Dominican player Starlin Castro to sign huge contract extension

Dominican baseball player Starlin Castro is close to signing a long-term extension with the Cubs. The Cubs have reportedly signed Castro for at least seven years with a deal worth $60 million, according to ESPNdeportesLosAngeles.com, plus a $16 million option for 2020.

Castro is just 22, but he has been in the majors for three years. He was the first MLB player to be born in the 1990s. He has made two All-Star teams already, and he was the NL batting champion last season. He was also the youngest player to lead the NL in hits ever.

His first contract made him and his family a little bit of money. “It changed me my first year in the big leagues,” Castro said. “It changed me and my family."

But this contract will make his family financial secure for the rest of his life. Castro knows that he must focus on baseball and not slow down just because he got the big contract. Cubs teammate and fellow Dominican baseball player Alfonso Soriano has mentored him in that regard, telling him to not let the money change him or his approach to the game.

For some reason 'Starlin' is a very popular surname in the Dominican Republic. I have traveled all over Latin America and grew up in a predominetly hispanic area in Texas. And I had never heard this name before, until my first trip to the Dominican Republic in 2009. One of the first people I met in the Dominican was an assistant in the Gigantes del Cibao office and his name is Starlin. Then I started meeting and seeing Dominicans named Starlin all over.

Not sure the history of how it became to be a popular Dominican name, but it is. And the Cubs brass and fans are happy to have him locked up for seven years. He is certainly a grade A building block type of players, so they have a base to build a championship. He is from Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic.

Dominican player Starlin Castro with the Cubs, by Gamefreak777

2012 MLB All-Star rosters feature 8 Dominican players

The 2012 MLB All-Star game roster were announced Sunday and there are eight Dominican players among the All-Star invitees.

Interesting that six out of the eight Dominican players featured in the All-Star game were voted in by the fans of starters. Out of 18 position starters on the NL and AL squad, that means that 33% of the starters in the All-Star game come from the Dominican Republic. This is a huge number, considering that 11% of MLB players are Dominican.

But, alas the overall number of total Dominicans on the 2012 MLB All-Star rosters is right at the percentage of Dominicans players in Major League Baseball. Eight of a total of around 70 players in the All-Star game are Dominican, which comes to 11%.

Four out of the nine position starters on the AL team are Dominican players, along with one pitcher:

• Robinson Cano is starting for the third strait time and making his fourth appearance overall. He is from San Pedro de Macoris, Republica Dominicana.
• Adrian Beltre is starting for the second strait year and is playing in his third strait All-Star game. Beltre is from the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo.
• Jose Bautista set the all-time votes record last year, only to have that record broken by Josh Hamilton this year.  He is from Santo Domingo too.
• David Ortiz is an All-Star for the eighth time, also from Santo Domingo.
• Fernando Rodney is from Samana, Dominican Republic and is playing in his first All-Star game.

There are two Dominican starters and one Dominican reserve player on the NL squad:

• Rafael Furcal made his third All-Star game in his thirteenth year in the bigs. Not surprising, considering he was named the Dominican Baseball Guy player of the week earlier this season. He is from Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic.
• Melky Cabrera is from Santo Domingo and is appearing in his first mid-summer classic.
• Starlin Castro will play in his second All-Star game in just his third big league season. He is from Monte Cristi, DR.

See all these top Dominican players and the rest of the MLB All-Stars July 10, 2012 on FOX.

Dominican beisbol player of the week: Nelson Cruz

So, most weeks the Dominican Beisbol Guy picks his Dominican player of the week based on the overall NL and AL player of the week voting.  Almost without fail there is at least one Dominican player that receives votes in at least one of the leagues.  But this week not a single Dominican player received a vote.

Entonces, the Dominican Baseball Guy is going with probably his favorite player in all of Major League Baseball at the moment, Nelson Cruz.

Cruz warmed up last week.  He had two home runs and eight RBI in seven games.  He also hit over .340 and scored six runs.  Of course most of this came in a route of the Angels last Sunday in which he went 4-5 with a home run and four RBI.

