Omar Daal

Pitcher Omar Daal’s career statistics, the accepted baseline for snap judgments about a player’s effectiveness, were, perhaps, misleading. A pitcher with a lifetime major-league record of 68-78 and a 4.55 earned-run average, one who relied far more on a deceptive delivery than a blazing fastball to retire hitters, might be considered something of a failure. In this case, though, that verdict is inaccurate. Over an 11-year major-league career, Daal played for six different organizations. During that time he twice finished in the top 10 in ERA and once in victories in the National League. His career ended prematurely due to arm problems, but throughout his playing career, Venezuelan Omar Daal won more games than all but two pitchers from that baseball-frenzied nation.1

Omar Jesus Daal Cordero was born on March 1, 1972, in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Maracaibo is the capital of the northwestern state of Zulia and the second largest city in the country. It is, like much of Venezuela, fertile baseball country, and the city alone has produced major-league pitchers Yusmeiro Petit, Wilson Álvarez, and Jhoulys Chacín.

When Omar was 2 years old his father got a job offer in Valencia, so the family moved to the capital of the state of Carabobo. His father was an avid amateur baseball player, and from early childhood, young Omar was surrounded by the game. Omar started playing Little League at age 11 at La Isabelica. His development years in junior baseball were with the team Magallanes, a formative team for Navegantes del Magallanes. He graduated in 1989 from Superior High School in Valencia but continued his baseball dream supported by both of his parents.2

In 1990 Daal represented Carabobo in the National Olympic Games, and after a solid performance against the Miranda team that included future Mets star Edgardo Alfonzo, a scout from the Los Angeles Dodgers and Leones del Caracas approached the 18-year-old.

According to Daal, “Flores Bolívar, the longtime scout for Leones del Caracas, approached me and introduced me to Mr. Camilio Pascual, the Latin American supervisor for the Dodgers. They invited me dinner and offered a contract. Bolívar traveled back to Valencia the next day to talk to my parents, who were always very supportive and encouraging of my baseball path and they immediately approved the terms. The following day I was signed with Caracas and the Dodgers.”3

Leones del Caracas and the Dodgers had a working agreement in those years, allowing most of the prominent talent that Caracas scouted to be a priority for the Dodgers. This included Daal, Carlos Hernández, Roger Cedeño, Henry Blanco, and Miguel Cairo, among many players from that era. By August 24, 1990, Daal had a signed contract with the Dodgers.4

Daal reflected, “It was kind of a strange journey for me since I was a big fan of Aguilas del Zulia, as well as my whole family. We moved to Valencia and I grew up playing for Magallanes, and suddenly I get signed by their biggest rivals, Leones. It was funny! But they treated me so well in Caracas that I only have great appreciation.”5

Before traveling overseas, Daal was loaned to the local Venezuelan summer league team Indios de Miranda. He became the first pitcher in the league to win the pitcher’s triple crown, with 7 wins, a 1.16 ERA, and 81 strikeouts.6 He also pitched a no-hitter. While baseball fans in Venezuela were celebrating Wilson Álvarez’s no-hitter (the first for a Venezuelan in major-league history) on August 11, 1991, just a week later, on August 17, Daal threw his gem vs. Estrellas de Cagua, a game that was highlighted in all sports pages in Venezuela.7 The name Omar Daal became a staple from that day in Venezuelan pitching.

After Daal’s stint in the Venezuelan summer league, the Dodgers sent him to the Dominican Summer League, playing under former major-league infielder Teodoro “Ted” Martínez and the DSL Dodgers. The 18-year-old appeared in 17 games that summer in Santo Domingo, posting a 3-6 record and a 1.18 ERA. That winter he joined the Leones del Caracas, but managed only one full inning in three appearances.

“I wanted to be a starter. But I knew that on my first year with Caracas it was just too much to ask,” Daal said. “There were so many established stars in the rotation like Urbano Lugo, Julio César Strauss, Amalio Carreño, Miguel García. I was sent to the bullpen, but I was just learning from this group with so much experience. I wanted to set my path through them and help in any way. I knew my moment would come at some point.”8

Undaunted, Daal returned to the Dominican Summer League in 1991 and logged seven wins and a 1.16 ERA in 13 starts.9 The DSL Dodgers fell to the DSL Blue Jays in the championship round, but Daal’s confidence was visibly improved. That winter, again with Caracas, he appeared in 20 games and pitched 46 2/3 innings.10

In 1992 Daal arrived in the United States. He made 35 appearances for Double-A San Antonio and earned a promotion to Triple-A Albuquerque, where he made 12 more. That winter, he returned to Caracas and pitched in 29 games, posting a 2.49 ERA. The combination of that winter performance, along with his first six Triple-A appearances in 1993, prompted the Dodgers to call the 21-year-old southpaw up to join the Los Angeles bullpen.11

