HollyMatkinLancaster, PA – Former Houston Astros prospect Danry Vasquez was released by his minor league baseball team on Tuesday, after a video that showing him viciously beating his girlfriend was released by the court (video below).
The assault occurred in a stairwell of the Whataburger Field on Aug. 2, 2016, during the time that Venezuelan-born Vasquez, 24, was playing for the Class AA Corpus Christi Hooks, The Washington Post reported.
The disturbing video showed the couple as they entered the stairwell.
Before the door had even closed behind them, the video showed Vasquez pivoted and struck the woman with a backhanded slap.
His girlfriend collapsed to the floor, and Vasquez struck her again.
He then grabbed her by her hair, and forced her down the flight of stairs.
In the video, Vasquez backed her against a wall when they reached the landing, and he quickly backhanded the woman yet again.
Her glasses had been knocked off during the assault, and Vasquez paused to position them back onto her face, before he motioned for the woman to proceed down the next flight of stairs.
Once the couple reached the second landing, Vasquez again struck his girlfriend in the face, and she crumbled into the corner.
He yanked her to her feet, replaced her glasses, and picked up her purse.
Vasquez was arrested for domestic assault two days later, after the Hooks’ general manager saw the surveillance footage and notified police, Newsweek reported.
Major League Baseball suspended Vasquez indefinitely following the brutal assault, according to The Washington Post.
The athlete signed with the Pennsylvania Barnstormers on Jan. 19, Newsweek reported.
Vasquez completed the conditions of his plea agreement, and the domestic assault charge was ultimately dismissed on March 6, according to TMZ.
However, the team cut the outfielder after a Texas television station released video of Vasquez assaulting his girlfriend.
“Upon being made aware of the nature of the incident, the Barnstormers made a prompt decision to cut ties,” the team said in a Tuesday Facebook post.
“There is no choice but to sever the relationship,” team manager Ross Peeples wrote. “Neither I, nor the Barnstormers’ organization as a whole, can condone or associate with that behavior.”
According to TMZ, Vasquez and his girlfriend – who have been together since their teens – got engaged in November of 2017.
“I recall conversations about the extreme stress he was under and the pressures to perform that he was young,” Vasquez’s attorney told TMZ. “[He] came to USA at a young age with no parents [accommodating him] and no guidance … just his dreams. She never excused his behavior just loved him enough to believe they could move forward.”
Vasquez was believed to have returned to Venezuela since his release from the Barnstormers, the International Business Times reported.
Watch the disturbing video of the baseball player beating his girlfriend below: