Kender Villegas

Kender Villegas

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 170 lb.

• Born June 8, 1993 in Caracas, Distrito Capital Venezuela

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Biographical Information

Kender Villegas has pitched in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, USA, France and Mexico. He has been on the Venezuelan national team as well.

Villegas was initially signed by the St. Louis Cardinals. With the 2010 VSL Cardinals, he was 1-0 with a save and a 7.43 ERA in his pro debut, posting a 2.00 WHIP in 13 games (one start), not an indication of the lengthy career to follow. The next summer, he was much sharper with the 2011 DSL Cardinals (2-2, Sv, 1.13 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 33 K in 32 IP). He made his Venezuelan Winter League debut with the Tiburones de La Guaira, allowing only one hit and one walk in four shutout innings. He allowed three hits and one run in 1/3 of a postseason inning, though.

In the summer of 2012, he went 4-4 with a 6.28 ERA in the rotation for the GCL Cardinals. He tied for 10th in the Gulf Coast League in wins, was third in innings (53), allowed the most hits (72, 3 more than Enderson Franco) and also allowed the most runs (42, 4 more than Ramon Ulacio) and earned runs (37, 7 more than Ulacio and Roberto Estrella). He returned to the GCL Cardinals the next year, this time in relief, and was much better in that role (1-1, 2 Sv, 1.23 ERA, .92 WHIP, 32 K in 29 1/3 IP).

He split 2014 between the Johnson City Cardinals (1-2, 3 Sv, 3.00 in 23 G; 42 K in 39 IP) and State College Spikes (0 R in 2 1/3 IP). He tied Ismael Brito and Kevin Carlow for the Appalachian League lead in games pitched. He threw 1 2/3 shutout innings for the 2014-2015 Tiburones and allowed one run in two postseason innings. In 2015, he pitched for State College (2-3, 2 Sv, 4.46 in 22 G), the Peoria Chiefs (1-1, Sv, 2.70 in 7 G) and Palm Beach Cardinals (0 R in 2 1/3 IP). He tied for 8th in the New York-Penn League in appearances. He was part of two transactions as well. La Guaira traded him with Yorman Landa to the Bravos de Margarita for Alberto González. Also, the Milwaukee Brewers' Colorado Springs Sky Sox took him in the AAA portion of the 2015 Rule 5 Draft.

Struggling in his first winter with the Bravos (6 H, 5 R in 2 1/3 IP), he made his Brewers system debut with the Brevard County Manatees and was a serviceable reliever (6-6, 4.16 in 32 G; 13 BB in 71 1/3 IP). He rebounded his second winter with Margarita (2-0, 3.63 in 16 G). He was 1-0 in the postseason, allowing one run in three innings. By then, he had been signed as a free agent by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Villegas split the summer of 2017 between the Dunedin Blue Jays (2-1, 3 Sv, 3.20 in 14 G) and New Hampshire Fisher Cats (2-4, Sv, 4.73 in 20 G), though his control was not as sharp (36 BB in 59 2/3 IP). With the Bravos in winter ball, he was 1-0 with a 3.76 ERA in 24 outings. He then signed with the Rouen Huskies of France. In the 2018 European Champions Cup, he was roughed up for four runs in 2/3 of an inning by ASD Rimini, relieving Keino Perez and succeeded by Esteban Prioul. He saved Yoann Vaugelade's 6-2 win over Heidenheim Heideköpfe, walking Jay Pecci in the 9th but then fanning Gary Owens and Mitch Nilsson to end it. He also fared well against Neptunus, going 3 1/3 innings (1 UER, 0 ER, 4 H, 3 BB) in relief of Prioul. He tied for the event lead with the one save and his three appearances were one shy of leader Kevin Kelly. He led Rouen in games pitched but only Perez had a higher ERA for them.

In the 2018 French Division I, he was 5-0 with a 1.47 ERA. He was among the league leaders in ERA (2nd, a distant .97 behind fellow Venezuelan Yorfrank López), opponent average (.194, 3rd, behind López and Prioul), IP (55, 7th, between former major leaguerFrank Mata and Luis De La Rosa) and wins (4th). In Game 2 of the finals, he went the distance, fanning 11 in a 4-3 win over Jonathan Mottay and the Montigny Cougars. Rouen won the title.

The veteran was 0-1 with a 3.71 ERA for Margarita in 2018-2019 and pitched three shutout innings in the postseason. He slipped to 0-3, 3.96 with a save in 2019-2020 and 2-1, 5.82 in 2020-2021. He began 2021 with a different Bravos, the Bravos de León in Mexico. He was pitching well enough that he joined the Venezuelan team for the Final Olympic Qualifier. He closed out their opening 10-7 loss to the Dominican national team, relieving Harold Chirino with two outs in the 8th and a man on third. He struck out Diego Goris. In the 9th, he went 1-2-3 against Ramón Torres, Charlie Valerio (K) and Gustavo Núñez. He also closed out the 9-3 win over the Kingdom of the Netherlands, replacing Arcenio León in the 9th with two on and two out and struck out Jiandido Tromp. Only Henry Centeno had more innings with a 0.00 ERA for Venezuela in the event.