Johan Belisario

Johan Jose Belisario

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165 lb.

• Born August 13, 1993 in Ciudad Bolivar, Bolivar Venezuela

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Johan Belisario pitched in the minor league from 2010 to 2019, then continued his career in Italy and in the winter leagues until 2023.

He was originally signed as a 16-year-old international amateur free agent out of Venezuela by the Detroit Tigers on May 13, 2010 and spent his first four professional seasons with the VSL Tigers. This was an inordinately long amount of time for a prospect to be in the Venezuelan Summer League, which at the time was considered to lowest-rated professional circuit in North America: anyone showing a modicum of potential would normally move up to the Dominican Summer League or to the Gulf Coast League within a couple of years. It was not the case for Johan, however, and contributing to that may have been that he went just 2-17 in his first three seasons as a starting pitcher there. He turned things around in 2013, when he was 5-1, 1.15 in 31 games as a reliever and also saved 16 games. He just turned 20 during that fourth season, so he was still of a decent age for a prospect.

In 2014, he moved to the United States, jumping a couple of levels to the more age-appropriate New York-Penn League where he played for the Connecticut Tigers. He had another very good year, making the circuit's mid-season All-Star team and finishing at 5-0, 0.79 in 19 games, with 3 saves. In 2015, he moved up to full season ball and the West Michigan Whitecaps of the Midwest League, going 3-2, 1.79 with 12 saves in 41 games. In each of his firs two season in the U.S., he struck out about one batter per inning. Following the 2015 season, he pitched in the Venezuelan League for the first time, with the Tiburones de La Guaira.

The next couple of years were a harder slog for Johan following his early success after moving to the U.S. as he finished 2016 at 0-2, 5.82 with the Lakeland Flying Tigers of the Florida State League and did not pitch after mid-May because of an injury. He was still injured at the start of 2017, went on a rehabilitation assignment with the GCL Tigers West in June, and finally returned to Lakeland in mid-July, over a year after his last appearance there. He went 1-1, 3.77 in 12 games in the FSL. In 2018, he was sent back down to the Midwest League, three years after first pitching at that level and was 3-2, 1.48 with 3 saves in 21 games. Those were good numbers, but he should have been in AAA by that point of his career. He did make it to AAA in 2019, after signing as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers and starting the season with the Biloxi Shuckers of the AA Southern League. He was named a league mid-season All-Star as he went 9-2, 3.95 in 23 games, including 11 starts. He was 6-0 after his first 9 starts to earn the All-Star berth. He had a couple of short stints in the Pacific Coast League with the San Antonio Missions during the season, making 2 starts and giving up 15 runs in 5 innings.

Unfortunately, for him, the COVID-19 pandemic came at the worst possible time for him as he was unable to build on his successful season at AA. He sat out all of 2020 when the minor leagues were shut down, and then became a free agent at a time when the Minor League Reorganization had eliminated a number of teams, forcing organizations to jettison some of their lesser prospects. As a result, he ended up pitching in Italy's Serie A1 in 2021, with Senago. In spite of a sparkling ERA of 1.77 in 13 games, all starts, his record was just 4-6, as he was simply not pitching with a particularly strong team: Senago had just been promoted to the top level that year, due to expansion, and was struggling to find its footing against more established clubs. Given his last name is of Italian origin, it's possible that he was not counted as an import, making playing in his ancestors' homeland an attractive option for him. After that season, he focused exclusively on winter ball, pitching for La Guaira in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. In that second season, he was part of a Tiburones team that made it to the league finals against the Leones del Caracas, their traditional rivals, but he was charged with the loss that gave Caracas the title on January 30th, giving an 11th-inning game-winning homer to Harold Castro, as both teams had to dig deep into their pitching staffs.