Dominican players in MLB playoffs 2012: NLCS edition

The 2012 NLCS is under way and the Cardinals currently lead the Giants 3-1, and are looking to clinch the series tonight in San Francisco. There are some Dominican players in this years NLCS, but not as many as we have seen in other playoff series.

The Cardinals have a whopping zero Dominican players on their roster, after having one of the top Dominican baseball players of all-time on their roster for over a decade, in Albert Pujols. They do have Miakel Cleto, Victor Marte, and Rafael Furcal on their 40-man roster.

Furcal, the twelve year MLB veteran was a major part of the Cardinals World Series championship last year and a big part of the team this year, as he made his third All-Star game. Also a former Dominican Winter Baseball League player and a Caribbean Series All-Star in 2008, Furcal injured his elbow at the end of August and has not played since.

The Giants have several Dominicans on their active roster for the NLCS. Playing for the Giants will be pitchers Santiago Casilla and Guillermo Mota, and position player Joaquín Árias.

Dominican player Jaoquin Arias is one of three Dominican
players on active rosters in 2012 NLCS, photo by Aunti Juli

Interesting that Árias appeared in 112 regular season games, even though he was not an everyday player. He seemed to be the first pinch hitter off the Giants bench and has continued that role through four games of the NLCS. Thus far, the two year MLB player has appeared in five post season games and has three hits.

Santiago Casilla is in his ninth MLB season, and got his first chance to be an everyday closer this season. With 25 saves on the year and a 2.24 ERA, Casilla was entrenched as the closer until he injured his fingers. The Giants then went with a closer by committee approach, but Casilla could still be called upon to close some NLCS games. So far in the playoffs, he has pitched 4.1 innings and allowed just one earned run.

Guillermo Mota has been a solid mid-inning reliever in the big leagues since 2002. He appeared in 26 games this year with the Giants, and has pitched 1.2 innings in the playoffs and allowed four runs. A 21.6 ERA is not a great start, so I doubt to see him much more unless the Giants are in a bind.

While the Dominican players in MLB playoffs on American League rosters was 16% of all players, in the NLCS only 6% of the players are Dominican natives, way off the overall MLB percentage of Dominican players.

Dominican player of the week: Oscar Taveras wins Texas League MVP

Dominican Oscar Taveras was recently named the MVP of the Texas League. He actually dropped off a little from his A-ball numbers last year and only hit .322 with 22 homers, 89 RBIs, 10 steals and a .380 on-base percentage for Springfield.

The Cardinals prospect Taveras has been on the Dominican Baseball Guy's radar all season. He played in the Texas League where the Dominican Baseball Guy was able to see him play live a few times against the Corpus Christi Hooks. He definitely 'looks' like an MLB player. Along with his batting numbers, he shows plus fielding ability in the outfield.

In addition to the Texas League player of the year award, he won a Texas League player of the week award this season and was selected to the MLB Futures Game. He also won two Dominican Baseball Player of the Week awards here on my site.

He is from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Expect to see him in the big leagues next year at some point.

Dominican player of the week: Oscar Taveras

Sometimes there are no Dominican players in the big leagues that have big weeks, so I have to go down and find a minor leaguer for the Dominican player of the week award. And that was the case this week. No Dominican major league player had a stand out week, and the Dominican Baseball Guy saw Oscar Taveras play live and have a huge game. So, the Dominican player of the week is Oscar Taveras. Amazingly, this is the second time he has won the Dominican player of the week award, after a he won based on strong performance in the Futures All-Star game earlier this year.

Taveras is in the Cardinals organization and is currently playing with the Springfield Cardinals in the AA Texas League. He is destroying the Texas League, leading the league in average and hits, and in the top five in home runs, RBI, doubles, triples, and slugging percentage. No, those are not typos, he is just that good.

I was able to see him play against the Corpus Christi Hooks on Monday, and he looked like an MLB player.  He went 2-5 and had a game clinching two run home run in the top of the ninth. And he looked great in center field. I know this is the era of 'money ball' and statistics rule all, but Taveras definitely 'looks' like an MLB player.

