Julio Machado
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox baseball biography Template:Family name hatnote Julio Segundo Machado Rondón (born December 1, 1965) is a Venezuelan former Major League Baseball (MLB) right-handed relief pitcher who played for the New York Mets (1989–1990) and Milwaukee Brewers (1990–1991). Machado's MLB career was cut short when he was imprisoned on involuntary murder charges in Venezuela. He later coached and played in Venezuelan winter baseball leagues.
MLB careerEdit
Machado started his career with the Mets. He made his MLB debut in Template:Baseball year and started the Template:Baseball year season with the Mets as well. He was demoted to the Class AAA Tidewater team, where he saved eight games before being recalled to the Mets in July. At the time, the Mets were looking for consistent right-handed relief pitchers, having traded Roger McDowell the previous year.<ref name="Sexton">Template:Cite news</ref>
Later that season, Machado was traded to the Brewers, along with pitcher Kevin Brown, in exchange for catcher Charlie O'Brien and a minor league player.
Machado had a decent fastball, good control and willingness to challenge hitters. He also pitched a better-than-average curveball and a slider.
In a three-year career, Machado posted a 7–5 record with 151 strikeouts and a 3.12 ERA in 147 innings.
ShootingEdit
Spending the 1991 offseason in his homeland, Machado fatally shot a woman following an auto accident on December 8.<ref name=LAT/> More than two weeks later, Machado was missing and the Brewers said that they were planning for 1992 with the assumption that Machado would not be on the team. Though he was described as a fugitive, Venezuelan reporters said that Machado would probably turn himself in after the holidays.<ref name="MJ">Template:Cite news</ref> He was held in a Caracas prison while an investigation was carried out from the middle of January to early March. He admitted that he fired the shots, but he said that he did so in self-defense, afraid that he was being robbed.<ref name="LAT">Template:Cite news</ref>
When Machado was granted conditional freedom pending a trial on charges of involuntary murder, he was not allowed to leave Venezuela. Shortly thereafter, thieves stole the car of the prosecutor in Machado's case and they set it on fire.<ref name="Fernandez">Template:Cite news</ref> Machado was convicted and, following appeals, he was sentenced to 12 years in 1996.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was released in 2000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
{{#if:||* }}Career statistics from {{#invoke:String|join|Template:Space·Template:Space|{{#if: | MLB | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata MLB Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | ESPN | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata ESPN Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: m/machaju01 | Baseball Reference | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata.shtml Baseball Reference Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | Fangraphs | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata Fangraphs Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | Baseball Reference (Minors) | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata Baseball Reference (Minors) Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | Retrosheet | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata.htm Retrosheet Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}|{{#if: | Baseball Almanac | {{#if: Template:Wikidata | Template:Wikidata Baseball Almanac Template:EditAtWikidata}} }}}}{{#if: m/machaju01
Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata | | Template:Main other Error: Template:Baseballstats must contain at least one valid parameter name. }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters | check | unknown = Template:Main other | preview = Page using Template:Baseballstats with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank = y | br | brm | espn | fangraphs | id | mlb | retro | nobullet | almanac }}