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MLB’s all-time Puerto Rican born team

By Jordan Wevers

Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports /
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1. Javier Vazquez: 1998-2011

Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports /

No Puerto Rican born pitcher has made it to Cooperstown, so this selection was not necessarily cut and dried. While Tim Raines is pictured above, Javier Vazquez was drafted and signed by the Montreal Expos in 1994.

He debuted April 3, 1998 for them and played six seasons with there. Well traveled, Vazquez followed those years up with one in New York for the Yankees, one in Arizona, three for the White Sox, one in Atlanta before going back to the Bronx for another season and finally, ending his career in 2011 with the Florida Marlins.

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    • No Puerto Rican born pitcher has more games started (443), wins (165), innings pitched (2840) or strikeouts (2536) in their MLB career than does Vazquez. Five times in his career he struck out 200 or more batters in a single season and in 2009 with the Braves, he had his finest season on record. Going 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA and 238 punch outs, Vazquez finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting.

    Nicknamed the Silent Assassin, Vazquez has a lifetime wins above replacement mark of 43.3. Keep in mind, he played during a time when home runs were flying out of ball parks at a rate faster than any in history because of baseball’s steroid era, where most batters had a distinct advantage.

    To put Vazquez’s WAR in perspective, he played 14 seasons in the majors. Bartolo Colon, a three-time All-Star and Cy Young award winner is in his 19th season. His lifetime WAR number is 46.8.

    Vazquez might have hung up his cleats before was necessary, too. Consider this — he retired after his age 34 season, when he posted a 13-11 record for the Marlins with a 3.69 ERA, 3.57 FIP and 162 strike outs. He started 32 games that season and proved to be very efficient.

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