He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks between 1988 and 2003.

In an 11–season Major League career, José posted a .280 batting average with 54 home runs and 324 RBI in 747 games played.

In four seasons in the KBO League, José posted a .309 batting average with 95 homers and 314 RBI in 394 games.

José played in the Dominican Professional Baseball League with Tigres del Licey until the 1997–98 season, having debuted in the 1986–87 season and hitting 14 home runs before being transferred to Estrellas Orientales, and with this club he set a league record on November 19, 2005, when he hit his 60th home run.

[2] In January 2017 José was selected as the "Star" coach of America's Next Top Baseball Players, a reality television series focusing on finding undiscovered raw talent in the Dominican Republic.