Record nine Dominicans to play in MLB All-Star Game

Dominican player David Ortiz is appearing in his
9th All-Star Game. Photo by Aaron Donovan.

The 2013 MLB All-Star Game features a a record nine Dominican baseball players. The total number of Latin and Dominican players has been on the upswing over the last decade-plus, and those higher numbers of total players undoubtedly leads to more Latins and Dominicans participating in the mid-summer classic. Last year in the 2012 All-Star Game eight Dominican players were featured in the game.

The American League All-Star roster features starters and perennial All-Stars Robinson Cano, Jose Bautista, and David Ortiz. It also features Dominicans Bortolo Colon, Jhonny Peralta, Nelson Cruz, and Edwin Encarnacion. No shortage of drama here, as you can see that Colon, Peralta, and Cruz are all mired in steroid accusations and could be suspended before the end of the year. But alas, they have been named to the team.

Featured on the National League roster are just two Dominican players. Jean Segura is appearing in his first All-Star game, after just a little over a years in the majors. He had a respectable season for part of last year with the Brewers, and then he tore up the Dominican Winter League in the off-season with the Gigantes del Cibao. The other Dominican player on the National League roster is Segura's teammate in Milwaukee Carlos Gomez.

This is the Dominican players that plan to play as of now. The Dominican Baseball Guy is somewhat perplexed at the All-Star carosuel. I beleive Colon is out due to injury or he is a replacement player, but is not playing. I thought Cruz was out injured as well. Big Papi will probably come up once, swing for the fences, and sit down. Who really knows?

In the end, nine Dominican players have been named to the 2013 MLB All-Star game. We will all tune in tonight to see which ones play.

Can the Dominican Republic Win the World Baseball Classic?

After a semi final loss in the first World Baseball Classic, and a national catastrophe first-round exit in 2009, the Dominican Republic has the pressure of the nation on them to win their first world title in the unilateral national sport. Even Dominican President Danilo Medina recently implored the Dominican team to 'lift up the country' with their World Baseball Classic performance.

Anything less than winning the whole thing will be a disappointment in the country with more MLB players per capita than any country in the world. There were 95 Dominican Baseball Players on MLB Rosters 2012, which was 11% of the league. Virtually everyone in the country has an opinion about baseball, known as 'pelota' or simply 'ball' in the Dominican Republic.

Dominican short stop Jose Reyes talked with USA Today. "The first two Classics were a bit disappointing for us. We had great teams and didn't do much," said Reyes. "This time we want to bring the crown back to the Dominican people."

Dominican native and MLB veteran Moises Alou has been a successful General Manager for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League, and he is heading up the World Baseball Classic team as well. He has replaced the power laden lineup from 2009 with a lineup based on speed and contact. Dominican players like Reyes, Erick Aybar and Alejandro De Aza fit that mold. Even the power heavy players like Robinson Cano, Hanley Ramirez, Edwin Encarnacion, Carlos Santana and Nelson Cruz are more rounded than power players like Jose Bautista and David Ortiz in previous years.

The bookies tend to agree with Alou and the Dominican public. The Dominican Republic is a 3-1 co-favorite to win the World Baseball Classic. The team has backed up this confidence from the public in their two exhibition games, beating the Phillies with 30 hits Tuesday and downing the Yankees 8-2 on Wedensday.

Dominican Republic World Baseball
Classic manager, Tony Pena, is currently
bench coach for the Yankees.

The Dominicans, led by Yankee bench coach and former big league Dominican native Tony Pena, look to build on this chemistry. Their first game is Thursday evening in Pool C in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Team Dominican Republic could even add Adrian Beltre to the All-Star heavy lineup in the second round. "We take a lot of pride in trying to be the best we can. We have a lot of players that play in the big leagues, so we have quite a list of players," Beltre told ESPN. "Coming into the Classic the first time, we thought we'd do a better job than we did as a team. After that, we didn't meet our expectations, and I think the fans and the players were more into it because they know we can do better."

"Every three or four years, they expect us to do well. They look forward to it."

