VAZQUEZ BELTS 32 HOMERS, NAMED INTL LEAGUE 2011 ALL-STAR

Although Jorge Vazquez has yet to receive that call to play for the New York Yankees, the 28-year-old Culiacan native made the most of his season with the Yanks’ AAA affiliate at Scranton/Wilkes Barre by cracking 32 homers, driving in 93 runs and being named an International League All-Star for 2011.

Vazquez’ 32 longballs was tops in the IL, leading runner-up Stefan Gartrell of Gwinnet by six, and “Chato” drove in 93 runs for the year, one behind Gartrell for the league lead. The 5’11, 225-pounder batted .262 for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, picking up 119 hits in 118 games but also striking out 166 times (second in the IL to Ryan Strieby of Toledo). Vazquez finished the season in strong form, hitting .314 with six homers in 24 games the final month of the schedule. He was selected Player of the Week twice this year.

The 2011 season was Vazquez’ third in the Yankees system after he was signed by New York as a free agent on December 7, 2008. In that time, he’s hit 63 homers with 217 RBIs in 261 games at the AA and AAA levels Prior to that he’d spent ten seasons in the Mexican League, mostly with the Tigres franchise playing in Puebla (Angelopolis) and Cancun (Quintana Roo). His top two seasons were in 2005 and 2005, when he hit .379 and .359 while whacking a combined 64 homers and 194 RBIs.