Omar Vizquel
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Omar Vizquel [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.
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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.
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 extrabases. 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 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 more complete and stronger 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 steal 179 bases. On the field, Vizquel teamed with second baseman Roberto Alomar one of the most decorated keystone combination of all time.
After hit 14 homers and 72 RBI career-highs in 2002,Vizquel underwent a surgery on his right knee to repair a 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 16-year career, Vizquel is a .275 hitter with 66 home runs and 715 RBI in 2138 games.
Facts of life
Omar Vizquel also leads an interesting life off the field.
- He is an inspired rock guitarrist, 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 artworks 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.
Highlights
- 3-time All-Star (1998-99, 2002)
- 9-consecutive Gold Glove award (1993-2001)
- Tied American League record for most consecutive games without an error (95, between September 26, 1999 and July 21, 2001)
- Career .983 fielding percentage is the highest for a shortstop with over 1,000 games
- Played in the 1995 and 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)
2004 milestones
- April 22: In a game against the Royals, he became the 230th major league player to reach his 2,000 career hit.
- 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.
See also
- List of AL Gold Glove Winners at Shortstop
- List of Gold Glove middle infield duos
- List of MLB players with 2,000 hits
- Players from Venezuela in MLB
Sources
External links
- Baseball Reference (statistics and analysis) [1] (http://www.baseball-reference.com/v/vizquom01.shtml)
- ESPN (profile and daily update) [2] (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=4306)
- Guitar Mania (Omar's Guitar photos) [3] (http://www.countrystoveandpatio.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/Guitar_Mania.html)