Dominican baseball dancers: Bailarinas de Estrellas Orientales

For the first time on the Dominican Baseball Guy blog, I have for you the dancers of the Estrellas de San Pedro de Macoris. Now the dancers from Licey and Escogido in Santo Domingo, and even the Aguilas in Santiago are employed throughout the whole season. The other three teams have to import dancers from the other big cities, and they may only have the budget to employ the Dominican baseball dancers for late in the season or just the playoffs. So, do not expect dancer at every baseball game in the Dominican Republic, but they should be at most.

This video is not as clear the footage of the Dominican baseball dancers from Licey, but you get the gist of what it means to have dancers at a baseball game. Think the ring girls and girls dancing outside the ring at boxing matches and MMA events. They are closer to that than they are to American football cheerleaders.

Without further ado, here are the Dominican baseball dancers from the Estrellas Orientales in San Pedro de Macoris:

Raul Gonzalez interview: assistant general manager of the Estrellas Orientales

The Dominican Baseball Guy recently had the chance to interview Raul Gonzalez, assistant general manager of the Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican Winter Baseball League.  The Estrellas had a great year this year, making it to the final series of the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) before being eliminated.

The Estrellas are located in San Pedro de Macoris, the town that many consider to have the best baseball talent in the world.  It has been called the Mecca of Baseball and the Craddle of shortstops, due to all the shortstops that come from the city.  Alfredo Griffin, Alfonso Soriano, and Robinson Cano are some of the most famous players to come out of the city recently.

Raul is a great addition to the Estrellas staff.  He is highly knowledgeable and has experience working in the Major League Baseball office in the Dominican Republic, as well as in the Nationals organization in Washington D.C.   Raul has also worked with Licey Baseball Club in Santo Domingo.  He will be in the States for several weeks during spring training.  

See the full interview at the Dominican Baseball Examiner and at Baseball de World, where the Dominican Baseball Guy is a contributor.

Raul Gonzalez in his Estrellas gear, by Raul Gonzalez

Toros de la Romana Sweep Estrellas, Win LIDOM Championship

The Toros de la Romana defeated the Estrellas from San Pedro de Macoris to win the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) championship for the 2010-11 season.  This is the Toros first championship since 1994-95.

The Toros won the 5th game of the 9 game series with an explosion of four runs in the seventh inning.  Martin Maldanado (Brewers), Esteban German (Rangers), Ricardo Nanita, and Eduardo Nunez (Yankees) each had RBI for the Toros in this frame.  The victory went to reliever Jairo Asencio (Braves) and Julio Manon got the save.

For the Estrellas, Eugelio de la Cruz got the loss, even though he gave up no earned runs in six innings.  Andres Rodriguez and Argenis Reyes had RBI in a losing cause for the Estrellas.

The Toros won the title on their home field, and the atmosphere was second to none.  The crowd was standing for most of the contest and it was extremely loud throughout.  The great home fans even rushed the field at the end of the contest, something the Dominican Baseball Guy has never seen at a baseball game.  See the official video from ligadom.com or some youtube clips like this one:


The Toros go on to the Caribbean Series to face the champions of the winter leagues in Mexico, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico.  It takes place from February 2-7 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Congratulations La Romana and Toros

Toros de la Romana Win 11-2 Over Estrellas, Take 4-0 Lead in LIDOM Finals

Marlins prospect Adalberto Mendez pitched 5.2 innings, allowing one run, and the Toros de la Romana had 14 hits in scoring 11 runs.  The Toros scored three runs in the first and never trailed.  Eduardo Nunez (Yankees) had a double and three RBI and Jose Constanza (Braves) had three hits for the Toros.  American Brock Peterson (Twins) also had a three run homer for the Toros.

Adalberto Mendez pitches for the Marlins

Former big leaguer Dan Reichert had an ineffective outing for the Estrellas of San Pedro de Macoris, getting pulled in the first inning after giving up three runs.  The lone highlight for the Estrellas came on Buck Coat's solo homerun in the 6th inning.

