Julio Cesar Mateo (born August 2, 1977) is a Dominican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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. The 6’0 tall 220 lb Mateo bats and throws right-handed. He was signed by the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

as a non-drafted free agent on May 15, .

Professional career

Seattle Mariners

Mateo went 4–2 with a 1.74

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in 15 games, including two starts, for

Dominican Summer League Mariners The Dominican Summer League Mariners or DSL Mariners are a Minor league baseball team in the Dominican Summer League. They play in the Boca Chica South Division. They are a Seattle Mariners Rookie-Level affiliate. Notable players * Julio Rodrígu ...

in . He tossed two

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s and earned one save. In Mateo went 3–1 with a 3.30 ERA in 13 outings, including six starts, for

Arizona League Mariners The Arizona Complex League Mariners are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, Arizona. The team is comp ...

. With the Short-Season

Everett AquaSox The Everett AquaSox are a Minor League Baseball team in Everett, Washington. The team is a member of the Northwest League and is the High-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. The AquaSox play their home games at Funko Field, which has a seatin ...

in , Mateo went 3–3 with a 4.70 ERA and four saves in 28 relief appearances. He also allowed one run over 1 innings in his lone outing for the Class-A Advanced

Lancaster JetHawks The Lancaster JetHawks were a baseball team located in Lancaster, California. They were named for the city's association with the aerospace industry and played their home games at The Hangar. From 1996 to 2020, they were members of Minor League B ...

. Mateo went 1–3 with a 4.34 ERA and four saves in 20 outings for the Class-A

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, a town on the outskirts of Appleton in the Fox Cities, and are nam ...

in . Again with Class-A Wisconsin in , Mateo went 4–8 with a 4.19 ERA and four saves in 36 outings, including one start. He went 5–4 with a 2.86 ERA and a career-high 26 saves in 56 outings for the Class-A Advanced San Bernardino Stampede in . Mateo split the season between the Double-A

San Antonio Missions The San Antonio Missions are a Minor League Baseball team based in San Antonio, Texas. The Missions compete in the Texas League as the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. The team plays its home games at Nelson W. W ...

, the Triple-A

Tacoma Rainiers The Tacoma Rainiers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Tacoma, Washington, and play their home games at Cheney Stadium, ...

, and the Major League Mariners. He went 1–0 with an 0.52 ERA in 12 outings for San Antonio and 4–2 with a 4.06 ERA and six saves in 20 appearances for Tacoma. ... He made his Major League Baseball debut on May 7, , for the Mariners against 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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

. Mateo gave up 10 runs in 21 innings during his first taste of Major League action with Seattle. In Mateo went 4–0 with a 3.15 ERA and a save in 50 relief outings for Mariners. He finished 17 games for Seattle in '03. Mateo retained his bullpen spot with the Mariners in . He went 1–2 with a 4.68 ERA and one save in 45 outings for M's. In Mateo went 3–6 with a 3.06 ERA in 55 appearances, including one start, for the Mariners. He went 9–4 with a 4.19 ERA in 48 relief appearances for Mariners in . He recorded a career high in wins. On August 28, Mateo broke his fourth

metacarpal In human anatomy, the metacarpal bones or metacarpus, also known as the "palm bones", are the appendicular bones that form the intermediate part of the hand between the phalanges (fingers) and the carpal bones ( wrist bones), which articulate ...

(ring finger) on his left hand while lifting weights., and missed the remainder of the '06 season. Mateo posted a 1–0 mark with a 3.75 ERA in nine appearances for the Mariners before his domestic violence charge. Soon after that he was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.

Philadelphia Phillies

On July 31, , Mateo was traded to the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

for minor league shortstop Jesus Merchan. He went 4–1 with a 1.43 ERA 15 saves in 35 relief outings for both the Double-A

Reading Phillies Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word re ...

and the Rainiers in the Mariners' organization. On December 7, he was given unconditional release by the Phillies.

San Francisco Giants

On January 10, , Mateo signed a minor league contract with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. He went 3–4 with a 5.69 ERA in 25 outings, including six starts, for the Triple-A

Fresno Grizzlies The Fresno Grizzlies are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They are located in Fresno, California, and play their home games at Chukchansi Park, which was opened in 2002 in ...

. He lost his first three starts before allowing two runs over 5 innings in victory over the

Tucson Sidewinders Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson metropolitan s ...

on April 20. He converted three consecutive save opportunities from May 22–29. He became a free agent at the end of the '08 season.

Mexico City Red Devils

Mateo played the season with the

Diablos Rojos del México The Diablos Rojos del Mexico (English: Mexico Red Devils) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Mexico City, Mexico. The team was founded in 1940 by Salvador Lutteroth and Ernesto Carmona. The Diablos Rojos play their ho ...

of the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

. He went 12–5 in 123 innings with a 5.24 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 22 games, 21 starts.

Personal life

Mateo has one son, Julio Mateo Jr. He left

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

in 2006, after learning his older brother, Luis, had died in an automobile accident in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

Criminal charges

On May 5, 2007, Mateo turned himself in under the charges of abuse to his wife. He was arrested on a charge of third-degree assault. The police report said the incident involved him striking, choking and biting his wife. She needed five stitches on her lip, as a result of a bite police say was inflicted by Mateo. Mateo was optioned to Triple-A

Tacoma Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

immediately after the event and faced a 10-day non-pay suspension as well as a fine for not showing up to the ballpark for the game that night against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

. While pitching in San Francisco's farm system, Mateo was arrested on July 27, 2008, in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. The arrest followed the discovery of counterfeit $100 bills in his hotel room. He also faced the accusation of passing a counterfeit $100 bill to pay a cab fare. A police report says that as officers patted Mateo down in a hotel hallway early Sunday, he made a statement in Spanish denying the charges.Fitzpatrick, Mike (July 29, 2008).
Ex-MLB reliever Mateo arrested with fake bills
. ''ESPN''. Associated Press. Retrieved on 2009-07-07

References

External links

Baseball ReferenceMLB.com Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mateo, Julio 1977 births Living people Arizona League Mariners players Diablos Rojos del México players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Mexico Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Everett AquaSox players Fresno Grizzlies players Lancaster JetHawks players Leones del Caracas players Leones del Escogido players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Mexican League baseball pitchers Reading Phillies players San Antonio Missions players San Bernardino Stampede players Seattle Mariners players Tacoma Rainiers players Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players Baseball players from Baní