Omar Vizquel
Omar Enrique Vizquel González (born April 24, 1967 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a former professional baseball player who played as an infielder for 24 years in the Major Leagues and was field manager of the 2019 Birmingham Barons.
Vizquel retired from playing baseball in 2012. The following year he began coaching infielders for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In November 2013 he was hired to succeed Rafael Belliard as first base coach for the Detroit Tigers. He applied for the job of field manager when Brad Ausmus retired at the end of the 2017 season, but was passed over in favor of Ron Gardenhire.
Vizquel then returned to the White Sox organization as manager of the Winston-Salem Dash of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League. He led the team to an 84-54 record and was named the league's "Manager of the Year". For the 2019 season he was promoted to the Barons clubhouse, but the team struggled through a disappointing 64-72 season. Vizquel was dismissed from the White Sox organization in November 2019 for then unspecified reasons. It was later revealed that he had been accused in August of sexual harassing a batboy for the team in the locker room's showers. The batboy, who is autistic, filed a civil lawsuit against Vizquel, the Barons, and the White Sox, claiming that he had been targeted because of his condition, and seeking a finding of discrimination under Title 1 of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
| Preceded by: Ryan Newman |
Birmingham Barons manager 2019 |
Succeeded by: Justin Jirschele |
Publications
- Vizquel, Omar & Bob Dyer (2002) Omar! My Life On and Off the Field. Gray & Company ISBN 9781886228597
References
- "Omar Vizquel" (August 9, 2021) Wikipedia - accessed August 19, 2021
- Li, David K. & Andrew Blankstein (August 10, 2021) "Former MLB star Omar Vizquel accused of sexually harassing batboy" NBCNews.com
External links
- Omar Vizquel at thebaseballcube.com