Adrián Almeida

Adrián José Almeida

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 160 lb.

• Born February 25, 1995 in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo Venezuela

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Biographical Information

Adrián Almeida has pitched in the minors and for the Venezuelan national team.

He was signed by New York Mets scout Hector Rincones in January 2012. He made his pro debut that summer with the DSL Mets 1, going 0-3 with a 2.50 ERA. He split the next year between the DSL Mets 1 and DSL Mets 2, going 3-3 with a 3.50 ERA, striking out 43 in 41 2/3 IP but walking 27. He posted a 3-2, 2.13 record for the 2014 GCL Mets, fanning 40 in 38 IP (23 BB, 26 H).

Almeida was 2-1 with a save and a 5.94 ERA for the 2015 Kingsport Mets, getting wilder (18 BB in 16 2/3 IP). He made his Venezuelan Winter League debut for the Bravos de Margarita, giving up six walks and six runs in 1 2/3 IP. He split 2016 between Kingsport (0-3, 2 Sv, 6.14, 29 K in 22 IP) and the Brooklyn Cyclones (0-1, 3.86, 5 K in 2 1/3 IP). He had another rough winter with the Bravos (5 BB, 7 R in 1 1/3 IP). The Los Angeles Angels' Salt Lake Bees took him in the AAA portion of the 2016 Rule V Draft.

He was 1-3 with a 5.31 ERA in 27 games for the '17 Burlington Bees, striking out 50 and walking 32 in 42 1/3 innings. He did not pitch that winter then split 2018 between the Inland Empire 66ers (Sv, 0.75 ERA in 7 G) and Mobile BayBears (2-4, 4.25 in 33 G). He continued to be wild (55 BB, 12 WP in 60 2/3 IP) though he fanned 73 and allowed a .172 average. He tied Akeel Morris and Jorge Tavarez for 10th in the Angels chain with 40 games pitched. He was the third pitcher of a combined no-hitter against the Birmingham Barons, the BayBears' 3rd no-hitter ever, teaming with Griffin Canning, Greg Mahle and Ryan Clark.

The lefty had another poor person for Margarita, giving up three runs in 1 1/3 IP in 2018-2019. He was 1-1 with saves and a 5.79 ERA in 30 games for Mobile in 2019, walking 33 and fanning 31 in 28; he allowed a .307 average and .477 OBP. He did not pitch in the winter, then the 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. He had a 7.88 ERA and ten walks in eight innings for Margarita in 2020-2021. He began the 2021 season with the Rocket City Trash Pandas and had a 1-0, 2.08 record after six games, walking eight in 8 2/3 IP still. He then left the team to pitch for Venezuela in the Americas Olympic Qualifier.

In the Olympic Qualifier, his first outing came against Cuba. Relieving Danny Rondón with a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 5th, two on and one out, he got Frederich Cepeda to ground into an inning-ending double play. Jhonathan Diaz then relieved; Venezuela won, 6-5. His other game came versus Colombia; with a 3-1 lead to open the 9th, he took over for Rondón and struck out prospect Jeter Downs before Gabriel Moya succeeded him in what would be a 3-2 victory. Venezuela wouldn't win the qualifier but did well enough to move on to the Final Olympic Qualifier.