Luis Mateo (minors04)

Luis Angel Mateo

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 205 lb.

• Born March 22, 1990 in Nizao, Peravia D.R.

BR register page

Biographical Information

Luis Mateo pitched as high as AAA and has been on the Dominican national team.

Mateo was signed by New York Mets scouts Rafael Perez, Ismael Cruz and Sandy Rosario in April 2011. At age 21, he was on the older side for a Dominican signee. He was excellent for the 2011 DSL Mets 1 at 6-1, 2.00 with 80 K to 5 BB in 63 IP, posting a .78 WHIP. He tied Jayson Aquino for 4th in the Dominican Summer League in whiffs. Moving up to the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2012, he maintained a superb K:BB ratio (85:9) while going 4-5 with a 2.45 ERA. He did not throw a wild pitch in 73 1/3 innings. He led the New York-Penn League in K (9 ahead of Rainy Lara), was 9th in ERA (between Gabriel Ynoa and Luis Cessa) and second in WHIP (.12 behind Hansel Robles). Baseball America rated him as the league's #5 prospect, between Richie Shaffer and Patrick Wisdom.

In 2013, he struggled with the St. Lucie Mets (1-1, 4.15 in 3 G) and Binghamton Mets (0-1, 4 R in 3 IP) while battling injury then had his season end due to Tommy John surgery. He saw little action in his 2014 return, pitching for the GCL Mets (Sv, 1.69 in 4 G) and Brooklyn (4 R in 5 IP). His slow return continued in 2015, when he did well for the GCL Mets (0 R in 5 IP), Brooklyn (1 R in 6 IP) and the Savannah Sand Gnats (2.31 ERA in 10 G). In his Dominican Winter League debut, he gave up two runs in two innings for the Leones del Escogido.

The right-hander was pitching regularly again finally in 2016, for Binghamton (3-4, Sv, 2.87 in 48 G) and the Las Vegas 51s (1-0, 0 R in 4 1/3 IP). He had the third-lowest walk rate in the Eastern League. He was 6th in the Mets chain in games pitched. Due to his three years lost due to injury, he was past the age of being a prospect. For the 2016-2017 Leones, he gave up one run in 2/3 of an inning. He also split '17 between Binghamton (1-0, 4.50 in 18 G) and Las Vegas (1-0, 5.85 in 18 G). He allowed four hits and three runs while retiring no one for Escogido in 2017-2018.

Moving to the independent leagues, he was 11-5 with a 4.21 ERA for the 2018 Sioux City Explorers. He was one win shy of American Association co-leaders Tommy Collier and Justin Vernia. He was 5th with 112 strikeouts, between Jared Mortensen and Travis Banwart. In the 2019 Caribbean Series, he allowed one unearned run in seven innings for the champion Toros de Herrera; in the title game, he had two 1-2-3 innings to set up Manny Corpas's save as Panama won its first Caribbean Series in 69 years. He moved on to the Mexican League's Piratas de Campeche for 2019 but struggled (2-6, 7.27).

In 2019-2020, he was 0-1 with a 7.50 ERA for the Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican. He resurfaced in 2022-2023, going 2-1 with a 7.57 ERA between two Colombian League teams. In the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, he was one of two Luis Mateos, alongside Cuban infielder Luis Mateo. He started two games for the Dominican squad. He allowed four runs in 4 2/3 IP in a loss to Oscar Abreu and Venezuela. Versus Cuba, he surrendered seven hits and five runs in three innings in a loss to Carlos Juan Viera. He tied Jordan Lucas, Andrés Santiago and Wilfredo Ramirez for the most losses, tied for the most starts, was 9th in IP, gave up the most hits (one more than Ramirez and Viera), was second in runs allowed (2 behind Jose Roca) and allowed the most earned runs.