Miguel Descartes Batista Jerez (born February 19, 1971 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball pitcher who plays for the Seattle Mariners.

Over his career, Batista has played for eight teams and been utilized extensively as both a starter and a reliever. His best seasons came in and with the Arizona Diamondbacks, when he went 11-8 and 10-9 with 3.36 and 3.54 ERAs respectively.

He signed a 3-year $13.1-million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays prior to the season, but struggled in his first season with his new club, posting a 4.80 ERA and losing his starter's job late in the season. In , Batista was the Jays closer and blew 8 saves. He was put on the trading block after the Blue Jays signed B.J. Ryan to a large contract to be their new closer. They traded Miguel back to the Diamondbacks during the 2005 offseason along with Orlando Hudson for Troy Glaus and prospect Sergio Santos. Batista's record in Arizona was 11-8 with an ERA of 4.58. During that season, he pitched a complete game on May 30 against the New York Mets.

After the season, the Diamondbacks offered Batista arbitration, as he was a free agent, but Arizona was not willing to commit to a multi-year deal; in December, Batista signed a three year contract with the Mariners worth $24 millionmari12.html" target="_blank">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2003473250_mari12.html. Batista had a solid first season with the Mariners, going 16-11 with a 4.29 ERA.

Aside from being a baseball player, Batista is known for his love of poetry and philosophy, and he has written a book of poetry in Spanish titled Sentimientos en Blanco y Negro ("Feelings in Black and White"). Batista also recently published _The Avenger of Blood, a thriller about a serial killer. The novel was released on January 25 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and on February 10 in San Juan Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, where it has had great success in very few months.