Octavio Dotel, a former pitcher for the Mets and Yankees, was among the many victims who died after the roof collapsed at a nightclub within the Dominican Republic early Tuesday morning, in response to a number of experiences.
He was 51.
The Mets held a second of silence for Dotel earlier than Tuesday’s recreation towards the Miami Marlins at Citi Area, throughout which they wrote “In Memoriam” on the scoreboard. The Dominican Republic Skilled Baseball League (LIDOM) additionally paid tribute to Dotel on social media, expressing “grief over [his] death.”
Officers had beforehand named Dotel among the many injured. His dying has but to be formally confirmed by Dominican authorities.
“After the authorities saved him alive from the rubble of the nightclub, former MLB player and World Series champion Octavio Dotel has been declared dead at the hospital,” MLB insider Mike Rodriguez wrote on social media.
Not less than 44 individuals died and at the very least 160 have been injured when the roof collapsed on the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, the place a live performance was happening, in response to authorities.
The Dominican-born Dotel signed with the Mets as an novice 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, together with 14 begins, in 1999, his lone season with the Mets earlier than they traded him to the Houston Astros.
The precise-handed Dotel additionally spent one season with the Yankees, pitching to a ten.80 ERA over 14 reduction appearances in 2006.
He pitched for 13 groups, primarily as reliever, throughout his 15-year MLB profession from 1999-2013 and recorded a 3.78 ERA and 109 saves. He was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals group that gained the World Sequence in 2011.
Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the Dominican’s Monte Cristi province, was additionally killed in Tuesday’s tragedy. Her brother, Nelson Cruz, performed 19 MLB seasons, most lately in 2023.
Earlier than Tuesday’s recreation, Mets supervisor Carlos Mendoza stated 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 stated.
