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IBL's London Majors sign Velasquez

The Intercounty Baseball League’s London Majors have signed former Los Angeles Dodgers pitching prospect Abdiel Velasquez. Photo: London Majors

April 19, 2023

Official London Majors News Release

LONDON, Ont. - The London Majors have signed former Los Angeles Dodgers pitching prospect Abdiel Velasquez.

Velasquez signed as an international free agent with the Dodgers on July 2, 2009. During his time in the Dominican Summer League with the Dodgers, he played with a 17-year-old Cody Bellinger. The Panama native pitched five seasons in the Dodgers’ organization, striking out 163 in 216 innings while rising as high as the Rookie Ball Ogden Raptors.

Velasquez also pitched for Panama at the Caribbean Winter Series in 2019-20. This marks the second consecutive year that the Majors have added a key piece to their roster from Panama (Robert Mullen 2022).

“Velasquez gives us another top-of-the-rotation arm who can pitch deep into games,” said Roop Chanderdat, Majors field boss and co-owner. “Abdiel has lots of professional experience which will help the young pitchers on our staff. Over his career, he has shown to be a good command pitcher that gets a lot of strikeouts.”