Otto Vélez
| Otto Vélez | |||
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| Outfielder | |||
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Born: November 29, 1950 Ponce, Puerto Rico |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 4, 1973, for the New York Yankees | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| August 7, 1983, for the Cleveland Indians | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .251 | ||
| Home runs | 78 | ||
| Runs batted in | 272 | ||
| Teams | |||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Otoniel "Otto" Vélez Franceschi (born November 29, 1950 in Ponce, Puerto Rico) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played from 1973 to 1983. Vélez was nicknamed "Otto the Swatto".
Velez signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent on December 23, 1969, and worked his way through their minor league system and made his Major League Baseball debut with the team on September 4, 1973, where he recorded his first hit off of Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich. Velez hit his first career home run on September 23 off of Dick Tidrow of the Cleveland Indians in the second inning, then hit another home run in his next at-bat agaginst Tidrow in the fourth inning to lead the Yankees to a 9–1 victory over Cleveland. Velez finished the season hitting .195 with 2 HR and 7 RBI in 23 games with the Yankees.
Velez played in 27 games with the Yankees in 1974, batting .209 with 2 HR and 10 RBI, then in 1975, he hit .250 with 0 HR and 1 RBI in six games with New York.
Velez saw more playing with the Yankees in 1976, playing in 49 games, as he hit .266 with 2 HR and 10 RBI, as New York reached the post-season. Velez appeared in one game, going hitless in one at-bat in the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals. In the 1976 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Velez went 0 for 3 and struck out three times, as the Yankees lost the series.
On November 5, 1976, Velez was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1976 MLB expansion draft.
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