Career
He previously played in MLB for the Houston Astros. Villar signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an international free agent. Before the 2011 season, the Phillies traded Villar, J. A. Happ and Anthony Gose to the Houston Astros for Roy Oswalt.
Villar was named the 94th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America prior to the 2011 season.
He was invited to Astros" spring training in 2012. Villar played for the Oklahoma City RedHawks in 2013, and was named the Astros" minor league hitter of the month for June 2013.
On July 21, the Astros promoted Villar to the major leagues. On July 30, 2013, Villar stole home against the Baltimore Orioles.
His strong finish to 2013 made him the team"s Opening Day starter in 2014, but struggled offensively in 2014 as well as 2015.
Nevertheless, he was named to the Astros" roster for the 2015 American League Wild Card Game. In the seventh inning, he pinch-ran for Chris Carter, stole second base, and scored on a single by José Altuve to make the score 3-0, which ended up being the final score of the game. The Astros traded Villar to the Milwaukee Brewers for Cy Sneed on November 19, 2015.