José Torres

Note: This page is for pitcher Jose Torres who made his major league debut in 2016; for others with the same name, click here.

Jose Marcos Torres

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 2", Weight 175 lb.

• Debut September 22, 2016
• Final Game September 29, 2017
• Born September 24, 1993 in Caracas, Distrito Federal, Venezuela

BR page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Jose Torres began his professional career in the Oakland Athletics organization in 2011 after being signed as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela (the scouts were Julio Franco and Oswaldo Troconis). He played for the DSL Athletics his first two seasons, 2011 and 2012, where he was a starting pitcher before moving to the United States with the AZL Athletics later in 2012. In 2013 and 2014, he was with the Vermont Lake Monsters of the New York-Penn League, going 3-2, 2.64 and 0-6, 4.38 in limited action. In 2015, he was moved to the bullpen with the Beloit Snappers of the Midwest League, where he pitched 44 times with a record of 4-5, 2.69 and 8 saves. That earned him a late-season promotion to the Stockton Ports of the California League, where he gave up no runs over 3 2/3 innings in 3 appearances. Overall that year, he struck out 84 batters in 77 1/3 innings.

On December 2, 2015, Torres was included in a major league trade, joining P Drew Pomeranz and a player to be named (Jabari Blash) in heading to the San Diego Padres in return for 1B Yonder Alonso and P Marc Rzepczynski. He made his major league debut with the Padres at the end of the 2016 season, pitching 3 scoreless innings over 4 appearances in September. In 2017, he pitched 62 games in relief for the Padres, going 7-4, 4.21 with 1 save, and pitched better as the season advanced, as his ERA was 1.96 over the final two months.

However, just as spring training was about to start in 2018, the Padres announced that he had been placed on the restricted list. The club did not offer details, only saying that the situation was not related to baseball. It was later explained that he was facing charges related to an alleged domestic violence incident the previous December. He never got to pitch that season, as on June 8th, he was handed a suspension for the remainder of the season, covering 100 games retroactive to June 5th. He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a deadly weapon, criminal damage and intimidation and was suspended under MLB's domestic violence policy. He was released by the Padres in October and the following January avoided jail time by being sentenced to two years of probation.

Related Sites

• Jose Torres on mlb.com
• BR Minors page