Even if he had not had such a productive week, the Dominican Baseball Guy could have very well picked him as the Dominican player of the week.  He is the Dominican Baseball Guy's favorite player and he plays for the DBG's favorite team, after all.

Dominican beisbol player Nelson Cruz is from Monte Cristi, Republica Dominicana.

Dominican baseball player Nelson Cruz, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Rangers dominate Mariners in 5-2 win, behind 4 RBI from Michael Young

Derek Holland pitched 7 and 1/3 innings and allowed two runs to pick up the win for the Rangers over the Mariners on Thursday. The win was the 13th win in 14 decisions for Holland, dating back to last year. Micheal Young was 3-4, including a home and 4 RBI for the Rangers.

The defending AL champion Rangers took the series 3-1. They moved to 5-2 on the 7 day home stand to start the year, and now hit the road for 9 games. The Mariners moved to .500 on the year.

Young opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with an RBI single. He added a 2 run home run in the 5th. Young has a .329 lifetime average with runners in scoring position, and he showed once again why he is such a feared hitter in RBI situations.

Mike Adams gave up a run in the 9th, but still got the save for the Rangers.

Seattle scored three runs which would turn out to be meaningless. Alex Liddi, the lone Italian player in MLB this season, had an RBI. Kyle Seager had a solo home run for the M’s in the 6th inning.  And Dominican baseball player Miguel Olivo had an RBI in the 9th.

NOTES: Dominicans playing were Nelson Cruz (Monte Cristi), Adrian Beltre (Santo Domingo), and Miguel Olivo (Villa Vasquez).

Pre-game from the right field upper deck, photo by Bonzer Wolf aka @BonzerWolf

Cubs Dominican prospect Lake hopes to join Dominican baseball player Starlin Castro on Cubs roster

Starlin Castro has progressed faster than pretty much any prospect ever.  He was an everyday player at age 20.  This is a few times in a generation anomaly in baseball.  Ken Griffey, Jr. and Barry Bonds were able to do it, but only one or two players every year make an impact like Castro has made at the age of 20.

Junior Lake hopes to join his long time friend in the big leagues soon.  The Dominican Baseball Guy has been hearing about Lake for several years.  Castro and Lake grew up together, both playing in the Cubs Dominican baseball academy in 2007.  They then made the move to the states and played for the Cubs rookie ball team together.

But Castro matured faster and caught on with the big league club in just his second year with the organization.  He has hit .300 both years, and is a plus defender.  Lake remains in the Cubs minor league system, and had a good year at AA last year.  Junior Lake is one of the top prospects in all of minor league baseball.

Lake hopes to play with Castro in the majors some day soon.  They have a mutual respect for each other, and both feel that Lake can play on the major league level.  Most in the Cubs organization and in the rest of major league baseball seem to agree.  The only question is when Junior Lake will become a Cub.

Lake says he hopes to make the jump from AA to the majors this season.  Junior Lake is from San Pedro de Macoris, Republica Dominicana.  Castro is from Monte Cristi.

Dominican baseball player Junior Lake hopes to join the Cubs this year, photo by  Tom Haggerty for LakelandLocal.com

Best things about Dominican culture, Dominican baseball player Nelson Cruz shares his top 5, Las mejores cosas de la cultura Dominicana

A recent Rangers update from T.R. Sullivan spotlighted Nelson Cruz and his favorite things about Dominican culture.  Since the Dominican Baseball Guy is a cultural anthropologist this was a huge story for everyone at the Dominican Baseball Guy world headquarters.  Cultural studies, Dominican baseball, and Nelson Cruz are three of the Dominican Baseball Guy's favorite things in the world.