Cardinals GM John Mozeliak had some strong words about him earlier this year. "I don't like to call anyone untouchable," said Mozeliak, "but if there's a player we value in that kind of category, it's Oscar Taveras." It was planned that Taveras would join the big league Cardinals in late 2013, but with his great performance this season there have been internal discussions within Cardinals management to move him up this season.

He is from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. No word on whether or not he is related to former big league Dominican player Willy Taveras.

Dominican prospect Andres Serrano contract terminated by MLB for age and identity fraud

Another day, another Dominican prospect busted for age and identity fraud. Dominican pitching prospect Andres Serrano had his deal with the Cardinals terminated by MLB due to age and identity fraud. It would have been the biggest deal for an international free agent pitcher for all signings last year.

Serrano claimed to have been born on May 29, 1994 date of birth, which would have made him 17 at the time of his signing and 18 now. Presumably he was actually older than he claimed and that's when MLB had to come in and terminate the contract. Though MLB did not release how old they think he may be.

This debacle ends up hurting Dominican prospect Andres Serrao. MLB declared Serrano ineligible to sign for one year, as of June 26, but under the new collective bargaining agreement the period from June 16-July 1 is a "closed" period when teams can't sign international free agents. His signing will not be able to come until July 2, 2013 and it will count towards the 2013-14 signing period.

So, to make a long story short, the Cardinals may not be in the running to sign him at that point. The new collective bargaining agreement gives teams spending limits and penalties in regards to international free agents, based on where they finish in the standings. Even if these new rules were not in play, lets be honest, even a big league club that has everything planned to the last detail may not know if they will be willing and able to sign Serrano on July 2, 2012.

It ends up a very bad mistake for Andres Serrano. He loses the $750,000 the Cardinals had given him, and who knows if or when or for how much money he will be signed again. But then again, they may not have given him that money if they knew how old he actually was, so is it a 'nothing ventured nothing gained' situation?

He is from Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Dominican prospect Andres Serrano contract terminated by MLB 

Dominican Republic baseball player of the week: Oscar Taveras

Normally the Dominican Baseball Guy goes with a big league Dominican baseball player for his Dominican Player of the Week pick. In fact, the Dominican Baseball Player of the Week has never gone to a minor league player. 

That all changes this week, as Oscar Taveras gets the Dominican Baseball Player of the Week award based on his performance in the 2012 MLB Futures Game. Taveras went 1-3 from the plate in the Futures game, as the World team was thumped by the American squad by a score of 17-5. The Dominican Republic baseball player Taveras had a few bad throws in the field to go along with his one hit.

So, that does not sound like a performance worthy of the Dominican Baseball Player of the Week huh? Well the fact is that the Futures minor league All-Star game featured 8 Dominican players and Taveras performed the best out of those eight players.

Taveras is ranked as the number 74 prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America, and he has been an all-star at every minor league stop he has made. He hit .386 last year in single-A and is hitting above .300 again this year in double-A. The Cardinals see him as an every day outfielder in the next two years.

He is from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, an awesome Dominican beach town on the north coast of the country.

Dominican player of the week: Rafael Furcal of the Saint Louis Cardinals

There is still one really good Dominican baseball player in Saint Louis, and his name is not Albert Pujols.  Cards fans are perhaps happy to have this other Dominican player this season with the way the two players seasons are going.

Rafael Furcal is by far outplaying Pujols thus far.  This week he played well enough to win the Dominican baseball player of the week.  In five games this week, Furcal hit .667, with 14 hits, 4 runs, 2 stolen bases.  He added a couple walks to up his on-base percentage to .696.

He has been in the big leagues for 13 seasons, and Furcal is off to one of his hottest starts ever.  He is batting .383 with 16 RBI through 33 games.  His on-base percentage is pushing .450.  But, this will never hold up.  His career high average for a season that he played a full work load is .300, which came back in 2006 and 2008.

Furcal is what he is: a well above average fielder and a quality top of the order hitter that also has lots of post season experience, and a World Series title.  While this start cannot hold up, it is good enough for the Dominican player of the week this week.

Furcal is from Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic.

Other Dominicans in week 4: Robinson Cano (.500, 3 2B, HR, 6 RBI) from San Pedro de Macoris.

