Miguel Batista
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Seattle Mariners — No. 43 | |
| Starting pitcher | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
|---|---|
| April 11, 1992 for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2006) |
|
| Wins | 68 |
| Strikeouts | 870 |
| Earned run average | 4.46 |
| Former teams | |
Miguel Jerez Batista Descartes (born February 19, 1971 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball pitcher who plays for the Seattle Mariners.
Over his career, Batista has played for seven teams and been utilized extensively as both a starter and a reliever. His best seasons came in 2001 and 2003 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, when he went 11-8 and 10-9 with 3.36 and 3.54 ERAs respectively.
He signed a 3-year $13.1-million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays prior to the 2004 season but struggled in his first season with his new club, posting a 4.80 ERA and losing his starter's job late in the season. In 2005, Batista was the Jays closer and blew 8 saves. He was put on the trading block after the Blue Jays signed B.J. Ryan to a large contract to be their new closer. They traded Miguel back to the Diamondbacks during the 2005 offseason along with Orlando Hudson for Troy Glaus and prospect Sergio Santos. Batista's 2006 record in Arizona was 11-8 with an ERA of 4.58. During that season he pitched a complete game on May 30 against the New York Mets.
After the season, the Diamondbacks offered Batista arbitration, as he was a free agent, but Arizona was not willing to commit to a multi-year deal; in December, Batista signed a three year contract with the Mariners worth $24 million, according to a December 12, 2006 report in the Seattle Times[1]. The deal will be finalized pending a routine physical examination.
Aside from being a baseball player, Batista is known for his love of poetry and philosophy, and he has written a book of poetry in Spanish titled Sentimientos en Blanco y Negro. Batista also recently published The Avenger of Blood, a thriller about a serial killer. The novel was released on January 25 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and on February 10 in San Juan Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, where it has had great success in very few months.
[edit] External links
- Miguel Batista's career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
