Figueroa is the only pitcher from Puerto Rico to win twenty games in a regular major league season.

He went 12–5 with a 2.05 earned run average with the Winter Haven Mets in 1967, and seemed well on his way to the majors when was called to take a draft physical in Puerto Rico.

The Mets released him, and Figueroa joined the United States Marine Corps, spending the next year in Vietnam.

Skip Lockwood struck out the first batter he faced, then gave up a grand slam to Jeff Burroughs.

[2] On July 6, Figueroa pitched a complete game in which he only gave up one earned run while striking out six with six hits.

[5] He joined a Yankees pitching staff that included Catfish Hunter and Dock Ellis, yet it was Figueroa who turned out to be the staff ace, going 19–10 with a 3.02 ERA to finish fourth in American League Cy Young Award balloting behind Jim Palmer, Mark Fidrych and former California teammate Frank Tanana in 1976.

Figueroa pitched a complete-game shutout,[6] and went 13–2 for the remainder of the season to help lead the charge from fourteen games back to overtake the Boston Red Sox in the American League East.

Shortly afterwards, he signed with former Yankees skipper Billy Martin and the Oakland Athletics, and posted a far more respectable 3.34 ERA with their Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Tacoma Tigers.

Major League Baseball pitching statistics Figueroa posted a 0–4 record with a 7.47 ERA in seven post-season starts.