Tony Pena is a legend in the Dominican Republic. Expect him to bring together all the high priced talent and lead them to the final round. On paper they are certainly one of the top two teams, along with the USA. They should see Asian bracket winners Japan and Cuba in the final round.

Pool: C — San Juan, Puerto Rico
First Dominican Republic game: Thursday, March 7 — vs. Venezuela

Infield: Robinson Cano, Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Leury Garcia, Miguel Tejada
Outfield: Nelson Cruz, Alejandro de Aza, Eury Perez, Ricardo Nanita, Moises Sierra

Starters: Edinson Volquez, Wandy Rodriguez, Sam Deduno
Bullpen: Fernando Rodney, Santiago Casilla, Octavio Dotel, Jose Veras, Jose Valverde
Catchers: Francisco Pena, Carlos Santana

For more information on the tournament see the official World Baseball Classic site.

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

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

Dominican baseball players in World Series, Dominicanos en el serie mundial

The World Series is upon us today.  That means it is time for the Dominican Baseball Guy's list of Dominican baseball players in the World Series.

Last round, the Dominican Baseball Guy's index predicted one of two league championship series.  The Cardinals had more Dominicanos than the Brewers did, and they won the series. In the ALCS the Rangers had one fewer Dominican players than the Tigers, but managed to win the series. They only had one less Dominican than the Tigers, so that explains the Index not predicting it correctly.

Enough about last round. Here is the list of peloteros Dominicanos in the World Series:

Texas Rangers: Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, Adrian Beltre, Esteban German, Nelson Cruz
Saint Louis Cardinals: Octavio Dotel, Rafael Furcal...and o yea, some guy named Albert Pujols

So there were no changes to either team regarding the Dominican baseball players.  In total there are 8 Dominican baseball players in the World Series, 16% of all players.

According to the Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Baseball Index the Rangers should win this thing easily as they have 5 Dominican baseball players to the Cardinals three.  But wait, one of the Cardinals Dominicanos is Albert Pujols, aka the machine.

Should be good series, as always.  The Dominican Baseball Guy is excited to see all these jugadores de beisbol Dominicano play, and he is also excited to see if the Dominican Baseball Index holds up.  But most of all he is rooting for his loved Texas Rangers and Nelson Cruz.

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.

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 

Danny Richar and Miguel de los Santos Players of Week

The Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) has named Players of the Week for the playoffs.  In years past they only gave this award during the regular season, so the Dominican Baseball Guy was unaware they were giving out the awards the last couple weeks.

For the first week of the round robin playoffs Danny Richar and Miguel de los Santos won the award.  This was for the period December 27, 2010-January 2, 2011, and here is the press release.

Danny Richar is currently in the Florida Marlins organization and played all of last year with their AAA affiliate New Orleans Zephers, where he hit .315.  Richar has played a handful of games in the big leagues with the White Sox and Reds from 2007-2009.  Richar batted .563 last week to win the award.  He was born in 1983 in La Romana, DR, and has been playing in the states since 2005.  He plays for his hometown Toros de La Romana.

Danny Richar

Miguel de los Santos is in the Rangers organization.  The Rangers are the favorite team of the Dominican Baseball Guy and it is quite a coincidence that they are one the most successful teams in scouting and signing Dominican players in recent years.  They of course have established big leaguers like Nelson Cruz and Julio Borbon, and they recently signed Adrian Beltre.  They also have some great young players.  Alexi Ogando and Omar Beltre were both big stories last season, as was rookie of the year closer Neftali Feliz (all Dominicans).

So, hopefully Miguel de los Santos is the next in line of great young Dominican pitchers for the Rangers.  He has absolute gas and has had almost 2 strikeouts/inning in rookie leagues and A ball over the last 4 years, along with a pretty good ERA.  ESPN Dallas has a nice write up on him here, and LoneStarDugout.com has a short article on his LIDOM success this season here.  He pitched 5 shutout innings in the LIDOM last week to win the award.  Miguel is from La Romana as well, and hopefully we see him in the MLB soon.  He also plays for his hometown La Romana Toros.  It must be a great time for both these players to play in front of their friends and family in their hometown.