An article in the Los Angeles Times captured the moment: “Omar Daal was asleep when he got the phone call about noon Thursday in Albuquerque. His roommate, Steve Allen, awoke him and told him that Fred Claire, the Dodgers’ executive vice president, was on the phone. Daal thought he was kidding. ‘Fred asked me if I could get out left-handed hitters,’… ‘I said I’m ready. Daal then called his mother in Venezuela, who cried.”12

Understandably, Daal did not speak English well. “Sure, I remember when I spoke little English,” he recalled years later. “I’d go to a restaurant and somebody next to me would order rice and chicken and I’d say, ‘Me, too.’ Sometimes I didn’t want to eat that, but I would have to. … It was just a good thing that the catcher gave the signs with fingers.”13

On April 23, 1993, in the eighth inning at Philadelphia, Daal made his major-league debut. He retired the three batters he faced, Darren Daulton, Wes Chamberlain, and Milt Thompson, on 11 pitches. A week later, on April 30, Daal yielded his first hit, a single by Dave Hollins, and his first home run, by Darren Daulton, and also got his first decision, a loss to the Phillies. He remained in the Dodgers bullpen for the rest of the season, and that winter returned to Venezuela to play for Caracas.

Omar and Josneil were married on November 20, 1993. Their union produced two sons, Jesús and Nicolás. Daal coached both boys on their traveling youth teams in Arizona, and Jesús was sufficiently talented to later pitch in college.

Perhaps inspired by the responsibilities of marriage, Daal sustained his enthusiasm despite bouncing between Los Angeles and Albuquerque in 1994. In LA he lowered his ERA by almost two runs from his 1993 performance, and the following winter, in Caracas, he starred with a 6-2 record and a 2.00 ERA. In 1995, still with the Dodgers, Daal seemed to lose whatever momentum he’d gained the previous year, and the team designated him for assignment. On December 15, the team traded Daal to Montreal in exchange for minor-league pitcher Rick Clelland.

Daal’s Venezuelan baseball experience in the 1995-96 season was significantly more notable. That winter with the Lions, he went 10-2 with a 1.68 ERA and Caracas represented Venezuela in the Caribbean Series. The following two winters, again in Caracas, Daal was awarded the Carrao Bracho Trophy, the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League equivalent of the Cy Young Award. It represented a milestone in Daal’s career, as it acknowledged him as the best pitcher in his home nation, a country that produced so many talented hurlers.

In August 1996, the Expos gave Daal his first major-league start. He tossed five scoreless innings against the San Diego Padres, striking out eight and yielding only one hit in earning a 3-2 win. He remained with Montreal, largely in relief, until June 1997, when he was optioned to Ottawa, and then waived. Toronto claimed him on July 25, but did not protect him in the expansion draft, and Arizona selected Daal in the second round.

As one of the original Diamondbacks, Daal began the season in the bullpen, but soon joined the starting rotation, and threw the first complete game in franchise history, a 5-1 win on June 16, 1998, against the Reds. Despite a 19-day stretch on the disabled list, from June 22 to July 11, due to a strained left hamstring, he managed just enough innings to qualify for the National League ERA championship consideration, and finished fifth in the league with a 2.88 mark. The Sporting News noted that “Omar Daal may be the most impressive member of the [Arizona] rotation so far. … Daal continues to confound hitters with his delivery and ability to change speeds so often. One moment he’s firing an 88-mph fastball, and the very next he’s throwing a 72-mph changeup that comes out of his hand with the same arm-speed and motion. Daal also has added a Luis Tiant-like motion during which he turns his back completely away from the hitter. He appears to be entering a higher echelon among N.L. pitchers.”14

The following season Daal won 16 games and helped propel the Diamondbacks to the NL Division Series, marking the pitcher’s first foray into postseason baseball in the United States. In that series, against the New York Mets, Daal started Game Three but gave up three runs and took the loss. After the season, due to severe flooding in Venezuela, Daal pitched only one inning all winter, and he feared the layoff would have an adverse effect on his work for the Diamondbacks. “When I got (to spring training), I was worried,” he said. “I thought my mechanics might not be there, since I hadn’t pitched in three months. But I’m feeling strong (in spring training). It was a great idea to shut it down over the winter and rest.”15 Daal did not sit idly by, though, as reported in the Arizona Daily Star: “Instead of pitching over the winter, (he) pitched in. He and others in his hometown of Flor Amar [sic] Valencia gathered boxes of food, clothing and medicine for those caught in the mudslides. A reported hundreds of thousands died or lost their homes as a result.”16

