The Venezuelan Summer League is probably not a league that will ring a bell to many of the Diamondback fans. It was a summer league, affiliated with the MLB, that ran from 1997 to 2015, when political instability caused the last MLB teams to draw away their support for a rookie team and the league. Its aim was to provide a playing ground for young talent, just like the Dominican Summer League, but for players in South America, especially Venezuela, and a couple of Caribbean islands nearby, such as Curação. The Diamondbacks never had a team in the VSL, but the Seattle Mariners did and that is where 18-year old Thyago Vieira from Brazil made his first pitches as a professional baseball player, in 2011.
2024 Diamondbacks Reviews: #41, Thyago Vieira
