23-year-old Nelson Velázquez, a Puerto Rican professional baseball outfielder with the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball, was born on December 26, 1998.
Velázquez was drafted in the fifth round of the 2017 MLB draft by the Cubs. That year, he made his professional debut in the Arizona League’s rookie division.
In 2018, he spent time between the Class A Short Season and Class A levels, batting.231 in 103 games with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs.
He spent most of 2019 at Class A, where he batted.286 with four home runs and 34 RBIs in 72 games. In the 2019–20 offseason, he participated in the Puerto Rican Winter League.
Velázquez did not play professionally in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor-league season. He appeared in 69 games for the South Bend Cubs of the High-A level and 34 games for the Tennessee Smokies of the Double-A level in 2021.
In 103 games, he batted.270 with 20 home runs and 73 RBIs while also stealing 17 bases. After the regular season, he played in the Arizona Fall League with the Mesa Solar Sox, hitting.366 with nine home runs and 21 RBIs in 26 games.
Velázquez was voted MVP of the 2021 Arizona Fall League season, and after the season, he was elevated to the Cubs’ 40-man roster.