Dominican player of the week Rafael Furcal with the Dodgers in 2010, photo by SD Dirk on Flickr

Manny Ramirez talks Albert Pujols new contract with Angels, Manny Ramirez habla sobre Pujols contrato con Angels

And so the world of Manny turns.  And whatever he says, people (like the Dominican Baseball Guy aka DBG) will listen.  Manny Ramirez retired from baseball in April, yet the DBG has found a way to blog about him four times since August.

First, Manny said he will play in the Dominican winter baseball league.  Then he was jailed for domestic disturbance in Florida.  Then Manny Ramirez reiterated the fact that he plans to play in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) for the 2011 season.  And finally, MLB says that he cannot play in the LIDOM because he still has an MLB suspension to serve and LIDOM is affiliated with MLB, so he must serve that 50 game suspension before he can play in LIDOM.

So, as always, Manny Ramirez is in the news, even if he is not playing.  And when Manny speaks, the Dominican Baseball Guy listens.  The latest is that Manny Ramirez praises the Angels for signing Albert Pujols.  O really?  Thanks Manny for chiming in.  Here is the quote from ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com:

"He deserves that contract; he is the best slugger in history. The numbers speak for themselves," Ramirez said during an interview with ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com.

Manny Ramirez batting practice with
the Dodgers, by  pvsbond on Flickr

Wow, some humility from Manny.  The DBG always thought that in Manny's mind he was the best slugger in history.  Some amazing analysis from Manny, 'the Angels were smart to sign Pujols.'  He may have a career as an analyst in the future.

Well that ends another entry of as the Manny turns.  You will always be the favorite slugger of the DBG, even if Pujols is better than you Manny.  Here's hoping your latest comeback attempt is successful, so the DBG can see you play a few more times.

Manny Ramirez es de Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana.

Dominican baseball players in ALCS and NLCS, Peloteros Dominicanos en los finales de MLB

Time to announce the list of Dominicans baseball players in the league championship series this year.  Last round, The Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Baseball Index proved accurate once again.  The teams with the greater number of Dominican baseball players won in three out of four series in the 2011 divisional round of the Major League Baseball playoffs.

We will see if it proves accurate for the league championship series.  Here is the list of Dominican baseball players in the second round of the playoffs:

Texas Rangers: Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, Adrian Beltre, Esteban German, Nelson Cruz
Detroit Tigers: Jose Valverde, Al Alburquerque, Alex Avila, Wilson Betemit, Jhonny Peralta, Ramon Santiago
Saint Louis Cardinals: Octavio Dotel, Rafael Furcal...and o yea, some guy named Albert Pujols
Milwaukee Brewers: Carlos Gomez

The Brewers were the only team to overcome the huge odds of the Dominican Baseball Index in the first round, and they will have to do it again this round, as they have only one beisbolista Dominicano on their roster. The Tigers lead the way this round with six Dominicans on their roster.

Overall there were no changes involving the Dominican baseball players. There will be 15 Dominicanos playing in the league championship series, 15% of the 100 total players.

Dominican baseball players on playoff rosters, Dominicanos en los finales de MLB

Every year, the Dominican Baseball Guy puts out a list of Dominican players on playoff rosters for each round.  So, here is the 2011 list of Dominican players on active MLB 25-man rosters for the Divisional round of the playoffs:

Texas Rangers: Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, Adrian Beltre, Esteban German, Nelson Cruz

Tampa Bay Rays: Joel Peralta, Juan Cruz 

Detroit Tigers: Jose Valverde, Al Alburquerque, Alex Avila, Wilson Betemit, Jhonny Peralta, Ramon Santiago 

New York Yankees: Ivan Nova, Rafael Soriano, Robinson Cano, Eduardo Nunez

Milwaukee Brewers: Carlos Gomez

Saint Louis Cardinals: Octavio Dotel, Rafael Furcal...and o yea, some guy named Albert Pujols

Arizona Diamondbacks: NOT A SINGLE DOMINICAN...they are definitely going to lose

Philadelphia Phillies: Placido Polanco, Michael Martinez, Wilson Valdez, Antonio Bastardo

This is 26 of the 200 players on active rosters for the first round of the playoffs.  This is the exact same number that were on Divisional playoff rosters last season.  It comes out to 13% of the 200 active players, which is slightly ahead of the 10% represented on opening day rosters.  The Tigers lead the way with 7 Dominican players on their playoff rosters and the Rangers have 6.

