Esmerling Vásquez

[William Malone]

Esmerling de Jesús Vásquez was born on November 7, 1983 in the Dominican Republic.

The Arizona Diamondbacks signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He made his Major League debut for them in 2009. Vásquez made 141 relief appearances over three seasons for Arizona, going 5-10 with a 4.66 ERA. He had no saves and 16 holds. The Diamondbacks designated him for assignment late in the 2011 season.

He was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Twins on September 27, 2011. There were just two games left in the regular season. Vásquez was technically on the Twins active roster, but went unused over the final two days of a 99 loss campaign.

Minnesota optioned him to Triple-A when camp broke in 2012. He had a very strong season for the Rochester Red Wings, going 9-6 with a 2.78 ERA over eight starts and 23 relief appearances. The Twins promoted him when rosters expanded in September. Vásquez made six starts down the stretch, going 0-2 with a 5.68 ERA. His best start came on September 25th against the New York Yankees. He hurled six innings of two run ball, striking out five. While Vásquez didn't get credit for the win, Minnesota was able to win the game 6-5 thanks to a four run seventh inning rally. These games were still important to New York, who finished play that day with just a 1.5 game lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.

The Twins designated Vásquez for assignment after the season, but re-signed him to a minor league deal during the winter. He was injured in spring training, and missed the whole year.

Vásquez continued to pitch professionally until 2020. He had a successful career in Japan after leaving the Twins organization, returning to the United States on a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers in 2019 at the age of 35. Texas re-signed him to another minor league deal in 2020, but the minor league season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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