Former major leaguer Octavio Dotel, who pitched for then-record 13 teams, dies in DR roof collapse
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Octavio Dotel, who pitched for 13 major league teams in a 15-year career and won a world championship with the St. Louis Cardinals, was among the dead after a roof collapsed at a nightclub in his native Dominican Republic where he was attending a merengue concert.
He was 51.
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.
At least 60 people died and 179 were injured after the collapse at the Jet Set nightclub, officials said. Tony Blanco, who played one MLB season and eight years professionally in Japan, also died following the collapse, Terrero said.
Dotel signed with the New York Mets in 1993 as an amateur free agent and made his major league debut in 1999. A starter early in his career, he turned into a reliable and at times dominant reliever while appearing in 758 games from 1999-2013.
He pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates for half a season in 2010 before being traded.
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.
The Mets held a moment of silence for Dotel before their game Tuesday against Miami, and a Dominican flag was shown on the video scoreboard.
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 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 rate of 10.8 per nine innings. He had a career 59-50 record, 109 saves and 3.78 ERA.
In 2019, Dotel and ex-major leaguer Luis Castillo were among 18 people taken into custody during a large U.S. and Dominican law enforcement operation against drug trafficking and money laundering. Dotel and Castillo were released when a Dominican magistrate judge found insufficient evidence to connect them to the operation.
