Ugueth Urbina (oo-GET oor-BE-nah), born Ugueth Urtaín Urbina Villarreal (February 15, 1974 in Caracas, Venezuela), is a Major League Baseball right-handed closer who plays for the Detroit Tigers (since 2004). Previously, Urbina played with the Montreal Expos (1995-2001), Boston Red Sox (2001-02), Texas Rangers (2003) and Florida Marlins (2003). He bats and throws right handed.
Urbina comes straight at the hitter with a moving 93 MPH fastball and a wicked slider that enables him to hold left-handed hitters in check. He also throws a changeup which tails away from righthanders and a splitter that break sharply. Sometimes he is spending too much energy on intimidating the batters and overthrowing his fastball. After him works the count, a hitter's chance fade. When he misses the plate, Urbina tends to miss low.
In the 2003 post-season, facing the Giants (NLDS), Cubs (NLCS) and Yankees (WS), Urbina went 1-0 with 14 strikeouts, four saves, and a 3.46 ERA in 13 innings to help Florida win its second World Series title. A two-time All-Star, he led the National League in saves (41) in the 1999 season.
In a 10-year career, Urbina has compiled a 39-43 record with 717 strikeouts, 227 saves, and a 3.42 ERA in 617 innings.
During the 2004 season, he received more attention than usual because his mother, Maura Villareal, was kidnapped in Venezuela on September 1 by guerillas. Ugueth missed the rest of the season to go home to Venezuela in hopes of resolving the situation. Venezuelan police raided the captors' mountain hideout and released Villareal on February 18, 2005. [1]
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