SF Giants prospect Angel Villalona

akuracy503

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP)—A baseball prospect for the San Francisco Giants is the main suspect in the killing of a 25-year-old man in the Dominican Republic, police said Sunday.

Angel Villalona turned himself in 12 hours after the man was shot at a bar in the southern coastal city of La Romana, Col. Adrian Urbaez told The Associated Press.

“The Giants were disappointed to learn that there was an incident in the Dominican Republic last night in which an individual was killed and one of our minor league prospects, Angel Villalona, may have been involved. We will monitor the situation closely and trust that the judicial process in the Dominican Republic will resolve the matter promptly and fairly,” the team said in a statement released Sunday.

Villalona was signed by the San Francisco Giants in 2006 and received a club-record $2.1 million signing bonus. He played in 74 games with a Giants minor-league team this season, batting .267 with nine home runs and 42 RBIs.

The 19-year-old was considered the Giants’ most prized prospect when he signed and was chosen the top prospect in the Arizona Rookie League two years ago.

Frank Micheli, president of the Azucareros del Este—Villalona’s winter baseball team—said he was aware someone was killed but that he had no further details.

Villalona will appear in court Monday and could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty in the Saturday night killing of Mario Felix de Jesus Velete, police said.

digicat

I saw this yesterday. The Giants had high hopes for this kid.

Another one takes the "Toe Nash" route.

justmichael

digicat

Well, Villalona plunked down a $150k payoff to the victim's family and they've dropped their charges. The state still plans on going through with the murder trial, but now they have to contend with the possibility that the witnesses will refuse to testify.

otwcards

Wow! The Giants are suddenly becoming the Bengals of MLB... Lincecum and Villalona in less than 10 days. Any chance Chris Henry will play for them next Spring?

gemint

<< <i>Wow! The Giants are suddenly becoming the Bengals of MLB... Lincecum and Villalona in less than 10 days. Any chance Chris Henry will play for them next Spring? >>



He's out for the season with a broken wrist, so it's not clear whether he'll be ready for spring training. I hear Odell Thurman is available though.

Elemenopeo

<< <i>Wow! The Giants are suddenly becoming the Bengals of MLB... >>



Just to clarify... Your implication is that the Bengals are laden with alleged criminals as opposed to or at least more so than any other team in the NFL?

Underwraps

oh man, I feel fortunate blowing all his rookies out months back

digicat

Update to this story


Villalona paid off the family of the victim in exchange for them dropping charges. Even with that, the DA down there decided to continue with the case, but it looks like they dropped the case too.

The Giants pretty much shelved him once the whole murder case came up. Besides that, his visa was revoked by the US, but I guess the fact that the Giants didn't even let him play with the Giant's dominican league team ticked him off.

I wonder if any MLB team will take a chance with this guy?

Walt

so I guess the guy who has the super up on ebay isn't going to get 600 for it?