So here is Nelson Cruz's favorite things about Dominican culture:

1. Carnaval
2. Winter Ball
3. Beaches 
4. People 
5. Food

So, Carnaval is big in lots of Latin American and Catholic countries, and Cruz says they party every Sunday in January.  Everyone that follows the Dominican Baseball Guy knows that winter baseball is big down there.  Most people know the beaches, and Cruz says they are nice in the north and the south.  The people, Cruz says, are friendly.  The food, Cruz says eat rice and beans, chicken and pork, plaintains and soup, and fruits like mango.

And, the Dominican Baseball Guy has never been to any of the Carnaval parties in the Dominican Republic.  Everyone that follows the Dominican Baseball Guy knows that winter baseball is big down there.  The Dominican Baseball Guy has never been to a Dominican beach, but hears they are nice in the north and the south.  The people, the Dominican Baseball Guy says be careful because there can be some swindlers down there.  And the food, the Dominican Baseball Guy concurs with Nelson Cruz, eat chicken, arroz, y habichuelas, throw in some mangu and mofongo, and the soncocho soup is awesome stuff.

Dominican baseball player Nelson Cruz is from Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic.

What are your favorite things about Dominican culture? Favorite beaches? Favorite foods?

Dominican baseball player Nelson Cruz plays with the Rangers,
by Keith Allison on Flickr

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

Texas Rangers news: Adrian Beltre nears rehab assignment, Nelson Cruz in a slump

The Texas Rangers have been one of the most active teams in acquiring Dominican talent over the last few years.  They have done this by signing free agents such as the recent signing of 16 year old Dominican Nomar Mazara for a record $5 million bonus.

They have also traded for young prospects such as when they picked up a young Nelson Cruz in 2006 via trade.  Nelson Cruz has been a solid five tool player since his true breakout year with the Rangers in 2009.  The Dominican Baseball Guy thinks he could be a legit MVP candidate if he was not slowed by so many injuries.  He is currently mired in a 3-23 slump and manager Ron Washington decided to give him a day off on Tuesday.  Says Cruz: "I'm never happy when I'm not playing," he said. "I'm here to play."

Right fielder Nelson Cruz, by Keith Allison on Flickr

The case of Adrian Beltre shows the Rangers are also happy to go after Dominican free agent talent as well.  They signed him to 6 year, $96 million deal this off season.  Seems like a lot of money for a guy that had made only two all-star games and is 35.  But hey, I am just the Dominican Baseball Guy, more of a commentator than an analyst.  Beltre turned in another all-star year this year, and has had a solid year before straining his hamstring on July 22.  He hopes to make a rehab assignment this weekend, see the report here.

Texas Rangers Adrian Beltre, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Nelson Cruz is from Monte Cristi, DR and Adrian Beltre is from the capital Santo Domingo.

Michael Pineda to debut for Mariners, face Alexi Ogando and Nelson Cruz for Rangers

As the Dominican Baseball Guy noted last week, the Mariners named rookie Michael Pineda as their fifth starter toward the end of spring training.  Pineda will square off against another Dominican making his debut as a starter for the Rangers, Alexi Ogando.

Pineda brings a strong physical pedigree (6-foot-7, 260 pounds), and real power stuff to the big leagues for the first time tonight.  He was very successful in the minors, then posted a 2.12 ERA in 17 innings at spring training.  The Mariners decided to put him in as the fifth starter after the success in spring training.  Pineda is from Yaguate, DR.

Ogando had a wildly successful rookie year, after being mired in a visa scandal that left him stranded in the Dominican Republic and the Rangers Dominican academy for a couple years.  He had a 1.30 ERA in 44 games and 42 innings, while becoming a vital part of the Rangers middle relief down their pennant stretch.  Ogando is from San Pedro de Macoris, DR.

Another Dominican, Nelson Cruz is going for a HR in his fifth strait game to start the season.  The Rangers have several other Dominicans, so there will be a number of Dominican versus Dominican match ups tonight.  Cruz is from Monte Cristi, DR.

Nelson Cruz, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Dominican Player of Week 1: Starlin Castro

Starlin Castro shared NL Player of the Week honors with Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia, so this gets him the Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Player of the Week.

