BIOGRAPHY
Vincent John Velasquez was born on June 7, 1992, in Montclair, California. He is a pitcher in the MLB.
Velasquez was drafted by the Houston Astros in the second round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft out of Garey High School. He made his professional debut for the Rookie League Greeneville Astros. In eight games (six starts) he went 2–2 with a 3.07 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 29 1⁄3 innings pitched. Following the 2010 season, Baseball America ranked him the 11th-best prospect in the Appalachian League. On December 12, 2015, the Astros traded Velasquez, Mark Appel, Brett Oberholtzer, Tom Eshelman, and Harold Arauz to the Philadelphia Phillies.
His 9.9 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched were 8th in the NL of all pitchers with 140 or more innings pitched, and the 6th-highest rate of any Phillies pitcher in franchise history. He held right-handed batters to a .211/.298/.308 slash line, and was the only pitcher in major league baseball to face at least 300 right-handed batters and allow only three home runs or fewer. In January 2019 he agreed to a one-year contract with the Phillies.
On September 15, 2021, the day after his release from the Phillies, Velasquez signed a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres. The team told Velasquez that they intended to use him as a reliever, but an injury to Blake Snell left the Padres in need of an additional starting pitcher. Velasquez was called up for a start on September 17 against the St. Louis Cardinals, giving up four earned runs and taking the loss in an 8–2 defeat. He pitched 12+2⁄3 innings in the Padres' rotation, allowing 12 earned runs and increasing his overall 2021 ERA to 6.30 for the year. Velasquez became a free agent at the end of the season.
On March 14, 2022, Velasquez signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Chicago White Sox.
On December 6, 2022, Velasquez signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
