Luis Adan Valbuena (November 30, 1985 – December 6, 2018) was a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n 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 ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

. He played eleven seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB), from 2008 through 2018, for 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 ...

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) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

and

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

. While primarily a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

, Valbuena also played

second base In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the infield, between second and first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and feet, needs the ability to get rid of the ball quickly, and must ...

and

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He was killed alongside José Castillo in a 2018 car crash in Venezuela caused by bandits in an attempted robbery.

Early life

Valbuena grew up in Sucre, a municipality in the Venezuelan state of

Zulia Zulia State (, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It is also one of t ...

. He was raised by a single mother named Nelly, who was the president of the local youth baseball league. Valbuena's older brother and several uncles helped him learn to play baseball.

Professional career

Seattle Mariners

Valbuena began his professional career in the

organization in 2005. He was first promoted to the major leagues on September 1, 2008, from the Mariners' Triple-A team, the

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, ...

Cleveland Indians

On December 10, 2008, Valbuena was traded to the

in a three-team trade that sent Franklin Gutiérrez to Seattle. Valbuena hit his first major league home run off of Bartolo Colón on June 7, 2009. Luis Valbuena

In July 2011, the Indians optioned Valbuena to Triple-A Columbus, to make room for the promotion of rookie second baseman Jason Kipnis. In August 2011, Valbuena was recalled after Kipnis was put on the disabled list with an oblique injury. He was designated for assignment and removed from the 40-man roster on November 18. On November 26, he was traded to 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 ...

for cash considerations.

Chicago Cubs

On April 4, 2012, Valbuena was claimed off waivers by the

after being optioned by the Blue Jays. He was outrighted to the minors on April 7. Valbuena was called up from the Triple-A

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. T ...

on June 14. Valbuena played 108 games for Chicago in 2013, hitting .218 with 12 home runs and 37

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBIs). The next year, Valbuena's batting average increased to .249 over 149 games and he had 16 home runs and 51 RBIs.Luis Valbuena Statistics and History
Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 10, 2015. By June 2014,

Fangraphs FanGraphs.com is a website run by Fangraphs Inc., located in Arlington, Virginia, and created and owned by David Appelman that provides statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. On September 18, 2009, Fangraphs Inc. launched ...

noted that Valbuena was hitting fastballs well in the lower, outer portions of the

strike zone In baseball, the strike zone is the area of space through which a pitch must pass in order to be called a strike even if the batter does not swing. The strike zone is defined as the volume of space above home plate and between the batter's kne ...

, which had been a weakness for him in previous years.

Houston Astros

On January 19, 2015, the Cubs traded Valbuena and Dan Straily to the

for Dexter Fowler. At the time of the trade, Valbuena was projected as the Astros' starting third baseman for 2015.Dexter Fowler trade: Meet Luis Valbuena, the Astros' newest infielder
''Crawfish Boxes''. Retrieved April 10, 2015. Valbuena's average dropped to .224 in 2015, but he set a career-high with 25 home runs. With Jed Lowrie coming off the disabled list and Carlos Correa taking over the primary shortstop position, Valbuena was forced to share some of the first base duties along with Chris Carter and utility player Marwin González in order to get some playing time. At the beginning of the 2016 season, Valbuena was the starting third baseman for the Astros. He began to split playing time between first and third base. With the call-up of Astros prospect

Alex Bregman Alexander David Bregman (born March 30, 1994) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Houston Astros. As a high school sophomore at Albu ...

, Valbuena saw more playing time at first base.

Los Angeles Angels

On January 24, 2017, Valbuena signed a two-year contract with the

. Valbuena split time during the season between third base and first base. He ended the season hitting a career low .199 with 22 home runs and a career high 65 RBIs. Valbuena was designated for assignment by the Angels on August 5, 2018. He hit .199 for the second straight season, finishing with nine home runs and 33 RBIs. He was released on August 7, 2018. For the season, he had the slowest baserunning sprint speed of all major league third basemen, at 24.1 feet/second.

Death

On December 6, 2018, Valbuena, José Castillo, and Carlos Rivero were in a car in

Yaracuy Yaracuy (, ;) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. Yaracuy is located in the Central-Western Region, Venezuela. It is bordered by Falcón State, Falcón in the north, in the west by Lara State, Lara, in the south by Portug ...

driven by Rivero's chauffeur when the group was ambushed by highway robbers. The players were members of Venezuelan winter team

Cardenales de Lara The Cardenales de Lara () is a baseball team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP). Founded in 1942 and based in Barquisimeto, the Cardenales have won seven domestic titles, including back-to-back in 1998 and 1999, 2019, 2020 and ...

, and were returning from a game played on the day of the crash. In the driver's attempt to avoid the robbers the vehicle struck a rock and overturned, killing Valbuena and Castillo. Four men were arrested in connection with the incident after being found in possession of the players' property.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valbuena, Luis 1985 births 2018 deaths Arizona League Cubs players Cardenales de Lara players Chicago Cubs players Cleveland Indians players Columbus Clippers players Everett AquaSox players Houston Astros players Inland Empire 66ers players Iowa Cubs players Kane County Cougars players Los Angeles Angels players Major League Baseball infielders Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Baseball players from Zulia Seattle Mariners players Tacoma Rainiers players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States Road incident deaths in Venezuela West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players