Miguel de los Santos

Dominican Baseball Guy MLB 2010 All-Dominican Team

It is finally time for the Dominican Baseball Guy's prestigious All-Dominican team.  This is a yearly all-star team of the best Dominican players in the MLB for each season.  It is based on numbers, the year each player had, but also on who the Dominican Baseball Guy thinks is the best Dominican Player at each position.  So here is the 2010 MLB All-Dominican Team, as chosen by the Dominican Baseball Guy.

1B Albert Pujols: He did what he always does: .312, 42 HR, 118 RBI.  There is a reason they call this guy "la maquina" or "the machine."  He has hit .300 with 30+ HR and 100+ RBI in every year of his 10 year career.  Pujols has already won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger for 2010.  Pujols won the August Dominican Baseball Guy Player of the month and the NL Player of the Month Award.  He is from Santo Domingo, DR.


2B Robinson Cano: This was another easy choice for the Dominican Baseball Guy.  Like Pujols, Cano won both the Gold Glove and the Silver Slugger for 2B in the AL.  So, since he is the best fielder and hitter at his position, he obviously gets a spot on the All-Dominican Team for 2010.  He made the Sporting News post season All-Star team at 2B too.  Cano won the AL Player of the Month for April.  Cano is from San Pedro de Macoris, DR.





SS Hanley Ramirez: Hanley had a self-admited down year, but he still hit .300 with 21 home runs and 76 RBI.  The Dominican Baseball guy is no sure how this guy does not have 100 RBI every year.  He won the Home Run Derby, after which the Dominican Baseball Guy tabbed him as the "sweetest swing in the game."  He has already won the Sporting News NL SS of the year award.  Hanley is from Samana, DR.






3B Adrian Beltre: Adrian won the AL Silver Slugger award for third base.  He has been in the big leagues for 13 years and had perhaps his best year at the plate this year with the Red Sox (.321, 28HR, 102 RBI).  He was the Dominican Baseball Guy June 2010 Player of the Month.  Beltre is from Santo Domingo, DR.

OF Jose Bautista:  Bautista led the MLB with 54 HR and was third in RBI with 124.  He won an AL Silver Slugger and the Hank Aaron award for the top hitter in the AL.  He won the Dominican Baseball Guy Dominican Player of the Month, and the AL Player of the Month for July and August.  Another obvious choice for the All-Dominican Team.  He is from Santo Domingo, DR.

OF Nelson Cruz: So, Nelson only had 22 HR and 78 RBI this year, but he only played in 108 games.  The Dominican Baseball Guy thinks he showed his true form in the playoffs, setting an all-time record for extra-base hits in the playoffs.  If he can stay healthy he will be an All-Star for many years to come.  Cruz is from Monte Cristi, DR.


OF Vladimir Guerrero: OK, Vlad only played a handful of games in the outfield this season.  But the Dominican Baseball Guy did not see any other Dominicans that warranted receiving this prestigious award for this season.  Vlad had an incredible year too (29 HR, 115 RBI, .300).  He is a lifetime .320 hitter, which is 5th on the active list and 54th all-time.  This from a guy that is seen as a power hitter.  One of the Dominican Baseball Guy's favorite players ever, he is from Nizao, DR.

Starting Pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez: Ubaldo got off to a great start and won the NL Pitcher of the Month for April and May.  He was 15-1 at the All-Star break.  He slowed down later in the season, but still finished 19-8 with a 2.88 ERA in 220 innings.  According to this article he is still in a 4 way race for NL Cy Young.

Relief Pitchers Rafael Soriano and Carlos Marmol: Soriano was 3rd in the MLB in saves with 45.  He won the Delivery Man of the Month Award three times this year and The Dominican Baseball Guy Pitcher of the Month award once.  Marmol won the Delivery Man of the Month award once, was 7th in the MLB in saves, and set an MLB record with 15.99 Ks per 9 innings.  Rafael is from San Jose, DR and Carlos is from Bonao, DR.

Rookie Neftali Feliz: Neftali tied for fifth in MLB in saves and set a rookie record with 40 saves.  He won the AL Rookie of the Year award already, so he is surely the top Dominican rookie this season.  Neftali is from Azua, DR.