Castro is a young talent for the Cubs, as they signed him out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 16 in 2006, and he debuted last season playing in 125 games for the big league club.  He hit .300 last year which was good for 10th in the NL, and fielding short stop is one of his strengths.  So, he should only improve this year and after week one he was leading the majors with a .615 average.  A recent fantasy update predicted him as the 12th best option at short stop in the majors.  Castro is from Monte Cristi, DR.

Other Dominicans in week 1: Nelson Cruz (Monte Cristi, DR): 3 HR, 3 RBI, .364, Neftali Feliz (Azua, DR): 2 innings, 2 K, 0.00 ERA, David Ortiz (Santo Domingo): 2 HR, 4 RBI

Starlin Castro with the Cubs last year, by Gamefreak777 

Cubs hoping Aramis Ramirez stays healthy, returns to old form

Aramis Ramirez has had an unlucky last two seasons with the Cubs, as he has only played in 206 games over the two years combined due to injuries.  From 2005 to 2008 he averaged over 30 HRs and 100 plus RBI and made two all-star teams.

The Cubs and Ramirez hope he remains healthy and returns to that all-star form.  He will be slotted into the cleanup spot and the Cubs want him to remain there all season.

Ramirez exercised a player option this past off season to remain with the Cubs.  He will be making $14.6 million this year and will become a free agent at the end of the year.

The Cubs projected lineup features four Dominicans in the field.  Ramirez will be joined by Starlin Castro, Carlos Pena, and Alfonso Soriano in the Cubs lineup.  Ramirez and Pena are both from Santo Domingo, while Castro is from Monte Cristi, and Soriano is from the famed San Pedro de Macoris.

Ramirez chats with Henry Blanco, by Terren in Virginia on Flickr

Wilson Betemit, John Halama, Omar Luna, Yunesky Maya Players of Week

For the week of November 29-December 5, Wilson Betemit won the Player of the Week Award in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) and John Halama won the Pitcher of the Week.  Here is the press release.

Betemit won the award one time last year.  He has been an MLB player for six years, splitting time between the minors and majors for most of these.  He has had some good years for the Yankees, White Sox, and most recently the Royals.  He even won the Royals player of the month award last year for July, so not sure he how he started out in the minors for them last year.  He has 24 RBI in 22 games for the Gigantes in the LIDOM this year.  Betemit is from Santo Domingo, DR.

John Halama is from Brooklyn and has been at the AAA level since 2005 with various organizations and AAA teams.  He played in 262 games in the majors with 5 teams from 1998-2006.  Another interesting sight in the LIDOM: a journeyman American pitcher seeing extended playing time.  It is more evidence that teams in the LIDOM are concerned about one thing, winning.  There is no effort to develop players or play local talent, the teams just want to win the league and go to the Caribbean Series.

For December 6-12, Omar Luna and Yunesky Maya won the awards.  Here is the press release.
Luna hit .500 for the week and had a home run and 4 RBI.  He has been in the minors since 2007 and reached AAA last year with the Durham Bulls, the Tampa Bays Rays affiliate.  He is from Monte Cristi, DR.

Maya is a legit major leaguer in the prime of his career.  He was signed by the Nationals last summer, after defecting from Cuba.  He won the Cuban equivalent of the Cy Young for the 2008-2009 season.  He spent just five games in the Nationals minor league system before being called up and starting 5 games last year.  This article from the Federal Baseball blog, tells his story and the story of him signing.  He is from Pinar del Rio, Cuba.  So many good Cubans, sad we can't see them all play in MLB.  They could give Dominicans competition for the most foreign players.

Irvin Joel Guzman and Fabio Castro Players of the Week

So, apparently the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) names a player of the week and sometimes a  pitcher of the week each week.  The Dominican Baseball Guy did not realize this, but from now on will post a link and some info about both the player and the pitcher of the week for each week of the Dominican Winter Baseball League season.  That is when the LIDOM releases both names, because often times they only name a player of the week.

