If you played fantasy baseball during the early 2000s, you might remember the subject of this month’s Time Capsule, Jose Vidro, as the underappreciated middle infielder you drafted in the middle rounds that helped you win your league. A 3-time All-Star and the 2003 Silver Slugger award winner at second base, Jose Vidro was one of the best pure hitters in Montreal Expos history.
Drafted by Montreal in the 6th round of the 1992 Draft, Vidro spent four seasons maturing in the minor leagues before finally appearing in The Show on June 8, 1997. After spending 1997 and 1998 as a part time player, Vidro became the Expos starting second baseman in 1999, hitting .304/.346/.476 with 12 home runs in 140 games played. Vidro followed up that successful season with a .330/.379/.540 batting line, 24 home runs and 97 runs batted in, en route to his first All-Star appearance in 2000.
Vidro continued his excellent play in 2001, playing 124 games for Montreal while batting .319/.371/.486 with 15 home runs and followed that success in 2002 with a .315/.378/.490 batting line with 19 home runs and 96 runs batted in and his second All-Star game appearance. 2003 saw more of the same from this slugging middle infielder, as Vidro hit .310/.397/.470 with 15 home runs and 65 runs batted in, as he appeared in his 3rd All-Star game and won his first Silver Slugger award. In his final season in Montreal, Vidro continued as one of the best hitters in baseball, batting .294/.367/.454 and 14 homers in 110 games played.
The move from Canada was not particularly kind for Vidro, as he only played in 87 games in 2005, providing the inaugural Washington Nationals with a .275/.339/.424 and 7 home runs in an injury-filled season. Vidro rebounded in his second year in Washington, playing in 126 games and hitting .289/.348/.395 and another 7 home runs.
Deciding to begin a youth movement in Washington, the Nationals traded Vidro on December 14, 2006 to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for outfielder Chris Snelling and right-handed pitcher Emiliano Fruto. While neither Snelling nor Fruto were much to speak of for the Nationals, Vidro was solid in his first season with the Mariners, hitting .314/.381/.394 over 147 games in 2007, primarily as Seattle’s designated hitter.
The following year was not nearly as successful, as injuries and the cumulative toll of many seasons playing on the poor turf field at Olympic Stadium in Montreal caused Vidro to struggle offensively: he finished the season hitting .234/.274/.338 with 7 home runs in 85 games before being released by Seattle on August 13, 2008.
Although Vidro has not formally retired from baseball, he has not appeared in a game since his release in 2008. Vidro finishes his 12-year major league career as a .298/.359/.445 hitter with 128 home runs and 654 runs batted in. His stay in Washington was relatively short, but fans should remember Jose Vidro as one of the most underrated players of the previous decade, a true Montreal Expos legend, and the original second baseman for the Nationals franchise.
This article was also published at RedPorchReport.com.