Interesting that the Dominican Baseball Guy has seen several of these players pop up in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM), and they are now playing at the highest level of baseball.  See the tags for Esteban German, Nelson Cruz, Wilson Betemit, Ramon Santiago, Wilson Valdez...all players that the Dominican Baseball Guy has seen in LIDOM action in recent years.

Ex-Pirate Tony Pena elected to Latino Baseball Hall of Fame, Dominicano Tony Pena va a Salon de Fama

The Latin Baseball Hall of Fame, or Salon de la Fama del Beisbol Latino, is based in La Romana, Dominican Republic.  The organization works in coordination with MLB and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

They recently announced their class for 2012.  Aiden Gonzalez of MLB.com covered the story from the perspective of Bernie Williams and the Yankees.  But the Dominican Baseball Guy has not seen one article covering from the perspective of the Dominican inductee and former Pittsburgh Pirate Tony Pena.  Shocking, (the Dominican Baseball Guys knows) MLB and other major media outlets covering the Yankees and not the Pirates.

So, as the Dominican Baseball Guy it is my duty to cover Tony Pena's side of this great honor.  Pena is of course one the most revered Dominican players, and the Dominican Baseball Guy would consider him one of the leaders of what he considers the "modern wave" of Dominicans coming into the big leagues since the 1980s.    He is certainly one of the greatest Dominican catchers to ever play in the big leagues.  You know what, the Dominican Baseball Guy is going to say it: Tony Pena is the greatest Dominican catcher of all-time.

Which bring the Dominican Baseball Guy to another point...THERE ARE NO DOMINICAN CATCHERS nowadays.  The Dominican Baseball Guy noticed this down in the Dominican Republic.  In all the pick up games there is rarely someone playing catcher.  The Dominican Baseball Guy also hypothesizes that there is rarely good catching equipment in La Republica Dominica, so this could be another reason for the dearth of catchers in the country.  Lastly, the Dominican Baseball Guy surmises that "it's just not cool" to play catcher in for young Dominican players.  Just the opinion of the Dominican Baseball Guy, maybe some other reasons for this anomaly.

Pena had a great career that spanned 18 MLB seasons. He came up with the Pirates and went on to play with the Cardinals, Red Sox, and Indians. Tony was known for his defense behind the plate. He won 4 gold gloves and made 5 All-Star teams. He made it to the World Series with the Cardinals in 1987, losing to the Twins.

Tony also had a long career in the Dominican Winter Baseball League, playing late into his career with his original team, the Aguilas from Sanitago. The Dominican Baseball Guy could not find any statistics on his career in the DWL, but he played for more than ten years and won several titles with the Aguilas.

Tony went strait into coaching after his career was over, as many catchers do. He has managed the Aguilas for several years, winning DWL in 1998, 2000, 2001, and a Caribbean Series Championship with the team in 2001.  He spent 2002-2005 as the Royals manager and has been the Yankees bench coach for three years. 

Tony is from Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic. His son Tony Pena Jr. has pitched in the LIDOM and has had a cup of coffee as a pitcher with the Royals, and his other son, Francisco Pena, is in the Mets organization.  He joins Felipe Alou, Juan Marichal, Tetelo Vargas, Rico Carty and Horacio Martinez as the Dominican members of the Latino Hall of Fame.

Tony Pena, Yankees bench coach, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Cardinals Albert Pujols profiled on 60 Minutes

The incredible Albert Pujols was profiled on 60 Minutes last Sunday.  The piece covers his great success on the field, but also his charitable contributions and other work off the field in the Saint Louis area.  He started the Pujols Family Foundation in 2005.  The foundation works to improve the lives of people living with Down syndrome and to help improve the lives of the impoverished in the Dominican Republic.  Here is the 60 Minutes piece:

Albert is from Santo Domingo, DR.  Please visit the Pujols Family Foundation to make a donation.

