Former Twins LHP Carlos Pulido Passed Away at 52 on Thursday

Thirty-five years ago, there were some MLB players from Venezuela, but very few in comparison to today. The Twins signed Carlos Pulido as a 17-year-old in February of 1989. He jumped directly to the Gulf Coast League, where he went 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA. In 36 innings, he had 46 strikeouts and issued 14 walks.

In 1990, he moved up to Low-A Kenosha, where he pitched in 56 games out of the bullpen. He was 5-5 with a 2.34 ERA. In 61 2/3 innings, he had 70 strikeouts, but he also walked 36 batters. 

The following year, 1991, was a pretty good one in Twins history. Pulido pitched in 57 games for High-A Visalia. He went 1-5, but posted an ERA of just 2.01. He had 17 saves. In 80 2/3 innings, he struck out 102 batters. He also walked 23, a very respectable improvement. He ended the season with two appearances at Triple A. 

In 1992, he was 20 years old and moved up to Double-A Orlando. He pitched in 52 games, and for the first time as a pro, he made a start. In fact, he made five. He went 6-2 with a 4.40 ERA. Then, in 1993, he moved up to Triple-A Portland, where 22 of his 33 appearances were as a starter. He went 10-6 with a 4.19 ERA over 146 innings. Of course, as a starter, his pure stuff wasn’t as dominant. In 146 innings, he had just 79 strikeouts. 

However, some of you may remember 1994. The Twins struggled to a 53-60 record in the strike-shortened season. Their starting staff was comprised of Kevin Tapani (4.62 ERA), Scott Erickson (5.44 ERA), Jim Deshaies (7.39 ERA), Pat Mahomes (4.73 ERA). Eddie Guardado posted an 8.47 ERA over his first four MLB starts. 

On April 9th, 1994, Pulido made his MLB debut. In a Metrodome game against the Oakland A’s, he gave up six runs on nine hits and three walks over 3 1/3 innings. In his second outing, he worked two scoreless innings against the A’s. Then, a week after his debut, he worked six innings out of the bullpen against the same club and gave up just two runs. 

On May 6th, Pulido completed eight innings and gave up only an unearned run on five hits against the Royals, for his first big-league win. His next outing came against the Red Sox. He gave up just one run on three hits and no walks over seven innings. The Twins won that game 21-2, and Pulido was 2-3. Then came some losses, and then in mid-June, he tossed six innings and gave up just two runs against the White Sox.

That game marked the first time in MLB history that two pitchers from Venezuela started against each other. That we're still shy of the 30th anniversary of that milestone is rather jarring, considering the prevalence of venezolanos in today's MLB, and underscores the important trailblazing role Pulido played, even if it was partially incidental. Not long ago, Venezuela was considered the land of shortstops--but only shortstops, or mostly so. Now, many of the best players in baseball hail from that nation, and there's no one player type that is radically overrepresented. Pulido was among the first major wave of players who helped forge that new reality.

Overall that year, Carlos Pulido made 19 appearances and 14 starts in the big leagues. He went 3-7 with a 5.98 ERA over 84 1/3 innings. He gave up 87 hits, walked 40 batters and struck out 32. The strike began in early August and eventually pulverized the rest of the season.

He spent the 1995 season with the Twins' Triple-A affiliate, which had moved to Salt Lake City. He pitched in 43 games and made just three starts. He went 8-1 with a 4.67 ERA. In 71 1/3 innings, he had just 38 punchouts. Following the season, the Twins released him. 

That’s when things got interesting in his career. After seven seasons in the Twins organization, he was a free agent. He signed with the Cubs. He split the 1996 season between Double A and Triple A. In 1997, he made 44 appearances for the Expos' Triple-A affiliate in Ottawa. 

In 1998, Pulido signed with Somerset, an independent team in the Atlantic League. In September, he signed with the Mets and made three Triple-A appearances. He pitched for Somerset again in 1999. 

In 2000, he headed to Japan and played for Orix for two seasons. In 2002, he went 13-7 with a 3.57 ERA for Oaxaca in the Mexican League.

Then in November of 2002, the now-31-year-old re-signed with the Minnesota Twins. At Triple-A Rochester, Pulido went 12-5 with a 3.56 ERA in 25 starts and 149 1/3 innings. He returned to the big leagues with the team he had signed with (and then debuted with) years earlier. In late August, he was promoted. He worked two scoreless innings in relief on Aug. 29 in Texas, and then 2 2/3 scoreless innings against the Rangers two days later. He then gave up only an unearned run on one hit over 3 2/3 innings against the Angels. However, he gave up seven earned runs over 7 1/3 innings the final four outings. 

In 2004, Pulido again began the season with the Twins. He pitched in six games and gave up runs in five of them, including five runs in three innings on April 21st and four runs (two earned) in one inning on April 24th. He was sent to Triple A following that game, and didn’t get back to the big leagues. 

He spent 2005 and 2006 in Mexico and then played two more winters in Venezuela before calling it a career.

—-------------------------------

On Thursday, Carlos Pulido passed away at the age of 52, at home in Venezuela. 

Long-time Twins minor-league pitching coach Ivan Arteaga was a very close friend of Pulido’s going back to their playing days. 

Pulido is the all-time winningest pitcher in the Venezuelan League. His nickname was “Domador de Leones” (Lion Tamer) because of how much he dominated los Leones de Caracas. 

Carlos Pulido is a Twins player that I always found intriguing. He was left-handed and debuted at a young 22 years old. But after debuting in 1994, he didn’t return to the big leagues for nine seasons… and it was again with the Twins. In all, he pitched professionally for teams in 10 US states, and in the highest pro leagues of three other countries. His was a meaningful and eventful baseball life, though perhaps not a widely remembered one in most corners. Condolences to his family, and to those who knew him.