Infielder Omar Vizquel retires after 24th career season – MLB Update
Infielder Omar Vizquel has announced his retirement after playing almost 23 years in the Major League Baseball.
“I feel so fortunate, when I was 16 I signed my first contract and I was 165 pounds and didn’t have a lot of confidence,” said Vizquel after he announced his retirement.
He played his final season with the Toronto Blue Jays as second baseman with .235 hitting average along with seven RBIs and .265 OBP.
He added and explained about the struggles and achievements as a professional baseball player, “All of a sudden they ask me to bat left-handed. I felt maybe AA (minor-league baseball) is as far as my career goes, but through hard work and dedication, I became
a better player. My story is a different one that most players . . . in my case a lot of people didn’t give me much of a chance to get to where I am today.”
Vizquel started his career with the Seattle Mariners in 1989. He played in the Mariners’ franchise with great courage and proved his game. Later he also played in the Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox.
After playing one season with the White Sox, Vizquel joined the Blue Jays. Though speculation were on the row that he will retire in 2011 but as he signed a minor league contract with the Blue Jays last winter, sports experts started to speculate that Vizquel
will be playing a key role in their organisation for few more years.
In the meanwhile, this was correct until Vizquel decided to retire from the game. His 2012 performance is also alright with an amount of games he played for the Blue Jays. Overall he played 60 games and maintained his thrust.
Looking at his career stats that clearly suggests that he certainly was a role player in the Major League. Having consistently played with .272 hitting average along with 80 homers, 951 RBI and .336 OBP, Vizquel certainly proved his game.
Vizquel’s career see him winning three All Star selections and eleven Gold Glove awards which certainly puts him in the league’s fine players who always showed their best whenever their teams needed them.
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