A handful of Friars, Storm, Missions, and Chihuahuas have taken the time and the trip to develop themselves in the Liga de Beisbol Dominicana. Here's a recap of their progress through October and the beginning of November.
The Dominican Winter League typically lasts from about the middle of October to the near end of December. The 2014 season will go from Oct 16 to Dec 21. Around 50 games are played between six teams from five different provinces.
Teams
Toros del Este
Founded in 1983, the Toros play in Estadio Francisco Micheli in the southeast La Romana province. With two league championships in 1995 and 2011, they currently have Padres Cameron Maybin, Yasmani Grandal, Rymer Liriano, and Frank Garces on their 2014 crew.
Tigres del Licey
Located in the country capital, Santo Domingo, of the Domincan Republic the Tigres were founded in 1907 and are the oldest and winningest franchise in the Dominican Winter League. They have 21 Dominican series titles and 10 Caribbean Series titles. The only Friar on the Tigres this season is Rymer Liriano.
Gigantes del Cibao
Founded in 1996, the Gigantes play in Estadio Julian Javier in San Francisco de Macorís, the northeast province of Duarte. They're still a young organization and have no championships. Donn Roach is the only Padre on the team.
Estrellas de Oriente
The Estrellas were founded in 1910 and since then have only gained championships twice. They're located in the San Pedro de Macorís province right next to La Romana and play in Estadio Tetelo Vargas. They're geared up with San Antonio Mission players Luis De La Cruz, Chris Rearick, Genison Reyes and Yeison Asencio.
Águilas Cibaeñas
Located in Santiago de los Caballeros in the Santiagos province, the Aguilas were founded in 1937 and are an extremely successful and popular club. They've nabbed 5 Caribbean Series titles and 20 national titles. Diego Goris and Jerry Sullivan joined the club for the 2014 winter league season, although Sullivan is currently inactive.
Leones del Escogido
The third most successful club and the second team located in the capital of Santo Domingo, the Leones were founded in 1921 and have won 4 Caribbean Series titles and 16 national championships. El Paso Chihuahua'n Stephen Kohlscheen and Lake Elsinore Storm'ian Jeudy Valdez play for the Leones this season.
Players
Cameron Maybin OF - Toros del Este
.350 AVG, 20 AB, 1 R, 7 H, 3 2B, 6 SO, .850 OPS
Cam pops one off Liriano's club, Tigres del Licey.
Daddy Longlegs has started in 5 games in October so far. His best plate appearances were on the 25th against the Tigres del Licey, the club that Liriano is playing for. Maybin went 4 for 4 with two doubles. In that same game Rymer went 2 for 4, popping out to Maybin once. Cam has been spreading his hits around the field, and leading innings with extra base hits. Though he is currently seeing the least amount of playing time out of batting Friars on the 40-man.
Shortly after, he's pumping that arm and stretching those legs.
Yasmani Grandal C - Toros del Este
.273 AVG, 33 AB, 3 R, 9 H, 5 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 10 BB, 10 SO, 947 OPS
Yaz smashes his first HR of the season against the Gigantes' Rafael Perez.
Grandal has started in 10 games this October. He has gone hitless in only three, but in two of those games has drawn 3 and 2 walks respectively. His first home run of the season, a one-out solo shot into left field, came off of Rafael Perez (former Cleveland Indian, current Indianapolis Indian), in the top of the 8th against the Gigantes del Cibao. Yaz is seeing the most playing time along with Liriano, and is leading the Padres' representatives in hitting. He's in the middle of the pack in overall batting leaders of the Dominican League.
Grandal lays the tag on Rymer Liriano's would-be RBI.
Rymer Liriano OF - Tigres del Licey
.235 AVG, 34 AB, 2 R, 8 H, 3 RBI, 8 SO, 1 SB, .533 OPS
Rymer goes opposite field for what would've been an RBI, if not for a perfect throw from right field and tag applied by Yasmani Grandal.
Rymer saw 9 starts in October as well as 1 in the the first of November. There have been two multiple-hit games, and four hitless. His best two games have been his very first against the Gigantes del Cibao where he went 2 for 4 with a stolen base, and the game against his teammates on the Toros del Este where he again went 2 for 4. He is hitting slightly better against lefties (.364) at the moment, and is almost exclusively striking out against righties (.174).
Frank Garces LHP- Toros del Este
Garces has seen 5 appearances thus far, stringing together only 2.1 innings pitched. He hasn't produced anything to write home about yet, not having notched a strikeout yet and giving up one hit, four walks, and three earned runs. Though he has only earned one loss when going 0.1 innings.
Donn Roach RHP - Gigantes del Cibao
Roach has gotten a bit more playing time than Garces, going 6.1 innings in three appearances. Though he has given up 7 runs, only 2 of them were earned. He has only conceded 6 hits and 3 walks, and has two games with 2 strikeouts a piece over 4 innings, both games in which he started.
Luis De La Cruz RHP - Estrellas de Oriente
The righty for the San Antonio Missions has seen two batters in one game about two weeks ago, giving up an earned run on a hit. His ERA in the Texas league was around 2.69, and had 63 strikeouts in 67 innings pitched.
Chris Rearick LHP - Estrellas de Oriente
This lefty for the Missions has spanned 6 appearances throwing a full inning in one, and facing only one batter in most. In those appearances he has struck out only one, giving up 3 walks and 4 earned runs. He has 47 strikeouts in 43 innings pitched in the Texas league, with a 2.89 ERA.
Genison Reyes RHP - Estrellas de Oriente
Reyes saw a good amount of time for the Storm. He threw about 24 innings in Lake Elsinore, striking out 21. For the Estrellas, he started one game on Sunday and went hitless with a strikeout.
Yeison Asencio OF - Estrellas de Oriente
The prospect from San Antonio who had a very hot AAA debut back in August has been doing well in the Dominican arena. In 17 plate appearances he has five hits, with two RBI's and three walks. His average is currently sitting at .294, which is on-par with his San Antonio and Pacific Coast numbers.
Jerry Sullivan RHP (Inactive) - Aguilas Cibaenas
Diego Goris 3B - Aguilas Cibaenas
The former Lake Elsinore current San Antonio third baseman hasn't seen much action in the Dominican League so far. His numbers in the minor leagues were great, in an absurd amount of at bats has been able to maintain a .302 batting average. So far for the Aguilas Cabaenas, has only seen 5 plate appearances with no hits and a strikeout.
Stephen Kohlscheen RHP - Leones del Escogido
The lone Chihuahua has seen six single innings of play over six games. In those games he has had multiple strikeouts in all but two, though never giving up an earned run in either. He has only allowed 7 hits, 3 earned runs, and 3 walks with 9 K's.
Jeudy Valdez 2B - Leones del Escogido
Another Storm representative in the infield has gotten 25 at bats, and with that collected 6 hits (one for extra bases) and four walks, notching an RBI and only striking out four times.
How to watch Liga de Dominicana
Univisión Deportes en
DirecTV 434
Time Warner 872
Cox 332
AT&T Uverse 3047
LIDOM.com will have video archives, highlights on YouTube, and typically stream games.