Ex-White Sox pitcher perished en route to hospital in the Dominican Republic
Longtime major league pitcher and two-season Chicago White Sox reliever Octavio Dotel has died as a result of the roof collapse at the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic early Tuesday morning.
Dotel was pulled from the rubble alive, but died en route to the hospital. At least 27 people have died and 160 injured in the tragedy. The 51-year-old was among eight people found alive in the wreckage, which occurred at 1 a.m., during singer Rubby Pérez’s performance; Pérez survived, with injuries, but at least one of her band members was killed.
The sister of former MLB slugger Nelson Cruz, Nelsy, who was the governor of nearby province Monticristi, also perished in the collapse. Fellow MLB veterans Henry Blanco and Esteban Germán were at Pérez’s performance, but left before the collapse.
The colorful, restless reliever spent a nomadic 15 years in the majors, playing for 13 different teams. Until almost-Sox teammate Edwin Jackson broke the mark in 2019, Dotel was atop the leaderboard of most franchises played for. The native of Santo Domingo played in as many as two seasons for only four teams, the White Sox among them.
Dotel signed a two-year, $11 million deal with the White Sox in January 2008, putting up fairly stellar numbers for a late-inning arm not handed the closer’s role: 2.0 WAR over 134 games/129 1⁄3 innings, 22 games finished, one save, and 3.55 ERA. He was also a key member of the World Series-winning 2011 St. Louis Cardinals.
The efficient journeyman (15.2 career WAR, none too shabby for a reliever) retired from the game in 2013. He is survived by his wife, Massiel, and their children, Eduardo and Nicole.