The Toros lead the series 4-0 and are one game away from a sweep of the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) final series.  They have not won the domestic crown since 1994-95 when they were led by Art Howe.

Toros de La Romana win 2-1, Gain 3-0 Lead in LIDOM Final Series

Fernando Abad (Astros) pitched 6 innings of no-hit ball and the Toros pitched a combined 1 hitter to take a three games to none lead over the Estrellas in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) finals.  The Toros won 2-1.

Fernando Abad pitches for the Toros

Julio Manon got the save, although he did give up one hit and one run in the ninth, after the Toros shutout the Estrellas through 8 innings.  The Toros first run came on a Ricardo Nanita single in the 3rd inning and American journeyman Kevin Barker added the second run on an RBI single in the 7th.

For the Estrellas, Cuban Alberto Castillo pitched 6 innings and allowed only one run, but that got him the loss.  Michael Martinez (Nationals) had the lone RBI for the Estrellas, when he doubled off Manon in the 9th inning.

Game 4 is Saturday at the Tetelo Vargas Stadium in San Pedro de Macoris.

Toros de La Romana Win Game 2 Over Estrellas, Lead Final Series 2-0

The Toros beat the Estrellas at the Estrellas' home Tetelo Vargas stadium in San Pedro de Macoris.  The final score was Toros 3 and Estrellas 1.  Ricardo Nanita had a 2 RBI single in the 8th inning to put the Toros up for good.  Carlos Perez got the win in relief and Julio Manon took the save for the Toros.

Ricardo Nanita had a 30 game hit streak in the Pioneer Rookie League, he is from Santo Domingo

The Toros scored the first run in the second inning on a Danny Richar sacrifice fly.  The Estrellas then equalized in the seventh on an Edwin Bellorin RBI.  The Estrellas had other chances in the fifth and seventh innings that were squandered by base running blunders.

Game three is Friday in La Romana.  The Toros are threatening to run away with the 9 game series, and a victory would be there first Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) championship since 1996.  The Estrellas have not won the domestic crown since 1968.

Toros de La Romana Take Lead in Sugar Series, Lead LIDOM Finals 1-0

Toros de La Romana took a 1-0 lead  in the first game of the 9 game final series, beating over the Estrellas de San Pedro de Macoris 5-3.  The Dominican press is calling this year's finals the Sugar Series (see the Dominican Baseball Guy's last post).  The game took place in la Romana at the Stadium Francisco Micheli.

Raul Valdes (Cardinals) continued a strong winter campaign and pitched a complete game for the Toros.  See an article about Valdes and his future with the Cardinals here.  Puerto Rican Martin Maldonado had a good game behind the plate catching for Valdes and also had an RBI at the plate.  Jose Constanza (Braves) also had two RBI for the Toros and Danny Richar (Marlins) was 3-4 with two runs.  Constanza hit .319 with the Braves AAA team and made the International League All-Star team, and Richar has been very successful with the Marlins AAA team, so the Dominican Baseball Guy expects to see both in the big leagues soon.

Valdes pitches a complete game

For the Estrellas, former big leaguer and minor league veteran Buck Coats scored a run on an Edward Rogers single, and Edwin Bellorin had two RBI.  Coats was later ejected in the third inning, in an interesting scene that saw Coats (a ten year veteran of the minor leagues) arguing with a fellow American umpire in a Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) playoff game.  LIDOM has both American and Dominican umpires work most games, because it is thought the American umpires do not have ulterior motives in regards to favoring certain teams.

Coats exits as his manager continues the argument with the home plate umpire

The incident goes to show that these games are very important for everyone involved.  For many of these players these are the biggest games and the most intense atmosphere they have had the chance to play in, and this is true for veteran Americans like Coats and Kevin Barker of the Toros.

Game two is tomorrow night in San Pedro de Macoris.

Dominican Winter Baseball League Round Robin Results 2011

The Round Robin portion of the Dominican Winter Baseball League ended yesterday, and there was a tie for second.  After the 4 team, 18 game round robin in which the top four teams in the LIDOM play each other 6 times, the Toros came out on top with a record of 12-6, so they are on to the finals.  The Toros and their fans are preparing to host the championship series.