For the week of November 22-29 and the sixth award of the season, here is the press release for the player and pitcher of the week.  Irvin Joel Guzman was chosen as the player of the week.  Guzman was 4-8 with 2 HRs and 7 RBI for Escogido.    Guzman has played a few games in the big leagues with Tampa Bay and the Dodgers, but has spent the rest of his baseball career at the AA and AAA level.  Last year he hit 33 HRs playing  for the Bowie Baysox in the Eastern League.  He is from Quisqueya, DR, which is a suburb of the baseball Mecca San Pedro de Macoris.

The pitcher of the week was Fabio Castro.  Castro pitched seven innings and allowed zero earned runs for the Gigantes.  He is currently leading LIDOM with a 1.29 ERA and is second in wins.  Castro has seen a few major league games with the Rangers and Phillies, but spent last year with Pawtucket in the AAA International League, the Red Sox affiliate.  He has already signed with the Mariners for next year.  He is from Monte Crisit, DR.  Here he is in some Dominican League action:

Dominican Baseball Card #10: Nelson Cruz

First off, the Dominican Baseball Guy now has his own domain, so be sure and bookmark dominicanbaseballguy.com.  And now on to the #10 Dominican Baseball Guy Dominican Baseball Card.

The Dominican Baseball Guy does not usually do this, but he has to borrow a card from The Hamiltonian blog.  So, thanks to this post from the Hamiltonian, the Dominican Baseball Guy's 10th Dominican Baseball Card is a Nelson Cruz custom:

It's just a great card and it has Cruz playing for the Dominican Republic.  Nelson is just starting his career, so not much to say or update here.  The Dominican Baseball Guy recently tweeted and facebooked an article on Cruz's rise to the big leagues (see the article on Cruz's Road to the Bigs here).  He actually started as a basketball player and did not start baseball until he was 16.  The Mets signed him at the age of 17 in 1998, and 11 years later he was an all-star with the Rangers.

Nelson was an all-star and hit in the home run derby in 2009.  This year he fought threw injuries, but when he plays, he is considered one of the best corner outfielders in the game.  He is considered a true 5 tool players, and has shown all these skills, hitting for power and average, running, fielding and throwing.  If he can stay healthy, the Dominican Baseball Guy guarantees he will be an all-star for many years to come.

Nelson has played with the Gigantes in Dominican Winter Baseball League, for several years.  He led the league in home runs and RBI in 2008.  He is a huge crowd favorite with the Gigantes fans and even played a few games last year after making an MLB all-star team.  Gigantes fans say "llega papa," or "here comes the papa" when Cruz is playing.  He is a huge draw in the Dominican Winter League.

Nelson is from Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic.  Tony Pena, the 9th Dominican Baseball Card, is also from Monte Cristi.  This is actually a province, not a city.  It is in the far north-west corner of the Dominican Republic on the border with Haiti.  Good players come from all over the Dominican is the point.

Dominican Baseball Card #9: Tony Pena

The 9th edition of the Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Baseball Card is a Tony Pena 1988 Fleer #45.  I really like the cheese factor of this set from Fleer.  The white borders are hideously great.  Guess this was the 80s cheese factor making its way onto the baseball cards.  Tony has a great mustache too, and according to movember.org, next month is the month of the mustache.


Tony 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.  And he split 40 games between the White Sox and Astros in his last season, so the Dominican Baseball Guy guesses we have to count those teams too.  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, and 2001, and a Caribbean Series Championship with the team in 2001.  He even showed up for the second half of last season, as the Aguilas were playing bad and fired their American manager, bringing in Pena to finish the season.  He spent 2002-2005 as the Royals manager and won the AL manager of the year in 2003, taking the Royals to 3rd place finish in the AL, unheard of for the Royals.  He has been the Yankees bench coach for two years, winning a World Series title last year, and still in the hunt of the ALCS this year.  Tony is from Monte Criti, Dominican Republic.  His son Tony Jr. pitched in the DWL last year (as the Dominican Baseball Guy blogged) and his other son, Francisco, is in the Mets organization.