Dominican players in MLB playoffs 2015: AL Wildcard Edition

The Astros and the Yankees have set their rosters for tonight's AL Wildcard at Yankee Stadium. Both teams can reset their 25-man rosters for the divisional round after the one game wildcard match up. So, it is only a mild surprise that the Astros decided to bring nine pitchers.

The Astros bring with them two Dominican players to New York. Eight of the nine pitchers are American, with Oliver Perez hailing from Mexico. Drug kingpin Chapo Guzman is probably a big fan of Perez, as he is from Culiacan, Sinaloa. The Tomateros de Culiacan have been very successful in the Mexican Pacific League, winning ten domestic titles and two Caribbean World Series.

There are four Latin players in the Astros infield group, but only one of them is from the Dominican Republic. Jonathan Villar is from La Vega, DR. Back in 2011 he was a top 100 prospect, and he has played with the Astros for the last three seasons and been one of their first outfielders off the bench. Villar has also played and started for the Aguilas in the Dominican Winter Baseball League, and had a home run in the playoffs back in January. Unfortunately for Villar he is behind Puerto Rican sensational rookie Carlos Correa, so he will likely be used only as a pinch hitter.

Carlos Gomez, known as Go-Go, will start in center field
for the Astros. Photo by Arturo Pardavila III on Flickr.

The only other Dominican player that the Astros bring to the AL Wildcard is outfielder Carlos Gomez. When he made his debut in 2007 with the Mets, Gomez was the youngest player in National League at 21 years old. He has since had a successful nine year MLB career and made two All-Star games with the Brewers before being traded to the Astros this year. He has been injured, but will be starting in center field. Carlos is from Santiago, so it is natural that he has played for the Aguilas in the Dominican Winter League for a number of years, even appearing with them after he became an All-Star.

While the Astros only have two Dominicans on the 2015 AL Wildcard roster, they also have three players from Venezuela, one from Mexico, and one from Puerto Rico. Not surprising considering their GM, Jeff Luhnow, speaks Spanish and has strong ties to Latin America as he grew up in Mexico City.

The Yankees on the other hand, bring three Dominican players to the wild card contest. Or four if you count Alex Rodriguez, but considering he was born in Miami, I consider him an American player.

Two pitchers, Ivan Nova and Luis Severino will be in the bullpen for the Yankees. Nova was one of the top prospects in all of baseball when he was coming up, and has had a fairly successful six years in the majors, posting a 4.33 ERA in over 600 innings. He is from Palenque and has played for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League. Severino has had a highly successful debut season this year, after being named to some AAA All-Star teams.

The third Dominican player that the Yankees have on the roster is a rookie that only played in two games. Gary Sanchez is another can't miss prospect and has made All-Star teams at every level including a Futures team this year. This seems to be a move to get a young player some playoff experience. Gary is from the capital of Santo Domingo and has played for one of two great teams in the capitol, Escogido.

The winner of this one game wild card may reshuffle the roster before facing Kansas City in the next round.

Dominican players in MLB 2012 playoffs: ALCS edition

Look for Dominican player Robinson Cano 
to be major factor in the 2012 ALCS. 
Photo credit: Keith Allison on Flickr

The ALCS is here, featuring the Yankees and the Tigers, and as usual there are a number of Dominicans players in this version of the league championship series.

The Yankees have Robinson Cano, Rafael Soriano, and  Alex Rodriguez. Does he count? That subject has been broached time and time again here at the Dominican Baseball Guy and I say no, he is American not Dominican.

Already a Dominican legend half way through his career, Cano was a pre-season MVP candidate here at the Dominican Baseball Guy and he did not disappoint. Cano got went to his third strait All-Star game and should see his third strait Silver Slugger award. He was in the top-12 in the AL in average, home runs, and RBI. This could be his year to get the MVP of the ALCS is he can get some clutch hits.

Rafael Soriano is a haus at the back end of the Yankees bullpen. After Mariano Rivera went out with an injury, Soriano came in and did not miss a beat. He ended the year with 42 saves and a 1.17 WHIP. He also threw more than one strikeout per inning on the year. If he gets a chance to save some games he will do it at a very high percentage.

The Tigers feature six Dominicans on their active roster: Jhonny Peralta, Al Alburquerque, Joaquin Benoit, Octavio Dotel, Jose Valverde, Ramon Santiago. While they do not have the star power the Yankees have, they certainly have the numbers with six Dominican players out of their 25-man active roster.

Jose Valverde is another Dominican haus closer at the end of the Tigers bullpen. Throwing only a fastball and a splitter, Valverde epitomizes a power closer. He had the third longest saves streak ever back in 2011. Even though he blew a save last round, look for Valverde to be perfect if he gets any save opportunities.

The Tigers Dominican infielder Jhonny Peralta is little known for having been an everyday player over eight seasons. He actually played in the playoffs back in 2007 with the Indians...they made the playoffs that year? He made his one and only All-Star team last year with the Tigers, but was down from those numbers this year. But he is just the type of journey man player that could show up big in a playoff series.

The other Tigers will be coming off the bench, and should not factor in a major way.

The Yankees also have Dominican players Ivan Nova, Zoilo Almonte, Eduardo Nunez, and Melky Mesa available on their 40-man roster. And the Tigers have Luis Marte on their 40-man.

Total, that comes out to eight Dominican players out of 50 on the ALCS active rosters, and 13 Dominicans out of 80 on the total rosters. Or 16% of the players in the ALCS are Dominican natives.

Major League Baseball extreme fatigue list includes 66 Dominicans

The Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) nowadays features mainly AA and AAA players, with a few major leaguers thrown in. There was a time when the LIDOM was mainly big leaguers, with a few minor leaguers thrown in. The time was that big leaguers returned to their Dominican homeland to play for their beloved hometown teams. That time has passed.

Miguel Tejada was perhaps of the hometown boys to play in the prime of his career with his Dominican Winter League team. Today, the big league clubs tell their players if they can play in the winter leagues and how many games. They may force an American player to go down and play twenty games, even though he wants to enjoy his off-season (see Mark Trumbo). Or they may tell a native of Santiago, Dominican Republic that he can not play with his hometown team because he has pitched too many innings.

Not more than a few years ago, MLB implemented an 'extreme fatigue list' to standardize player's ability to play in the Caribbean winter leagues. A player makes the fatigue list when they reach 160 innings for major league pitchers, 600 innings behind home plate for catchers, and 502 turns-at-bat for infielders and outfielders. These are negotiated for each position and also depend on whether playing time is accrued at the major or minor league levels, but these are rough numbers.

This year, the 'extreme fatigue list' includes a record 66 Dominican baseball players. The list includes Ivan Nova, Fernando Martinez, Wilson Valdez, Jimmy Paredes, Emilio Bonifacio, Erick Aybar, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Esmil Rogers.

The fact is many of these players, especially the established big leaguers, would not be playing in the Dominican Winter Baseball League even if they were not on the 'extreme fatigue list.' These players are making too much money to risk injury for virtually no pay, in comparison to their big league salaries. But other fringe major leaguers or high level minor leaguers that need the extra pay check from a Dominican Winter Baseball League team would welcome the extra work and money.

With the 'extreme fatigue list' they are not given this option. If they are on this list, then the Major League club can hold them out of the Dominican Winter Baseball League. And in many cases, the clubs choose to use this option. It is not a good thing for the LIDOM because they lose players and have to draw from even lower levels of professional ball.

Dominican pitcher Ivan Nova is on the 'extreme fatigue list,'
photo by Keith Allison on Flickr