On the heels of an excellent first year on the South Shore, Julio Vivas heads back to the Gary SouthShore RailCats in 2023.

One of the most trusted arms in the RailCats bullpen after signing midway through the 2022 season, Vivas assumed the team’s stopper role.  He took the mound 18 times, finishing the campaign with a 3.27 earned run average and 19 strikeouts while allowing only eight earned runs in 22.0 innings.

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed Vivas in 2011 at just 17 years old, and the Venezuela native spent his first three professional seasons pitching for the team’s international affiliates in the Venezuelan and Dominican Summer Leagues.  He arrived in the United States as a 20-year-old in 2014 and progressed to the High-A Bradenton Marauders in 2016.

Vivas found his way to the Normal CornBelters, then in the Frontier League, in 2017, and they gave him the opportunity to be a full-time starter for the first time since 2013.  He posted a 3.58 earned run average, a 5-4 record, 69 strikeouts, two complete games, and one shutout in 14 starts across 88.0 innings.  Following the season, he did not pitch in the United States for four years, electing instead to participate in the Venezuelan Winter League and Caribbean Series instead.

Five years after his first taste of the Frontier League, the Lake Erie Crushers brought him back during the first half of 2022.  He pitched 12 times in Northeast Ohio, fanning 56 batters in 64.0 innings before he was acquired by the RailCats to complete a previous trade.

Last March, he joined forces with Jesus Marriaga and represented Colombia during the 2023 World Baseball Classic.  He appeared three times during pool play and allowed just one run without surrendering a hit.  In the team’s final game against the United States on March 15th, he tossed a perfect ninth inning in which he struck out Baltimore Orioles All-Star center fielder Cedric Mullins.