Giants teen prospect Villalona suspected of murder

[OnBaseMachine]

Wow. Baseball America rated Villalona as the Giants third best prospect and the 44th best prospect in all of baseball.

Giants teen Villalona suspected of murder
Top hitting prospect detained after shooting in Dominican

By David Venn / MLB.com

09/20/09 4:07 PM ET

Giants top prospect Angel Villalona has been detained in connection with a murder that occurred in the Dominican Republic on Saturday night, according to a report by the Associated Press.

A police spokesman in La Romana, in the east region of the Dominican Republic, told the AP that Villalona, 19, is the prime suspect in the shooting death of 25-year-old Mario Felix de Jesus Velete.

"The incident occurred Saturday at around 11 at night, and the main suspect is Angel Villalona", said Adrian Urbaez of the Dominican National Police.

Villalona turned himself in to local authorities on Sunday afternoon.

"We know there was an incident and that there is one person dead, but we don't have the details of the case", said Frank Micheli, president of the Azucareros del Este team in the Dominican Winter League. Villalona is affiliated with the Azucareros for winter baseball.

According to the AP, Villalona will appear in court Monday and could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

Villalona, ranked No. 48 in MLB.com's preseason Top 50 Prospects list, made headlines in 2006 after receiving a $2.1 million signing bonus with the Giants as a 16-year-old. He hit .267 with nine home runs and 42 RBIs in 74 games with the San Jose Giants at the Class A Advanced level in 2009 before being shut down in early July with a quadriceps injury.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[Brutus]

I had just included him in a fantasy trade I made last month. I guess I sold high on that one.

Wow. That's not something you hear every day.

[Tom Servo]

He could always turn to fellow Giant Juan Uribe for advice. I'm pretty sure the exact same thing happened to him.

[GADawg]

I'd guess if you have a couple million and you're out and about in the Dominican that you'd better be ready to defend yourself....not that I know anything about the details obviously...I'm just saying I'm willing to wait on the details of this one

[WebScorpion]

According to the AP, Villalona will appear in court Monday and could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

UP to 20 years? for murder? I guess if you need to kill someone, you should send them on an all expense paid trip to the Dominican first and knock them off while they're there.

[Brutus]

UP to 20 years? for murder? I guess if you need to kill someone, you should send them on an all expense paid trip to the Dominican first and knock them off while they're there.

There is a large portion of the world that actually does not agree with our standards of punishment and such.

[BCubb2003]

It wouldn't keep him out of the Hall of Fame because it's not a baseball rule, but still ...

[OnBaseMachine]

Giants prospect: Quiet, shy ... murderer?
Nanette Asimov, John Shea, Chronicle Staff Writers

Monday, September 21, 2009

(09-21) 19:19 PDT SAN JOSE -- Those who know Angel Villalona are stunned that the young San Francisco Giants minor league prospect - who they say is afraid of dogs and even carnival rides - has been charged with murdering a man in a bar in his native Dominican Republic.

Villalona, 19, wore a bullet-proof vest Monday as he pleaded not guilty in a courtroom in La Romana, Dominican Republic, to murdering the 25-year-old man Saturday night. A judge ordered him jailed for two months while he awaits a trial where, if convicted, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Villalona, a first baseman with what scouts have described as enormous power potential, won a signing bonus of $2.1 million from the Giants in 2006, just four days after his 16th birthday. It was the most the team had ever paid for an amateur.

He played this year with the team's minor league affiliate in San Jose, hitting .267 with nine home runs in 74 games before a leg injury ended his season.

According to Adelaida Hernandez, a veteran sports reporter in Dominican, Villalona went to a bar in La Ramona over the weekend and headed for his usual VIP seat. A man named Mario Felix de Jesus Velete was in his seat and wouldn't give it up.

Then, police say, Villalona shot him.

"He's not supposed to have a gun - he's not even supposed to drink," Hernandez said. "But you know what - when people have a lot of money, things happen."

Those who know Villalona, however, say the account doesn't ring true.

"That doesn't sound like him at all," said Jack Hiatt, the team's former director of player development. "He's a great kid and borders on extreme quiet. I've never seen him get angry. He might get mad at himself for striking out, but that's it."

For three months until early July, when he tore a quadricep muscle and went to rehabilitate in Arizona, Villalona lived with Ed and Donna Musgrave of San Jose, a retired couple who have housed a number of minor league players from the Dominican. Donna Musgrave said Villalona became like a son to the couple.

"I was just shocked - dumbfounded," she said, calling him a very nice person with a mirthful sense of humor.

Although too shy to speak much English, Villalona would make Musgrave and her family laugh by donning funny glasses and costume wigs he found around their house.

"He was a sweetheart," Musgrave said.

Villalona played basketball with the Musgraves' 12-year-old grandson and joined the family and the other minor-league players on outings to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - but stopped short of trying out any of the rides.

"I said, 'Come on! Let's go on rides! " Musgrave said. "He said, 'No! We're not goin' on that, Mama. We'll die.' I said, 'What the hell, you're gonna die anyway. This way we'll all die together!' "

But he wouldn't. Dogs frightened him too, she said.

Villalona had spent most of his time since July at the Giants' training grounds in Scottsdale, Ariz., but the team permitted him to fly to the Dominican to see his mother, who was ill.

"He's been in the U.S. since the first day of spring training, and pretty soon that rehab gets pretty old," Hiatt said. "They probably thought, 'Let him go home, get his juices flowing.'

"You never know what happens down there. It can be scary."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...QHU6.DTL&tsp=1

[dougdirt]

He shot someone for not giving up a seat? Something sounds incredibly fishy with that one.

[Brutus]

He shot someone for not giving up a seat? Something sounds incredibly fishy with that one.

I was skeptical to begin with. But yeah that was a little far-fetched.

[BearcatShane]

After reading that article, he sounds like a great kid so even if he really did shoot someone for not giving up a seat I hope the judge will let him go with a warning and a fine maybe.

[dougdirt]

After reading that article, he sounds like a great kid so even if he really did shoot someone for not giving up a seat I hope the judge will let him go with a warning and a fine maybe.

Uh... what? Its 4am, so maybe I missed your sarcasm.... but I really hope I missed your sarcasm.

[reds44]

After reading that article, he sounds like a great kid so even if he really did shoot someone for not giving up a seat I hope the judge will let him go with a warning and a fine maybe.

UHHHHHHHHHHH...what?

[*BaseClogger*]

No guys I just read that post and it makes perfect sense to me...

[Larry Schuler]

I dunno. I kind of believe a 19 year old who is afraid of dogs and carnival rides WOULD shoot someone.