Notice there are no catchers on the All-Dominican team.  The Dominican Baseball Guy has noticed a strange trend: there are very few Dominican catchers at any level.  The Dominican Baseball Guy does not know of any Dominican catchers in the big leagues, and even in the Dominican Winter Baseball League, a lot for the catchers are imports.  Other than this lack of a catcher, this All-Dominican team has an All-Star or someone that could play for any big league team at every position.  It would be a pretty successful club if they were to all play together.  Not sure how they keep managing to do so bad in the World Baseball Classic.

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.

Dominicans in 2010 MLB (Update #2)

There is a lot going on with Dominican Players in MLB right now.  This is an obvious fact since there were around 80 Dominicans on opening day rosters.  This number will fluctuate throughout the season as players are called up to the big show, or sent down to the minors, but the Dominican Baseball Guy thinks there should be at least 80 Dominicans in the big leagues all year.  So, some of these Dominicans will surely continue to make news.

Ubaldo Jimenez and Francisco Liriano continue to pitch well as starters, as the Dominican Baseball Guy stated a few posts back.  Jimenez is definitely a front runner for National League Cy Young at this point.

Vladimir Guerrero is playing very well for the Rangers.  He is in the top 10 in the American League in average and RBI right now.  Guerrero has long been a favorite player of the Dominican Baseball Guy.  He is a .322 lifetime hitter, an incredible lifetime average for someone that also hits for power.  He was the AL MVP in 2004 and has 4 Silver Slugger awards.  He also has a great arm in the outfield and the Dominican Baseball Guy has seen him throw out many runners from right field.  He had a walk off hit a few days ago too.

Alfonso Soriano and Robinson Cano are also off to good starts.  They are both from San Pedro de Macoris, the city highlighted in the new book, The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris.

Jose Bautista has played well for the Blue Jays.  Albert Pujols is doing his normal thing, batting like 1.000 with runners in scoring position and churning out his normal triple crown contending numbers.  Jose Guillen and Nelson Cruz have hit well, although Nelson Cruz has been injured some.

Interesting that the Dominican Baseball Guy does not mention some of the most famous Dominican ballplayers like Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz.  There is a new crop of Dominicans playing in MLB and there will be another group behind them, as there are no shortage of Dominican prospects in the minor leagues.

MLB Season Starts

The 2010 Major League Baseball season has started. Woohoo!

The Dominican Baseball Guy will be following all the Dominicans in the big leagues, especially Vlad Guerrero and Nelson Cruz because the Rangers are my favorite team.

The Dominican Baseball Guy will try to get up a list of all the Dominicans in the big leagues this season. There have been more Dominicans play in MLB per capita than any country including the USA. That's because the Dominican Republic only has about 6-8 million inhabitants, and they have had several hundred big leaguers. The Dominican Republic has had the second most MLBers overall, trailing just the USA.

So check back or check out my tweets to see what the Dominicans are doing in the big league.

There is also a good NPR interview with a reporter that just did a story on baseball in the Dominican Republic. Check it out here.

Dominicans Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz News

There are a couple good articles on MLB.com this week regarding Dominicans Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz.

This article about Jimenez talks about his past season and where he will fit in the Rockies rotation this year. He could be the ace and pitch on opening day. Ubaldo pitched about 35 innings for Licey in the Dominican Winter League this year and talks about why he decided to pitch down there, even though he is assured a spot in the Rockies rotation after last years performance:

"I threw probably 35 innings, something like that," said Jimenez, who worked in the in the round-robin portion and the semifinals of the Dominican Winter League playoffs for Licey. "I love pitching at home. My family and my friends, they're never going to have a chance to see me pitch in person. I do it for them."

The Dominican Baseball Guy has heard this sentiment expressed many times by Dominican players, as well as the opposite expressed by American or other non-Dominicans playing in the Dominican Winter League. The Dominican Baseball Guy posted about this issue after speaking with American Mark Trumbo who left the league after a few weeks.