The Gigantes and the Estrellas ended up tied for second, both with a record of 9-9.  It was a very exciting race, as both teams won on the final day of the round robin to set up a one game sudden death playoff, which takes place tonight in San Pedro de Macoris.  The Gigantes feature Alexi Casilla (who just signed a new deal with the Twins), Wilson Betemit (Royals), and Wilson Valdez (Phillies, who is on fire and hit .400 in the round robin).  The Estrellas feature pitcher Radhames Liz (former Oriole) and Nationals farmhand Alex Valdez.  These are of course among many other players with MLB experience and minor leaguers.

The winner of the Gigantes versus Estrellas will take on the Toros in a 9 game final series.  The winner of the LIDOM championship will go on to face the champion of the winter leagues in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela in the Caribbean Series.  The Caribbean Series takes place in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico this year, from February 2-7, 2011.

Edward Rogers and Rual Valdes Players of the Week

For the second week of the round robin playoffs in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) Edward Rogers and Rual Valdes were the players of the week, according to the official award given by the Sports Writers Association of Santo Domingo.  This was for the period from January 3-10, 2011, and here is the press release from LIDOM.

Edward Rogers won the player of the week, after hitting .400 last week for the Estrellas from San Pedro de Macoris.  Rogers played 30 games with the Orioles between 2002 and 2006, but has been on the AAA level the last 4 years, most recently with the Diamondbacks AAA affiliate last year.  He is from San Pedro de Macoris, and is playing for his hometown team.  The San Pedro de Macoris players never end.  Just click the label below and you will see a bunch of players from this city of 300,000 people.

Ed Rogers

Raul Valdes is a relief pitcher with the New York Mets.  Valdes was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 11 innings last week in the LIDOM.  He debuted last year in the major leagues, pitching in 38 games for the Mets.  He was named to the Caribbean Series all-star team last year, as he pitched for the champion Dominican team, Escogido.  A defector from Cuba, Raul began his career in the states in 2005.  He is from Havana, Cuba.

Raul Valdes

Dominican Winter Baseball League Playoffs 2010-11

The Dominican Winter Baseball League Playoffs (LIDOM) are underway.  They have a really cool playoff system.  The Dominican Baseball Guy put up a post about the LIDOM playoff system last year. Briefly, the top 4 of 6 teams make the playoffs and play a 15 game round robin, then the top two teams play a 9 game final series and the winner of that goes to the Caribbean Series.

This year Escogido, Toros, Estrellas, and Gigantes made the round robin.  The two traditional power houses of the league, Licey and Aguilas, missed the playoffs.  This is a major story as Licey and Aguilas are like the Red Sox and Yankees of the LIDOM.  It is a very rare year that both miss the playoffs.

The teams are 5 games into the round robin and all within 1 game of each other (see the standings).  This is a great time to see a game in the Dominican Republic.  The crowds are very big during these playoff series and the atmosphere is great.  Here is the schedule: if you will be in the country try and catch a game.

The economy in the country is not the best right now, so the crowds are not as big as they have been in years past, and the Aguilas and Licey games draw the biggest crowds, but here is an old picture from a Licey vs. Aguilas game, so you get the jest.  The games this year should have a great atmosphere too.

Dominican Winter League: Domonic Brown and Starlin Castro to Play This Week

Now that the MLB season is over and the long awaited All-Dominican team for the 2010 MLB season has been anounced, the Dominican Baseball Guy will be shifting his attention to the Dominican Winter League.  We are already 20 games in to the Dominican Winter League, so there are only 30 games left in the regular season.

Many people have been asking about Domonic Brown, the Phillies uber-prospect.  Well, according to this article, he just arrived in the Dominican Republic and will be playing for Escogido.  Starlin Castro will also be playing for Escogido starting this week, according to this press release.














Also, Rangers fans will be interested to know that Chris Davis and Taylor Teagarden have both arrived and will be playing for the Estrellas Orientales in San Pedro de Macoris (this according to this press release).

