Former Oakland A’s reliever Octavio Dotel was among the victims who died after the roof collapsed at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic early Tuesday morning, according to multiple reports.
He was 51.
At least 58 people died and at least 160 were injured when the roof collapsed at the Jet Set nightclub in Dotel’s hometown of Santo Domingo, where a concert was taking place, according to authorities. Officials initially said Dotel was rescued from the debris and transported to a hospital, but spokesman Satosky Terrero from the Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic confirmed to The Associated Press that Dotel died later Tuesday. Several reports indicated Dotel and others may have been trapped under the rubble for more than 11 hours.
Dotel pitched for 15 seasons in the majors for 13 teams. The A’s were his third stop, coming over from the Houston Astros in a three-way trade during the 2004 season. Dotel had 22 saves and won six more games in 45 appearances for the 91-win A’s. The hard-throwing right-hander played in just 15 games with the A’s the following season before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
A starter early in his career, he turned into a reliable and at times dominant reliever while appearing in 758 games from 1999-2013. When he took the mound for the Detroit Tigers on April 7, 2012, he set the record playing for the most major league teams at 13. Edwin Jackson broke the record in 2019 when he pitched for his 14th team.
Another former A’s player, Esteban Germán, was also at the club but left shortly before the roof collapse. Germán, who had brief appearances with the A’s from 2002-24 before playing for the Royals and the Rangers, posted a clip on his Instagram stories late Monday night, showing a band performing at the club. Shortly after news broke of the collapse, he provided an additional update that he was also “fine” and said he was outside the club trying to help victims.
The Mets, the team that signed Dotel as a 20-year-old, held a moment of silence before Tuesday’s game against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field, during which they wrote “In Memoriam” on the scoreboard. The Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League (LIDOM) also paid tribute to Dotel on social media, expressing “grief over [his] death.”
Dotel signed with the Mets as an amateur free agent in 1993 and made his MLB debut with them in 1999. He went 8-3 with a 5.38 ERA in 19 appearances, including 14 starts, in 1999, his lone season with the Mets before they traded him to the Houston Astros.
He pitched for 13 teams, primarily as reliever, during his 15-year MLB career from 1999-2013 and recorded a 3.78 ERA and 109 saves. He was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals team that won the World Series in 2011. Dotel also appeared in the 2012 World Series with the Detroit Tigers against the Giants. He retired following the 2013 season.
Dotel’s best years were with the Houston Astros in the early 2000s. He was a setup man for star closer Billy Wagner, making 302 appearances and posting a 3.25 ERA in four-plus seasons. He was the fifth of six pitchers to combine on a no-hitter against the New York Yankees in 2003. The next year, he was part of the A’s three-way trade that brought Carlos Beltran to the Astros.
Dotel pitched for nine teams before he landed with the Cardinals, who acquired him from Toronto at the 2011 trade deadline. He appeared in 12 postseason games, including five in the World Series against Texas.
In 2013, he pitched on the Dominican Republic team that won the World Baseball Classic with an 8-0 record.
Dotel finished his major league career with 1,143 strikeouts in 951 innings, a magnificent rate of 10.8 per nine innings. He had a career 59-50 record, 109 saves and 3.78 ERA.
Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the Dominican’s Monte Cristi province, was also killed in Tuesday’s tragedy. Her brother, Nelson Cruz, played 19 MLB seasons, most recently in 2023.
Before Tuesday’s game, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he was “thinking about our people in the Dominican Republic.”
“We have a lot of Dominican community in the baseball world, so our prayers to their families,” Mendoza said.
The New York Daily News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Originally Published:
Source: Paradise Post
