Highlighted Year: Omar Daal, 1999

Pitcher, Arizona Diamondbacks

Age: 27

2^nd season with Diamondbacks

Bats – Left, Throws – Left

Height: 6’3”    Weight: 160 

Prior to 1999:

A native of Venezuela, Daal lived in Maracaibo until age 12 when his family moved to Valencia. Playing youth baseball and proving to be mediocre as a first baseman and outfielder, he took up pitching with far better results. After pitching for a minor league club, he advanced to the Magallenas where he drew the interest of a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers who signed him to a contract at age 18. Initially a relief pitcher with minor league teams in the Dominican Republic and the Venezuelan winter league, he also was given the opportunity to start on occasion. Daal had an ordinary fastball and excellent curve which he delivered with good control. He would also develop a slider and changeup. With teams at the Class AA and AAA levels in 1993, he appeared in 47 games (all but 5 in relief) and produced a 2-8 record with 5 saves and a 5.45 ERA. He started the 1993 season with Albuquerque of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League but the 21-year-old southpaw was soon called up to the Dodgers, who were in need of a lefthander in the bullpen. He stuck with LA for the remainder of the season, strictly as a reliever, and went 2-3 with a 5.09 ERA and 19 strikeouts over 35.1 innings pitched. Daal split time between Albuquerque and the Dodgers in the strike-shortened 1994 season and with the Dodgers appeared in 24 games of short relief out of the bullpen and produced no decisions while compiling a 3.29 ERA and 9 strikeouts over 13.2 innings. It was more of the same in 1995 as he appeared in 28 games for the Dodgers and posted a 4-0 tally, albeit with a 7.20 ERA. Daal was traded to the Montreal Expos in the offseason. With his new club in 1996, Daal was very effective out of the bullpen until encountering a rough spot in mid-August. In the season’s last month he was given the opportunity to start and finished with 64 appearances, 6 of them starts, resulting in a 4-5 record and 4.02 ERA with 82 strikeouts over 87.1 innings. Optimistic coming into 1997, the situation turned sour in Montreal and he was waived following 33 relief appearances that resulted in a 1-2 tally and astronomical 9.79 ERA. Picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays, he was sent down to Syracuse of the Class AAA International League where he went 3-0 with an 0.53 ERA in five starts and was called up to Toronto as a starter/reliever with decent results. Taken by the Diamondbacks in the expansion draft for the 1998 season, he became part of the starting rotation when LHP Joel Adamson was sidelined by a torn rotator cuff and went on to post an 8-12 record and 2.88 ERA with 3 complete games that included a shutout and 132 strikeouts over 162.2 innings. He received a two-year contract extension for $6 million.

1999 Season Summary

Appeared in 32 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate NL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 32

Games Started – 32

Complete Games – 2 [16, tied with nineteen others]

Wins – 16 [10, tied with Shane Reynolds & Pete Harnisch]

Losses – 9

PCT - .640 [16]

Saves – 0

Shutouts – 1 [8, tied with twenty-one others]

Innings Pitched – 214.2 [11]

Hits – 188

Runs – 92

Earned Runs – 87

Home Runs – 21

Bases on Balls – 79 [15]

Strikeouts – 148 [18, tied with Jason Schmidt]

ERA – 3.65 [10]

Hit Batters – 7 [18, tied with eight others]

Balks – 2 [10, tied with fifteen others]

Wild Pitches – 3

Midseason Snapshot: 8-5, ERA - 3.47, SO - 91 in 124.2 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 11 (in 8 IP) vs. Chi. Cubs 6/8

10+ strikeout games – 1

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 2 (in 7 IP) vs. LA Dodgers 7/23

Batting

PA – 77, AB – 69, R – 8, H – 16, 2B – 2, 3B – 0, HR – 0, RBI – 4, BB – 2, SO – 10, SB – 0, CS – 0, AVG - .232, GDP – 2, HBP – 0, SH – 6, SF – 0

Fielding

Chances – 49

Put Outs – 13

Assists – 34

Errors – 2

DP – 2

Pct. - .959

Postseason Pitching: G – 1 (NLDS vs. NY Mets)

GS – 1, CG – 0, Record – 0-1, PCT – .000, ERA – 6.75, SV – 0, ShO – 0, IP – 4, H – 6, R – 3, ER – 3, HR – 0, BB – 3, SO – 4, HB – 0, BLK – 0, WP – 0

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The Diamondbacks went 100-62 to finish first in the NL Western Division by 14 games over the San Francisco Giants in their second season of existence. The Diamondbacks overcame a poor 1-5 start that featured three ninth-inning blown saves and were 40-26 atop the NL West by June 16. A slump heading into July was ended by a trade for RHP Matt Mantei, who became the closer in the bullpen. The club regained its footing, taking over first place to stay on July 24 and clinching the division title on Sept. 24. Lost NLDS to New York Mets, 3 games to 1.

Aftermath of 1999:

Things went wrong for Daal in 2000 and he had a 2-10 record and 7.22 ERA when he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in July as part of the deal for RHP Curt Schilling. The move to Philadelphia provided a boost to Daal’s confidence but he still ended up with a 4-19 tally and 6.14 ERA with 96 strikeouts over 167 innings while he gave up 208 hits. As a fifth starter in 2001, Daal produced a 13-7 record and 4.46 ERA with 107 strikeouts over 185.2 innings. Traded back to the Dodgers in the offseason, he was utilized as a starter and long reliever in 2002 and went 11-9 with a 3.90 ERA and 105 strikeouts over 161.1 innings. A free agent in the offseason, he signed with the Baltimore Orioles where a sore arm hindered his performance and sidelined him for three months. Following rotator cuff surgery, he missed the 2004 season and retired at 31 after drawing interest from Japanese teams and not having recovered his ability to pitch. For his major league career, Daal compiled a 68-78 record in 392 appearances,164 of which were starts. He produced a 4.55 ERA with 5 complete games, 2 shutouts, and 806 strikeouts over 1198.2 innings. With the Diamondbacks he appeared in 85 games, 71 of them starts, and went 26-31 with a 4.11 ERA, all 5 of his complete games and both shutouts, and 325 strikeouts over 473.1 innings. His start against the Mets in the 1999 NLDS marked his only postseason action.  

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Highlighted Years feature players who led a major league in the following categories: batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10), runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20), pitching wins, strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10), or have been participants in the annual All-Star Games between the National and American Leagues since 1933. This category will also include Misc. players who received award votes, were contributors to teams that reached the postseason, or had notable seasons in non-award years.