Colonel William A. Phillips

Víctor J. Gárate (born September 25, 1984) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals, in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and in Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the EDA Rhinos.

Career

Gárate was signed by the Houston Astros as an amateur free agent in 2005, and made his professional debut with the Greeneville Astros in the Appalachian League. He was 4–1 with a 5.57 ERA during the 19 games he pitched in relief that season. The next two seasons he spent with the Tri-City ValleyCats and the Lexington Legends.^[1]

He was selected by the Dodgers in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft in 2007,^[2] and played with the Great Lakes Loons and the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino. He was added to the Dodgers' 40 man roster prior to the 2009 season^{[citation needed]} and spent the season with the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts.^[1]

On September 2, 2009 the Dodgers sent Gárate to the Washington Nationals to complete the trade for infielder Ronnie Belliard. Two days later, the Nationals placed him on their active roster and he made his debut on September 5. In four games he allowed five runs in two innings.^{[citation needed]}

On July 12, 2012, Gárate was released by the Milwaukee Brewers organization. Gárate was signed by the York Revolution of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball on July 19, but was released a week later on July 26, 2012.^{[citation needed]}

On November 19, 2014, Garate was signed by Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters the Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.^[3]

Garate signed with the Saraperos de Saltillo of the Mexican Baseball League for the 2016 season. He was released on June 8, 2016.^{[citation needed]}

In 2018, he played with San Marino in the Italian Baseball League.^[1]