Former Toronto Blue Jays reliever Octavio Dotel died on Tuesday after the roof of a popular night club he was in in the Dominican Republic collapsed during a concert.

April 10, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Former Toronto Blue Jays reliever Octavio Dotel died on Tuesday after the roof of a popular night club he was in in the Dominican Republic collapsed during a concert.

Dotel was pulled from the rubble but reportedly died while being transported to the hospital.

He was 51.

The ex-big leaguer is one of over 180 people confirmed dead after the roof collapsed at the Jet Set Night Club in Santo Domingo early Tuesday morning. More than 250 others suffered injuries.

“We are saddened to learn that former Blue Jays pitcher Octavio Dotel was one of several individuals who passed away during a roof collapse in the Dominican Republic,” the Toronto Blue Jays said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families affected by this devastating tragedy.”

Dotel posted a 3.68 ERA in 36 relief appearances for the Blue Jays in 2011 before he was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals that July.

The Blue Jays were one of 13 major league teams that Dotel pitched for during his 15-season big league career that spanned from 1999 to 2013. That was a record number of teams for a major league hurler before Edwin Jackson pitched for the Detroit Tigers, his 14th team, in 2019.

Born in Santo Domingo, D.R. on November 25, 1973, Dotel was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Mets in March 1993. He was a starting pitcher for parts of five minor league seasons in the Mets’ organization before he made his major league debut on June 26, 1999.

Following the 1999 season, he was traded to the Houston Astros. The Astros converted him into a reliever and in three seasons from 2001 to 2003, Dotel never made less than 61 appearances or posted an ERA higher than 2.66. Employing a four-seam fastball and a sweeping slider, he fanned 145 batters in 101 innings in 2001.

After starting 2004 by collecting 14 saves as the Astros closer, he was dealt to the Oakland A’s where he recorded 22 more saves for a combined total of 36.

Dotel pitched one more season in Oakland before his career became a whirlwind of different stops. Over the next five campaigns, he toed the rubber for the New York Yankees (2006), Kansas City Royals (2007), Atlanta Braves (2007), Chicago White Sox (2008-09), Pittsburgh Pirates (2010), Los Angeles Dodgers (2010) and Colorado Rockies (2010).

On January 4, 2011, the then 37-year-old Dotel signed a one-year, $3-million contract with the Blue Jays. After the 2010 season, relievers Scott Downs and Kevin Gregg departed and general manager Alex Anthopoulos began restocking the Blue Jays’ bullpen with veteran arms on short-term deals.

Less than two weeks after they signed Dotel, the Blue Jays inked 6-foot-11 reliever Jon Rauch to a one-year, $3.5-million contract.

The plan was for Dotel and Rauch to compete for the closer’s role in spring training.

“We’re not going to announce a closer,” Anthopoulos told the National Post in mid-January 2011. “They’ll both be front-runners to win that job out of spring training but [manager] John Farrell will be the one to make the determination between the two.”

The competition for the closer’s job got even more complicated when the Blue Jays acquired reliever Frank Francisco on January 25.

The decision was made easier for Farell, however, in mid-March when Dotel (hamstring) and Francisco (strained pectoral muscle) were sidelined with injuries.

Dotel pitched in some minor league games before the end of March but he started the season on the disabled list.

Dotel returned and made his regular season debut for the Blue Jays on April 8. He pitched a scoreless seventh inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced, to pick up the win in the Blue Jays’ 3-2 victory over the Angels. All 10 pitches Dotel threw were strikes.

After the game, he was asked how his hamstring felt.

“It’s not like 100 per cent strong,” Dotel told the Toronto Star. “It is 100 per cent good, but it’s not strong the way I like it.”

That first appearance was the high point of Dotel’s tenure with the Blue Jays. For the next two months, he was inconsistent and by mid-June his ERA had ballooned to 5.19.

But he found his form after that and didn’t allow a run in 14 of 15 appearances between June 17 and July 23, lowering his ERA to 3.68. The Blue Jays, however, continued to hover around the .500 mark and were well out of contention in the American League East.

On July 27, Dotel was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals as a part of a package for outfielder Colby Rasmus.

Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan was excited to have the veteran Dotel join his pitching staff.

“Everything I’ve been able to find out about Dotel is that he’s still throwing really well,” Duncan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

And Dotel continued to throw well for the Cardinals, posting a 3.28 ERA in 29 games down the stretch to help them clinch a Wild Card berth. He then became a go-to reliever in the post-season, registering a 2.61 ERA in 12 appearances to help the Cardinals win the World Series.

Following that season, he signed with the Tigers and recorded a 3.57 ERA in 57 relief appearances during the regular season and then contributed six scoreless outings in the post-season to help the Tigers win the American League pennant.

Dotel pitched in just six games with the Tigers in 2013 prior to being placed on the disabled list with right elbow inflammation. He would never pitch in the majors again.

In total, Dotel made 758 appearances (76th all-time) during his big league career and finished with a 59-50 record and a 3.78 ERA. He struck out 1,143 batters in 951 innings, good for 10.8 K/9 inning rate.

“OD was one of a kind,” Dotel’s agent, Dan Horwits, told TMZ Sports on Wednesday. “One of the true joys to be around both on and off the field. His energy, positivity and zest for life were infectious to all who had the pleasure of knowing him.”

R.I.P. Octavio Dotel, former Blue Jays pitcher