Ariel Prieto (born October 22, 1969) is a Cuban former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) from 1995 to 2001 for the Oakland Athletics and

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

. He is currently the pitching coach for the

GCL Mets The Florida Complex League Mets are a Rookie-level affiliate for the New York Mets, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Mets. The team plays its home games a ...

Career

Prieto graduated from Fajardo University in

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains ...

, and immigrated to

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

soon after. In Puerto Rico he played professional winter league baseball for the first time in his career. As a member of the Cangrejeros de Santurce, Prieto was able to attend the

Caribbean World Series The Caribbean Series (''Spanish'': ''Serie del Caribe''), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is norma ...

for the first time. After intentionally pitching poorly during the 1994–95 Cuban National Series, Prieto was allowed a

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to leave Cuba in April 1995. He was selected with the fifth overall selection in the

1995 MLB draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1995 Major League Baseball draft. ''*'' Did not sign Background Outfielder Darin Erstad of the University of Nebraska was the first pick in the 1995 Rule 4 Draft. Erstad ...

by the Oakland Athletics. Prieto made his major league debut for the Athletics that July. Prieto, being unfamiliar with American banks and credit cards walked around with his $1.2 million signing bonus check in his pocket for over a week. He won two games and lost six, becoming one of just a handful of players who were drafted and then played in the big leagues during the same season. In 1996 Prieto had what was arguably his best season, winning 6 games and losing 7 with an

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

of 4.15. Prieto was traded to the

before the 2001 season. With the Devil Rays, Prieto saw action in three games, without any decisions, allowing one

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

in innings pitched. His one season with the Devil Rays was his last season in the major leagues. Prieto surfaced in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

during the middle 2000s, playing with the

Venados de Mazatlán Venados de Mazatlán ( en, Mazatlán Deer) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican Pacific League based in Mazatlan, Sinaloa. In 2016, the team won the Mexican Pacific League Championship and went on to win their second Caribbean Series ...

, a team with which he reappeared at the

, held that year in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. During six MLB seasons, Prieto won 15 games and lost 24, with a 4.85 ERA. He played until 2005 in the minor leagues, unable to make it back to the A's.

Coaching career

Prieto spent the 2009 through 2011 seasons as the pitching coach for the Athletics' Arizona League team. On November 10, 2011, Prieto was announced as the pitching coach for the Vermont Lake Monsters, the Athletics'

New York–Penn League The New York–Penn League (NYPL) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated in the northeastern United States from 1939 to 2020. Classified as a Class A Short Season league, its season started in June, after major-league teams signed th ...

(Single A, short season) team. From 2012 to 2015, Prieto served as interpreter for fellow Cuban defector,

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

outfielder

Yoenis Céspedes Yoenis Céspedes Milanés (born October 18, 1985), nicknamed "La Potencia" (The Power), is a Cuban-born professional baseball outfielder. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut on March 28, 2012, for the Oakland Athletics, and has also p ...

. In 2015, Prieto was hired as a coach for the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

. He was let go in 2017. Prieto was named as the pitching coach for the

of the

organization for the 2018 season.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prieto, Ariel 1969 births Living people Oakland Athletics players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Oakland Athletics coaches Major League Baseball players from Cuba Cuban expatriate baseball players in the United States Major League Baseball pitchers Arizona Diamondbacks coaches Palm Springs Suns players Edmonton Trappers players Modesto A's players Sacramento River Cats players Durham Bulls players Nashville Sounds players Toledo Mud Hens players Albuquerque Isotopes players Yaquis de Obregón players Cuban expatriate baseball players in Mexico Caribes de Oriente players Defecting Cuban baseball players Cuban expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Cuban expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Havana

Career

Coaching career

See also

References

External links