In 2000 Daal suffered the onset of the arm and shoulder trouble that would eventually end his big-league career. “LHP Omar Daal’s first victory is proving to be as elusive as his usually impeccable control,” The Sporting News reported. “For the first time in 69 career starts, Daal did not strike out a batter in a five-inning effort against the Phillies on April 27, and he gave up three homers for the first time since September 22, 1998.” On balance, over the span he allowed 25 hits, 14 earned runs, and 9 walks in three consecutive starts.17 His ERA soared to over 7.00, and on July 17 Arizona demoted him to the bullpen.18 On July 26 he was sent to Philadelphia, along with Travis Lee, Vicente Padilla, and Nelson Figueroa, in exchange for Curt Schilling. In his Philadelphia debut, on July 28, he gave up two earned runs in five innings against the Dodgers and lost the 2-0 decision. Daal led the majors in losses that season, with 19. He was clearly good enough to anchor the pitching staff, as he continued to take the ball, but the losses accrued regardless.

In April 2001 Daal was named Philadelphia’s Opening Day starter. On August 15 he and fellow Venezuelans Giovanni Carrara, Kelvim Escobar, and Freddy García each recorded a pitching win. It was the first time in the history of the major leagues that four Venezuelan starters recorded wins on the same day. But like a figurative duck on a pond, everything looked calm on the surface, but feet were paddling furiously below. Daal and manager Larry Bowa did not agree on the best way to use the pitcher, and the tension was impossible to ignore, despite general manager Ed Wade’s denials – “I don’t think it’s any secret that (Daal) and ‘Bo’ had some rough spots the last month of the season, but I don’t think that was insurmountable. …”19

After the season Daal was traded back to the Dodgers, for Jesús Cordero and Eric Junge. After a moderately successful 2002 season (11-9, 3.90 ERA), Daal became a free agent and signed with the Baltimore Orioles.

The 31-year-old labored as a back-of-the-rotation starter in Baltimore, but his body betrayed him. In early July, he went on the disabled list with tendinitis in his left rotator cuff. He had “been demoted to long relief after a series of poor outings, and he made just one appearance out of the bullpen before reporting soreness in his shoulder.”20 He made it back late in the season, and on September 25, 2003, he made his final major-league appearance. He gave up seven earned runs on seven hits in just 1 2/3 innings against the Red Sox, and took his last big-league loss in one final indignity.

Daal retired from major-league baseball in 2005, and for a while worked as a scout for the Diamondbacks and as an agent for his former agent Peter Greenberg.21 In retirement, he has coached youth baseball, the East Valley Scrappers in Mesa, Arizona, and dabbled with the Venezuelan teams Navegantes del Magallanes and Tigres de Aragua. His last known residence was in Mesa, Arizona, with his wife Josneil and two children, Jesús and Nicolás. Daal is an avid golfer and focused his post-playing days in raising and coaching his children as well as helping and mentoring local youth.

Last revised: January 31, 2026

Author’s Note

Multiple attempts were made to contact Mr. Daal for additional information, but none were successful.

Photo credit

Omar Daal, SABR-Rucker Archive.

Notes

1 Wilson Álvarez, with 94, and Freddy García, with 72.

2 Archivo LVBP, “Entrevista con Omar Daal, 2020,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKAhh2mjioE

3 “Entrevista con Omar Daal, 2020.”

4 Peter Bjarkman, “Camilo Pascual,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/f407403b. Accessed June 1, 2019.

5 “Entrevista con Omar Daal, 2020.”

6 Diccionario General del Zulia. Omar Daal. Sultana del Lago Ediciones, 627.

7 Javier Gonzalez, Twitter, https://twitter.com/javiergon56/status/1295323652574121984.

8 “Entrevista con Omar Daal, 2020.”

9 Philadelphia Phillies Media Guide, 2001, 203.

10 Equipos Campeones Liga De Verano Dominicana Desde El AÑO 1985 Hasta El 2018 (Dominican Summer League Champion Teams From 1985 to 2018. Online: http://www.dominicansummerleague.com/www/campeones/, accessed June 12, 2019.

11 Maryann Hudson, “Reliever Daal Gets the Call,” Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1993. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-24-sp-26557-story.html. Accessed June 6, 2019.

12 Hudson.

13 Philadelphia Inquirer, March 9, 2001: 45.

14 The Sporting News, May 3, 1999: 34.

15 Jack Magruder, “Daal Feels Stronger After No Winter Ball,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), April 1, 2000: 8.

16 Magruder.

17 The Sporting News, May 8, 2000: 29.

18 The Sporting News, July 17, 2000: 55.

19 Paul Hagen, “No Dilly Dallying in Unloading Omar,” Philadelphia Daily News, November 10, 2001: 50.

20 “A.L. Reports,” The Sporting News, July 6, 2003: 2.

21 Registro Histórico del Beisbol Venezolano, https://historylvbp.blogspot.com/2008/07/biografa-omar-daal.html. Accessed June 13, 2019.