second baseman Roberto Alomar, in one of the most decorated keystone combinations of all time.

After he hit 14 homers and 72 RBI (both career-highs) in 2002,Vizquel underwent surgery on his right knee to repair cartilage. He played only 64 games in 2003 when a second surgery was necessary.

In 2004, Vizquel returned in good form hitting .291 in 148 games. He was signed by the Giants as a free agent at the end of the season.

In a 17-year career, Vizquel is a .274 hitter with 69 home runs, 760 RBI, and, 342 stolen bases in 2290 games. His numbers often spark debate about whether he should be a Hall-of-Famer. Many observers feel that his exceptional defense combined with his steady offensive output warrant a ticket to Cooperstown.

On June 21, 2006, Vizquel stole his 350th base, stealing second base.

2004 milestones

April 22: In a game against the Royals, he became the 230th major league player to reach 2,000 career hits.

August 31: Vizquel went 6-for-7 to tie the American League record for most hits in a nine-inning game as the Indians rolled to a 22-0 rout of the Yankees, who endured the worst shutout loss in league history.

Mesa Feud

In his 2002 autobiography, Vizquel's account of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series was critical of then-teammate Jose Mesa: "Jose's ... eyes were vacant. Completely empty. Nobody home. You could almost see right through him." Mesa reacted furiously, pledging to hit Vizquel on every subsequent opportunity: "Even my little boy told me to get him. If I face him 10 more times, I'll hit him 10 times. I want to kill him." By April 2006 Mesa had faced Vizquel three times and hit him all three, with the confrontation between the two players leading to an ugly series between Vizquel's San Francisco Giants and Mesa's Colorado Rockies. The 3rd game in which Mesa faced Vizquel, he hit Vizquel on the head. The game featured four hit batsmen and five ejections. But in the latest game in which Mesa saw Vizquel, he did not hit him.

Trivia

Omar Vizquel also leads an interesting life off the field.

He is a skilled painter and sculptor.

He is an inspired rock drummer, and a competent salsa percussionist.

He designed his own house and has his own lines of designer clothing and nutritional food.

He is a social activist in his community and donates his artwork to various arts education programs.

On December 16, 1999, when a massive flooding and landslides killed 50,000 Venezuelans and 400,000 were left homeless, he toured the flood zone and organized a high-profile fundraising effort to assist his countrymen.

He is one of the few MLB players to have his own website: www.omarvizquel.com (created by a Cleveland native)

In 2002, his book "Omar!" was released, an autobiography about his life on and off the field (with Bob Dyer).

He suffered Greg Maddux's 3000th career strikeout.

Highlights

3-time All-Star (1998-99, 2002)
10-Gold Glove awards,9-consecutive (1993-2001)(2005)
Tied American League record for most consecutive games without an error (95, between September 26, 1999 and July 21, 2001)
Career .984 fielding percentage is the highest for a shortstop with over 1,000 games
Played in the 1997 World Series
The Vizquel-Alomar duo won three Golden Gloves, joining a select list of eight shortstop-second baseman duos have won the honor in the same season while playing together (1999-2001)
1996: He won the Hutch Award, the only non-American player ever to do so.
2001: Tied the MLB record for Hits in a 9-inning game (6-7)
Named Venezuelan World Baseball Classic captain for 2006.

Sources

External links