Google has an automatic translation tool, so if you use Google Chrome it will translate these press releases for you.

Juan Franciso and Wilson Betemit Homer, Jose Capellan get win

11/10/09 Game
Juan Francisco and Wilson Betemit both homered and the Gigantes improved their home record to 9-2. Jose Capellan got the win for Gigantes over Estrellas from San Pedro. After playing in just 20 games with the White Sox lst year, Betemit has played well. In 9 games with the Gigantes he has 3 HRs, 2 doubles and 6 RBI.

Dario Veras got his 4th save on the year.

Dario Veras, by Dominican Baseball Guy

Juan Francisco plays well, Jhon Floerntino and Eugenio Velez debut

10/28/09 Game
The Gigantes lost again tonight 12-3 to Estrellas from San Pedro de Macoris.

Juan Francisco had 2 RBI as the DH. The dominican baseball guy is going to go ahead and tap him as the preseason MVP of the Gigantes. We'll see if this holds up.  Jhon Florentino got his first playing time of the year starting at 2nd base. He was with the Corpus Christi Hooks last year (my hometown team), so the dominican baseball guy saw him play a lot. This is the Astros AA affiliate. He can play 2nd or 3rd and had a decent year as a spot starter at both positions last year.

Evan MacLane, another import, got the win for Estrellas and improved to 2-0, with a 2.25 ERA in 3 starts. He is in the Cardinals organization and pitched at AAA last year.  Eugenio Velez debuted last night for the Estrellas, and had a triple, double, and 3 RBI. He was with the Giants AAA team last year and played well as a center fielder.

Eugenio Velez in the infield, by Joel Dinda on Flickr

Dominican Winter Baseball: San Francisco de Macoris still shut down over strike, Lima Time

10/20/09 Games-
The Gigantes travel to Santo Domingo tomorrow to take on Licey. This is a blog about Dominican baseball, but the Dominican Baseball Guy is an anthropologist and cannot help but comment on society and culture. San Fransisco is still shut down, the strike should end tomorrow.

It is a really bad situation, especially at night. Groups of armed men and boys have taken up posts around the city, regulating traffic, and there is not enough police presence to effect these groups. They are basically doing whatever they want, especially at night.

 Luckily, The Dominican Baseball Guy knows the right people (who are also armed) so have not been effected; however, it is still a scary situation going through roadblocks of armed civilians. Everyone must realize, this is the situation Dominican prospects grow up in, and things such as this are not extraordinary.

The Dominican Baseball Guy is safe and in the capital, heading to Gigantes vs. Licey tomorrow.

Last night, Diory Hernández had a homer, double, and single, and Brennan Boesch had a homer and two singles, both for Escogido in a win over the Estrellas. Hernandez was with the Braves AAA team last year and hit .319 in 204 at bats as a short stop. Boesch, an American import for Escogido had 28 homers and 93 RBI for the Tigers AA team last year. He is is huge (6'6'', 210). Look for Boesch to have a big winter league.

In the other game, American catcher Craig Tatum had an RBI in a 4-1 for Aguilas over Licey. Tatum was with the Louisville Bats in the International League last year, and it looks like Manager Rick Sweet brought him, along with pitcher Ben Jukich to play with Aguilas. Jose Lima (yes that Jose Lima) pitched three innings of shutout ball to start the game for Aguilas, but did not get the win. Timoniel (Timo) Pérez had a double for Licey. Yes, that ex-MLB player Timo Perez who played in the Mexican Summer League last year.

Jose Lima with the Dodgers in 2004, by Malingering on Flickr

Dominican Winter Baseball: Gigantes game canceled due to strike, Ecogido has Venezuelan Cheerleaders!

10/19/09 Games-
The Gigantes have an off night tonight, and their game tomorrow has been canceled due to protests in San Fransisco de Macoris over public transportation and electricity services.

The Dominican Baseball Guy does not blame the strikers, the electricity is really sporadic at best in my apartment. Most of the businesses are closed today and people have set up road blocks to stall public transportation. There have been ongoing clashes with police in some parts of the city. The Gigantes will play in the capital tomorrow though, and this game has been rescheduled for Thursday. Unfortunately, this is not all that uncommon in the Dominican Republic.