Pending free agency of Albert Pujols will be major story for Cardinals

The Albert Pujols contract saga has dominated the Cardinals offseason and will be a major story throughout the season.  This despite Albert's insistence that he will not negotiate during the season:

"I won't re-open them during the season. Look at this. This is going to be a distraction all year. Come on, man. It's not rocket science. ... It's a zoo. I don't think my teammates deserve that. I have too much respect for my team."

There are plenty of Yankee and Red Sox haters that say he will go to one of these A.L. East juggernauts, and others theorists have him heading to the Cubs or the Angels, but the Dominican Baseball Guy predicts he will resign with the Cardinals in the end.  They need him and Albert just strikes as the kind of person that is happy playing in a mid-size market, especially Saint Louis where he has a major charity foundation and many other ties.


We will all see at the end of the season, but he will surely put up another MVP-worthy performance this season.  Albert is from Santo Domingo, DR.

Albert Pujols, by Leoraul Torres on Flickr

Dominican Baseball Card #24, #25, #26: Pedro Guerrero

The Dominican Baseball Guy has three Pedro Guerrero cards for this installment of Dominican Baseball Cards.  They are a 1990 Topps (#610), a 1990 Donruss (#63), and a 1989 Donruss (#418).  The Dominican Baseball Guy particularly loves the red outline of the card on the right, and it goes great with that Cardinals uniform.

Pedro is remembered fondly by Dodgers fans for helping them win the 1981 World Series, in which he shared a World Series MVP.  Friend of the Dominican Baseball Guy, Dodgerbobble says Pedro was one of his favorite Dodgers as a child, and True Blue LA has a nice piece on the good Dodger days of Pedro.  He earned a Silver Slugger award the next year and went on to make five all-star teams.  Pedro garnered serious MVP considerations in 1989 with the Cardinals.  He ended his big league career in 1992 right at .300 average, which is a magical number for any hitter.

Pedro is perhaps best known for his outlandish behavior, both during his playing days and after.  One day after a game he apparently spread his privates on the food spread, and he was known as a hard partier throughout his playing days.  He was charged with cocaine trafficking, but acquitted in 2000.  Thanks to Jim Rome playing the clip repeatedly, the Dominican Baseball Guy and many others know him best from the infamous O.J. Simpson 9-1-1 call:

"We have a problem here. I'm trying to get a girl to go to rehab. She's been doing drugs for two days with Pedro Guerrero, who just got arrested for cocaine, and I'm trying to get her to leave her house and go into rehab right now."

Apparently, Pedro has cleaned up his act recently and is looking to get back into baseball.  So, good luck to him.  Pedro is another of the unending stream of players from San Pedro de Macoris, DR.

Dominican Winter Baseball League: Gigantes get first win, David Herndon gets win, Mark Hamilton and Erick Almonte Homer

10/18/09 Game-

The Gigantes got their first win in their first home game to the delight of the home crowd. There was lots of offense from both sides.

One of the Gigantes imported players, Angels prospect David Herndon, got the win. He pitched one inning, gave up 3 earned runs, and got the win. Once again proving that wins are an interesting statistic. Mark Hamilton, another import, had a home run and a single. He had really good numbers splitting time between AA and AAA in the Cardinals organization last year. One problem for him, the Cardinals have another pretty good player at first base, Dominican baseball player Albert Pujols. 

Dominican Erick Almonte showed that he can once again be a leading hitter for the Gigantes, with a home run. Estarlin De Los Santos, another Dominican baseball player, has a hit in all three games this season. He is just an exciting player at shortstop and playing well. So now the Twins have him in the minors, Alexi Casilla and Carlos Gomez on the big league club, and they just signed uber-prospect Miguel Angel Sano. Seems the Twins, like a lot of other teams, are finding really good Dominican players.

This season in the Dominican Winter Baseball League is officially dedicated to the Alou brothers (Felipe, Matty, and Jesus) all of whom had successful careers in MLB and played many years in the Dominican Winter Baseball League. Felipe's son, ex-big leaguer Moises Alou is actually the GM for the Leones de Escogido from Santo Domingo.

Moises Alou with the Giants in 2005,
by sgmom56 on Flickr