Former MLB star Omar Vizquel has been accused of physically harming his wife, Blanca, on multiple occasions.
Blanca Vizquel told The Athletic in a report released Wednesday that the thee-time All-Star shortstop had physically abused her on two separate occasions, in 2011 and in 2016. She also said there was a heated argument this past August when she decided to file for a divorce.
The couple was married in 2014.
In 2016, Blanca said Omar, 53, was taken into custody by police after an incident at their Seattle-area home that resulted in Omar pushing Blanca, which caused her to fall, hurt her shin and break several fingernails. Blanca called a neighbor, who alerted the local sheriff’s department. Omar was booked for fourth-degree domestic assault, but Blanca later had the charges dropped in a letter written to prosecutors denying the official police report and signed in her name.
Blanca told The Athletic that her husband forced her to sign that letter.
In 2011, Blanca’s sister, Nelly Metler, wrote a witness statement saying, “We saw him on top of her, his elbow on her throat, her arms pin (sic) down on bed, she was screaming, telling him to let me go.” Omar allegedly choked Blanca and he asserted his wife had scratched him during an argument the two had at Metler’s Alabama home. The two later jointly decided to file a motion asking for charges to be dismissed.
Blanca, 36, first detailed being “abused in every way possible: physically, sexually, emotionally, psychologically” by Omar in a 22-minute Instagram video on Oct. 7. Her page, which has since turned into a haven and forum for survivors of domestic assault, also now reads “Venezolana🇻🇪 Domestic Violence Survivor.”
“I want to confess that I, Blanca Vizquel, still Mrs. Vizquel, was the object of domestic violence, hits, physical violence, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, including economical abuse,” Blanca Vizquel said. “The person connected to this ... Mr. Omar Vizquel. Yes, Mr. Omar Vizquel was the abuser, who abused me.
“It was I, who made the decision to leave,” she continued. “It was I who, thank God, made the decision to leave alive. If I stayed I would have been killed.”
Blanca also said the physical abuse caused a decline in her mental health and that she now struggles with depression, anxiety and panic attacks.
Omar Vizquel’s attorney told The Athletic that the former baseball star “flatly denies any allegations of domestic violence.”
The 11-time Gold Glover over 24 big league seasons separately told the publication he and his wife’s disputes are about the divorce: “I don’t have anything to say. This is a divorce and I know she’s really pissed off. There is a lot of things (being said) out there about things supposedly happening behind closed doors, you know. I don’t have anything to say about that, either. It’s just a divorce.”
The former Indians star, who began his career with the Mariners, has reportedly also been under investigation by MLB for a 2019 clubhouse incident when he was the manager of the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago White Sox’s Double-A team.
“While Omar Vizquel has not been employed by a Major League organization for some time, we are aware of the allegations and will continue to look into them,” the league told The Athletic of Blanca’s allegations.
