Alex Vesia

Alexander Victor Vesia

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 209 lb.
• School California State University, East Bay
• High School Steele Canyon High School
• Debut July 25, 2020

• Born April 11, 1996 in Alpine, CA USA

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Biographical Information

Pitcher Alex Vesia was drafted in the 17th round of the 2018 amateur draft by the Miami Marlins out of California State University, East Bay, a Division-II school that is not a traditional baseball power. However, he had been very good there, including going 8-2, 1,94 his senior season, and he followed that by putting up some good numbers in his first pro season. He went 4-0, 1.35 in 14 relief appearances between the GCL Marlins and Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League.

He continued his quick rise through the minor league ranks in 2019, seeing action at the Class A, Advanced Class A and AA levels, with a combined 7-2, 1.76 mark in 38 games with the Clinton LumberKings, Jupiter Hammerheads and Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Interestingly, his ERA went down at each of his stop, ending up with not giving up a single run in 16 1/3 at Jacksonville. He was now a genuine prospect, and in 2020 he made the Marlins' roster at the start of the season, following the three-month break forced upon baseball by the COVID-19 pandemic. He made his debut on July 25th but gave up a two-run homer to Phil Gosselin of the Philadelphia Phillies to be charged with a 7-1 loss. The Marlins were hit with an epidemic of positive cases of the disease two days later, and he was one of the players affected, not making his next appearance until August 29th. Overall, he gave up at least one run in four of his five appearances that year, ending up with an ERA of 18.69 in 4 1/3 innings. Not surprisingly, he was left off the Marlins' postseason roster.

On February 12, 2021, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers along with P Kyle Hurt in return for veteran reliever Dylan Floro. He had a very good first season for the Dodgers, pitching 41 times in relief and going 3-1, 2.25 with 1 save and 54 strikeouts in 40 innings. He then pitched 7 times in the postseason, giving up just 1 run on a solo homer by Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of the Division Series. His next six appearances were scoreless, including five in the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, although in game 6 of that series, he did load the bases on three walks without retiring anyone before Blake Treinen bailed him out by striking out Austin Riley to end the inning.

On April 13, 2022, he was thrust into a situation very few pitchers have ever experienced as he replaced Clayton Kershaw in a game against the Minnesota Twins with a perfect game on the line. Kershaw had retired all 21 batters he had faced through seven innings, but was removed by manager Dave Roberts after reaching his pitch count limit in what was his first start of the season. Vesia took over and retired the first batter he faced, Jorge Polanco, on a ground ball, but then allowed a single to Gary Sanchez to end the historic bid. He then walked Max Kepler before getting the final two outs of the inning, before turning the ball over to Justin Bruihl in the 9th. The Dodgers won the game handily, 7-0.

Related Sites

• Alex Vesia on mlb.com