| Edinson Volquez | |
|---|---|
Volquez with the Reds |
|
| San Diego Padres | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: July 3, 1983 Barahona, Dominican Republic |
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| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| August 30, 2005 for the Texas Rangers | |
| Career statistics (through 2011 Season) |
|
| Win-Loss | 33-29 |
| Earned run average | 4.65 |
| Strikeouts | 479 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Edinson Volquez [VOL-kez] (born July 3, 1983, in Barahona, Dominican Republic), is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball. He bats and throws right-handed.
Listed at 6' 0", 200 pounds, Volquez made his major league debut on August 30, 2005, after rising rapidly through Texas' minor league system. Together with John Danks and Thomas Diamond, Volquez was one third of the vaunted "DVD" trio of Rangers pitching prospects.[1] In 2007, Volquez was traded to the Cincinnati Reds.
Volquez signed with the Rangers in 2001 under the name of Julio Reyes. He went by Edison Volquez after 2003, before adding an n to his first name in 2007.
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After spending four years in the Rangers' minor league system, Volquez was promoted to the major league club on August 30, 2005, where he lost all three games he started, as well as one of the three games in which he appeared as a reliever, and posted a 14.21 ERA. He spent the first five months of the 2006 season at Triple-A Oklahoma until he was recalled to the majors in September. This time, he fared better, winning one of his eight starts and posting a 7.29 ERA. Volquez was the pitcher when Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a grand slam on the first pitch of his Major League career on September 2, 2006. The Rangers were dissatisfied with the results shown by one of their top pitching prospects, so they tried an unconventional tactic. Volquez was demoted to the Rangers' A-league affiliate, the Bakersfield Blaze, to work on his control. As Volquez progressed, he was slowly promoted up through the minor league system until he reached the big leagues in September. This tactic had been used by Mark Connor, the Rangers' pitching coach, once before. In 2007 Volquez showed much improvement in his big league performance.
On December 21, 2007, the Texas Rangers traded Volquez to the Cincinnati Reds, along with Daniel Ray Herrera, in a deal for Josh Hamilton. Volquez made his Reds' debut on April 6, 2008 in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies in Cincinnati. In 5⅓ innings of work, he allowed only five hits, one earned run and two walks while striking out eight batters in an 8–2 victory.
Volquez started 2008 with a 7–1 record and a 1.33 ERA in nine starts, and allowed no more than one earned run in all but one of these starts (in which he allowed two). He became the only Reds pitcher to accomplish this since 1912. On May 18, 2008, Volquez participated in a premiere pitching matchup with the Cleveland Indians' Cliff Lee, who at that point led the American League with an ERA of 0.67. It was the third time in MLB history that the ERA leaders of each league had faced each other. Volquez won the contest by a score of 6–4, improving to 7–1. Lee's loss, his first of the season, left him with a 6–1 record.
Volquez was selected to represent the National League in the 2008 MLB All-Star Game.[2] By the All-Star Break, Volquez had an 12–3 record with a 2.29 ERA and 126 strikeouts. Volquez finished the season with a 17–6 record and an earned run average of 3.21, 8th-best in the National League.[3] Volquez threw changeups 31.9% of the time in 2008, more than any other starter.[4]
After the season, the Baseball Writers Association of America put Volquez on the ballot for National League Rookie of the Year Award voting, an award for which he was not eligible. He subsequently received three second place votes for the award, which went to Geovany Soto.[5]
Volquez did not follow up his 2008 All-Star campaign with the same success. In 2009 while with Cincinnati, Volquez posted a 4–2 record, with a 4.35 ERA. Volquez did not pitch after June 1 when he was put on the 60-day DL, effectively ending his season in preparation for Tommy John surgery.[6]
On April 20, 2010, Volquez received a 50 game suspension for use of performance-enhancing drugs.[7] Volquez made his 2010 debut with the Reds on July 17, 2010 vs the Colorado Rockies with an 8-1 win. Volquez held the Rockies to one earned run and three hits in six innings with 9 strikeouts and 2 base on balls. However, his next several starts were unimpressive, and for the second time in his career, he was demoted straight to single-A (the Dayton Dragons). He was recalled on September 7 and finished the season with a 4-3 record and 4.31 ERA over 62.2 innings. He started Game 1 of the 2010 National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies and lost, allowing four earned over 1.2 innings.[8]
He was the Reds’ Opening Day starter in 2011 and finished the season 5-7 with a 5.71 ERA in 20 starts for Cincinnati. He also spent time in the minor leagues, going 4-2 with a 2.37 ERA for Triple-A Louisville.[9]
On December 17, 2011, Volquez, Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal, and Brad Boxberger were traded by the Reds to the San Diego Padres for Mat Latos.[10]
Volquez pitched in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He took the loss in the opening game for the Dominican Republic against the Netherlands, giving up three runs (unearned), two hits, two walks and three strikeouts in three innings pitched.[11]
When he was signed by the Rangers in 2001 at age 17, he went by the name Julio Reyes but his name was revealed to be Edison Volquez after an immigration crackdown in 2003. In 2007, he asked the Rangers to add an "n" to his name after checking his birth certificate to find he was born Edinson.[12]
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