Luis Enrique Leal Alvarado (born March 21, 1957) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n former starting pitcher in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played from 1980 through 1985 for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Playing career

Leal signed with the Blue Jays as an amateur free agent before the start of the 1979 season. His most productive season came in 1984, when he posted a record of 13–8, with a 3.89

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

and 134 strikeouts. In a six-year major league career, Leal had a record of 51–58 with a 4.14 ERA, 491 strikeouts, and three

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

s in 946 innings pitched. After spending most of the 1985 and 1986 seasons with the Triple A

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

, Leal was traded to the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

with Damaso Garcia for Craig McMurtry in February 1987. He never played for Atlanta, as he did not make the spring training roster nor any of Atlanta's minor league teams. At the time of his retirement, Leal ranked behind only Jim Clancy and

Dave Stieb Dave Andrew Stieb (; born July 22, 1957) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. A seven-time All-Star, he also won ''The Sporting News'' Pitcher of the Year Award in 1982. Stieb won 140 games i ...

among the Blue Jays' career leaders in starts, innings, wins, losses, strikeouts, and walks. He also was the opposing starting pitcher for the Blue Jays on May 15, 1981, when

Len Barker Leonard Harold Barker III (born July 7, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher. He pitched the tenth perfect game in baseball history. Barker pitched with the Texas Rangers (1976–78), Cleveland Indians (1979–83 ...

of the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

pitched a perfect game against them. Though mostly a starting pitcher throughout his career, Leal did achieve one save. On May 19, 1981, Leal pitched innings, allowing only one run to close out a 9-5 Blue Jays victory. Leal was inducted into the

Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The Salón de la Fama y Museo del Béisbol Venezolano (in English, the ''Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum'') is a nonprofit institution operated by private interests, which was founded on April 18, 2002, thanks to the vision of Carlos ...

in 2008.

References

External links

RetrosheetVenezuelan Professional Baseball League
1957 births Angeles de Puebla players Cardenales de Lara players Dunedin Blue Jays players Knoxville Blue Jays players Living people Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Sportspeople from Barquisimeto Syracuse Chiefs players Toronto Blue Jays players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in Canada Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States {{Venezuela-baseball-pitcher-stub

Playing career

See also

References

External links