Manuel Zapata

Manuel Alejandro Zapata Falcón

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165-220 lb.

• Born January 31, 1990 in Ciudad Bolívar, Bolívar Venezuela

BR register page

Biographical Information

Manuel Zapata has played in the minors and for the Chilean national team.

Born in Venezuela, his father is from Chile. He hit .231/.323/.256 for the 2007 DSL Blue Jays 1 and .294/.358/.338 for the same team in 2008, when he fielded .949 as their primary third baseman. He improved to .314/.415/.361 for the 2009 DSL Blue Jays, with 30 walks in 54 games. In his lone stateside action, he was 1-for-13 for the GCL Blue Jays in 2010 to end his minor league career at .283/.366/.324 with 74 runs and 73 RBI in 164 games.

In the 2023 Pan American Games, he played first, third, left and pitched. In their opener, he hit 5th against Mexico and was retired by Wilmer Ríos his first time up. He started on the mound versus the Dominican national team and allowed 5 hits, 3 walks and 7 runs (5 earned) in 3 innings; Camilo Rivera took over. He did strike out one, Víctor Luna. He took the loss to Edwin Adón. He did have a bright spot that day when he drove in Chile's first run; they had been shutout in their first two games but his third-inning single drove in Allan Chu. He finished the Games 2-for-10 with a triple, walk and RBI and handled 10 putouts error-free. He was the only Chilean player with multiple hits, led them in total bases (one ahead of Chu), had their lone RBI and led them in slugging and OPS. As it was Chile's Pan American Games baseball debut, he had the only RBI in Chilean Pan Am Games annals.