Players

LHP Antonio Velez joins the Explorers this year for his fourth season of professional baseball. The former Florida State Seminole spent three seasons in the minor leagues before coming to Sioux City. He’s coming off a season in the Baltimore Orioles system where he split time between AA and High-A ball. Used as a long reliever with AA Bowie, Velez pitched seven innings, working a 7.71 ERA with a 1.71 WHIP across three appearances before moving to play with High-A Aberdeen. With the IronBirds, Velez posted a 4.91 ERA with a 1.29 WHIP over 25.2 innings. He finished the season without allowing a run over his final 4.1 innings, which included a three-strikeout ninth inning against the Greenville Drive on Sept. 5.

At the start of the 2022 season, Velez was dealt from the Miami Marlins to the Baltimore Orioles as part of the trade for Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser. Velez spent the first half of the season as a starter for AA Bowie, beginning with a four-inning, seven strikeout appearance against the Richmond Flying Squirrels on April 10. He posted a 3.60 ERA with 14 strikeouts over 15 innings between May 29 and June 10, when he was shut down with an injury. He made one more appearance for Bowie on July 8 before again being placed on IR. He spent the rest of the season rehabbing with FCL Orioles and High-A Aberdeen, posting a 3.94 ERA over 16 innings with 17 strikeouts.

2021 was Velez’s first full season of professional baseball, starting off with High-A Beloit before getting called up to AA Pensacola as part of the Marlins organization. He began as a reliever for the Snappers, pitching eight of his first nine games out of the ‘pen before starting all but one game the rest of the season. Before becoming a full-time starter, the southpaw posted a 4.87 ERA with 21 strikeouts over 20.1 innings with High-A Beloit. Following his transition to starting, Velez dominated with a 2.37 ERA over 60.2 innings in 11 games, which included a final stretch of four games with a 0.35 ERA over 26.0 innings before being promoted. After promotion he started in  three games in AA with a 0.50 ERA and 0.78 WHIP across 18 innings.

Velez signed with the Marlins after a season in the Puerto Rican Winter League, going nine innings with a 6.00 ERA and 1.67 WHIP over two starts. This followed up a COVID-shortened season with Florida State in the spring of 2020 where the lefty struck out 21 over 17.1 innings with a 0.52 ERA and 0.58 WHIP in his last of two seasons with the Seminoles.

In 2019, Velez played his first full year in the ACC, joining Florida State after two years at Hillsborough Community College. In that season, he pitched in 22 games, going 45.1 innings with a 4.17 ERA and 1.26 WHIP. Prior to joining the Seminoles, he went 4-4 over 14 games with the Hawks, striking out 80 batters over the span. Velez attended Brandon High prior to his college days and was named the 2015 Hillsborough County Pitcher of the Year.