In other games tonight Yasser Gomez had a double, single, and three runs. He is from Cuba, and as far as I can tell this is his first experience outside Cuba. He could be a player to watch going forward. Also, Robinson Diaz had three sinlges and a run for the Estrellas Orientales from San Pedro de Macoris. Diaz played in 41 games with the Pirates last year and posted a respectable .279 average in 129 at bats as a catcher. Francisco Rosario pitched four shutout innings, but Roberto Giron got the win pitching scoreless innings in the 5th and 6th.

Astros farmhand Jose Capellan got the loss for the Bulls from La Romana.

The other game had Licey vs. Escogido, the two teams in Santo Dominigo. Aparently, the Listin Diario web site thought it was more important to publish an article about the Escogido cheerleaders being from Venezuela (not Dominicans as is the norm), than to publish the results of the game. Anyway, imported player Tobi Stoner took the win for Escogido. He was in the Mets organization last year, and allowed 1 run in 5 innings last night. Another American, Michael McKenry had a two RBI double for Escogido. He was an everyday player last year with Tulsa of the Texas League, an affiliate of the Rockies.

American player Michael McKenry had two RBI for Escogido Monday,
photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

Dominican Winter Baseball League is one of tops in world, Historia de LIDOM

The Dominican Baseball Guy is in the Dominican Republic to follow the 2009-2010 Dominican Winter Baseball League. Covering Dominican baseball is overwhelming.

There are pickup games, youth teams and leagues everywhere, training academies run by Dominicans, the majority of Major League clubs have Dominican baseball academies here, there is the Dominican Summer League (a rookie league run by Major League clubs), there are all the Dominicans in the big leagues, Dominican prospects and minor leaguers, and there is the Dominican Winter Baseball League aka LIDOM.

The Dominican Baseball Guy is the Gigantes del Cibao throughout this season in the Dominican Republic Winter Baseball League. The history of the Dominican Winter Baseball League is a long and storied one.

The LIDOM is one of the better baseball leagues in the world, probably only surpassed by Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan (NPB). The other top winter baseball leagues are the Mexican Pacific League, the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, and the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. The champions of these four leagues face off in the Caribbean World Series each year.

The consensus seems to be that the Dominican League is the best of these four, and only surpassed by MLB and NPB.. The Dominican Baseball Guy bases this assumption on a number of assertions. First, Dominican teams have won eleven of the previous twenty Caribbean Series, and the most overall at seventeen. This is kind of arbitrary given that the Caribbean Series is only six games for each team, but nonetheless, it is a very high number.

Second, each of these four leagues places limits on the number of imported players each team can have, so the teams are made up almost exclusively of players from these countries. A statistical analysis of minor league and major league players and their place of birth could be a major undertaking, but it has been obvious throughout the history of the game, and especially in the last twenty years, that more players have come out of the Dominican Republic than any country besides the USA. This being the case, the Dominican Winter League has a larger pool of players to draw from than the leagues in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.

Lastly, The Dominican Baseball Guy argues that the history of the Dominican Winter Baseball League is more prestigious than the other three leagues. This league has been around in some form since the 1920s and in its current form as the LIDOM since 1951. While the other three leagues associated with the Caribbean Series have also been around since the 1940s, the quality and depth of players in the Dominican Winter Baseball League has been far superior. Virtually every Dominican major leaguer played in this league at some point, including Miguel Tejada, David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Albert Pujols, even Alex Rodriguez.

There are summer and winter leagues in several other countries, but they are undoubtedly looking up at the leagues mentioned here.


The Gigantes are one team in this very good baseball league, and they are in the city of San Fransisco de Macoris. The other teams are los Leones de Escogido in Santo Domingo, los Tigres del Licey in Santo Domingo, los Aguilas in Santiago, the Bulls of La Romana, and the Eastern Stars of San Pedro de Macoris.

The LIDOM logo