Dominican Nelson Cruz also saw action in the Dominican Winter League this year. He played for the team that I was following, Los Gigantes. He did not have a great year in the winter league, but this was in limited action after getting hurt. Despite this he was extremely popular with Gigantes fans. He has been a good player for them in years past, so much of the city was excited when he played. The Gigantes also promoted his appearance aggressively, announcing his first game on radio spots as well as sending a truck with loud speakers out to roam the city and announce his arrival.

This article talks of his relationship with Dominican Vlad Guerrero, and how they will team up in Texas this year. Cruz says that Guerrero has always been his favorite player. He has also been one of the Dominican Baseball Guys favorite players, so this is great that he will be with the Rangers. Lifetime .321 average with power, and a canon for an arm, and golfing balls for HRs. Gotta love Vlad. As a Rangers fan from Texas, I am excited about this move and the rest of the Rangers team this year.

Dominican Winter League: Gigantes del Cibao Roster 2009-2010

The Gigantes first game is tomorrow, Friday, October 16 against the Eagles from Santiago. The Gigantes staff includes general manager Candy Maldonado, who had a rather successful MLB career. The manager of the team is Félix Fermin, also a former MLB player. The rest of the coaching staff includes the following: Julio Bruno, Héctor-La Manta- de la Cruz, Julio César Paula, Bonny Castillo, Carlos Martínez, Luis García y Carlos Arroyo.

Candy Maldonado at a recent baseball clinic in Argentina

The players include 83 (yes 83) Dominicans. The pitchers are Erick Abreu, Geisón Aguasviva, Henry Arias, Antonio Bastardo, Randor Bierd, Charlis Burdié, Héctor Cárdenas, Fabio Castro, Alex Concepción, Francisco Cruceta, Rhiner Cruz, Jairo Cuevas, Julio de la Cruz, Julio DePaula, Jeurys Familia, Elvis Hernández, Waldis Joaquín, Rafael Lluberes, Aquilino López, Germán Marte, Carlos Martínez, Franklin Núñez, Tony Peña, Joel Peralta, Wily Peralta, Juan Pérez, Rafael Pérez, Elvin Ramírez, Ramón Ramírez, Amauris Rivas, Moisés Robles, Osvaldo Rodríguez, Carlos Rosa, Sandy Rosario, Alfredo Simón, Pedro Strop, Miguel Tapia, Gabriel Tatis, Darío Veras, Pedro Viola, Enerio del Rosario and Rafael Rodríguez.

The catchers are Luis Taveras, Alex Castillo, Mario Mercedes, Alexander Soto, and Mario Mercedes.

The infielders are Erick Almonte, Enmanuel Burriss, Alexi Casilla, Iván Contreras, Estarlin de los Santos, Jonathan Díaz, Pedro Feliz, John Florentino, Juan Francisco, Vladimir Frías, Leury García, Valerio Heredia, Osvaldo Morales, Antonio Pérez, Kendry Morales, Plácido Polanco, Albert Pujols, José Reyes, Ron Rivas, Ramón Santiago, Oscar Tejeda, and Wilson Valdez.

And the outfielders are Francisco Peguero, Moisés Sierra, Nelson Cruz, Vladimir de los Santos, Rafael Fernández, Lucas Montero, and Raúl Reyes.

Each Dominican team is allowed seven imports/non-Dominican players and they are very selective in these. For this year the imports for the Gigantes are six Americans: catcher Mark Wagner, pitchers Sam Narron, David Herndon, Luis Villareal, and first basemen Mark Hamilton and Mark Trumbo. They have one highly heralded Panamanian, outfielder Luis Durango. These imports will change throughout the season and the Gigantes will have seven foreign players at any one time.

Nearly, all of these players (I think all of them actually) are in the MLB minor leagues at some level, and a number of them have seen major league action.

Some of the more prominent stars like Albert Pujols and Nelson Cruz may come for the end of the season and the post season, but they will not be grinding it out through the whole season like all of the prospects. They may not come at all. The Dominican Baseball Guy really doubt Pujols will come at all, and someone like him is mainly on the roster just so the team can say they have a great player like him.

All 88 players obviously will not be traveling with the team. Each team is allowed to dress a normal 25 players.