Dominican beisbol player Engel Beltre plays for Spain in WBC

In a scene only seen in those strange citizenship rules of international sports, Dominican beisbol player Engel Beltre is playing in World Baseball Classic qualifiers for Spain. Even though Beltre is from the Dominican Republic, and grew up in his home country and in the United States, at least one of his grand parents was from Spain, so he can represent them in the WBC. For that matter, virtually the entire Spain team is from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, or the United States.

Beltre is one of the seemingly unending pipeline of Rangers prospects. The team protected him from free agency by placing him on their 40-man roster, but he is not with the team. He had a great year in double-A for the Rangers, and won the Texas League player of the month award for July.

It is hard to get on the field with the big league club though. Beltre is a center fielder with a plus arm and fielding ability, and hits for power and average and has plus speed. Despite this, he has a pretty good player in center ahead of him in Josh Hamilton.

In any case, Dominican beisbol player Engel Beltre should see a big league field in the next year or two, whether with the Rangers or another team.

Dominican beisbol player Engel Beltre will play for Spain in the World Baseball Classic,
photo by mikelachance816 on Flickr

Dominican baseball player Adrian Beltre three home runs in one game

Thursday night the Dominican Baseball Guy was live tweeting when Adrian Beltre of the Rangers had three home runs and five RBI through four innings against the Orioles. He was off to a record setting night, but alas that is all he got from the plate and he ended the night with just the three hits. The Rangers won the game 12-3.

RBIs have always been one of those curious stats. They have always been important, but they really depend on what the guys in front of you are doing. So, with three home runs, the Dominican baseball player Beltre had just five RBI.

Beltre is on pace for possibly his second 30 HR, 100 RBI, .300 average season of his career. He is a three time all-star. For a 15 year veteran he is not that old at 33. He was the youngest player in the big leagues when he came up at 19 years old in 1998.

But on this night, his three home runs were not even the most on his team this season. Josh Hamilton hit four home runs in one game against the Orioles back on May 8th.

Dominican baseball player Adrian Beltre is from Santo Domingo.

Dominican baseball player Adrian Beltre three home runs in one game, photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

Dominican player of the week: Albert Pujols

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim first baseman Albert Pujols was named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending August 5. And anytime a Dominican player gets the player of the week award in either league, he almost always gets the Dominican baseball player of the week here at the Dominican Baseball Guy blog.

It was well publicized that Pujols got off to one of the worst slumps of his career when he joined the Angels this off-season. He seems to have righted the ship since roughly the start of June. It is no surprise that the Angels started playing better ball as soon as Pujols began to hit like he has his entire career. The Angels are now pressuring the Rangers for first place in the American League West and pushing for a wildcard spot. They were five and half games back of the Rangers and just a half game off the wildcard pace Monday.

Last week Pujols batted .424 with five doubles, six home runs, 13 RBI and nine runs scored in seven games played. It was Pujols' 12th career player of the week award and first since joining the Angels.

He is from the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo.

Dominican player of the week Albert Pujols, photo by Marianne O'Leary on Flickr

Dominican player of the week: Alfonso Soriano

Dominican player and Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano has been named the Dominican player of the week here at the Dominican Baseball Guy blog. Soriano is no stranger to awards. Since he first appeared on the MLB scene back in 2000 with the Yankees he has made seven All-Star games. He has won the player of the week in his league six times, and the player of the month three times. And he has four Silver Slugger awards.

Last week was a short week due to the All-Star break, but in just three games Soriano had two doubles, two home runs, and five RBI, while hitting .545. He actually did most of the damage in just one game, with both doubles and both home runs, and the five RBI all coming one game.

His average has declined in recent years, but he was never a high average hitter. But he is still on pace for around 30 home runs and 90 RBI, right around his career average. Pretty good numbers for a 36 year old player in his 14th MLB season.

He had two World Series titles with the great Yankees championship teams and made the playoffs with the Cubs in 2007 and 2008. Other than that, he can be said to be a player that has had all these great numbers on bad teams. He put up great numbers on some really bad Rangers teams, and perhaps his best year came with a horrible Nationals team in 2006.

Soriano is one of the few Dominican players to be signed as a free agent into the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NIPON) where he played for three seasons before being picked up by the Yankees. He is from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.

Dominican player of the week Alfonso Soriano, photo by EmmyMik on Flickr

Dominican prospect Alberto among log jam of short stops in Texas Rangers system

Dominican prospect Hanser Alberto is one of many young short stops in the Rangers system.  Elvis Andrus is the starter on the big league squad and uber-prospect Jurickson Profar is one level ahead of him in the minors.  He also has competition from his own teammate at class Hickory, Luis Sardinas.

With that said, Hickory Crawdads hitting coach Josue Perez says Alberto is "right there with them."  Perez continues:

When he came over here, it was a little bit of a different animal.  He didn’t know what to do on some pitches.  In the Dominican at their age, they don’t see that good two-seamer (fastball) and that good changeup at different counts. He was dealing with that last year.

Thus far this season, Alberto is in the top 10 hitters in the South Atlantic League.  Additionally he is playing several positions other than short stop, since their are so many short stops prospects in the Rangers system.

Alberto is from San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic.  He signed with the Rangers in 2009, the same year the Dominican Baseball Guy was following the Gigantes de San Francisco de Macoris in the Dominican Winter League.  I was based out of San Francisco de Macoris for the entire season, and I remember seeing this signing in the local newspaper.

He is one of the few players that the Dominican Baseball Guy has ever mentioned as being from this city.  The baseball infrastructure is much more developed along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, so most players come from there.  However, there are many players from northern cities and from Santiago and other larger cities in the Dominican Republic.  So it is interesting to note the dearth of players from San Francisco de Macoris, considering it is one of the five biggest cities in the country.

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

Dominican beisbol player Vladimir Guerrero signs with Blue Jays

Dominican beisbol player Vladimir Guerrero has signed a minor league deal to play with the Blue Jays.  He was most recently rumored to sign with the Indians, and before that there were rumors he was Miami Marlins bound.  But alas the Blue Jays scooped him up, hoping to add depth to a lineup that is third worst in the American League in batting average.

Guerrero will report to the Blue Jays Spring Training complex in Florida for an extended Spring Training.  He then will join one of the Blue Jays minor league affiliates and if he does well there, he should be with the big league club sooner rather than later.

The Dominican Baseball Guy is surprised to see that it has taken this long for him to get picked up.  He hit .290 as a DH last year for the Orioles in 562 at bats.  And he is only two years removed from a .300, 29 HR, and 115 RBI season with the Rangers.

And as Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos says, "there's no such thing as a bad minor league signing."

The Blue Jays really do not have much to lose.  If he makes the big league club they get him for cheap.  And if he does not pan out, they only have to pay him a minor league salary.

Dominican beisbol player Vladimir Guerrero es Nizao, Republica Dominicana.

Dominican beisbol player Vladimir Guerrero pictured last year with the Orioles.
He recently signed with the Blue Jays, photo 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

Rangers hoping another young Dominican pitcher works out well after success of Dominican pitcher Ogando

Alexi Ogando made the switch from outfield to pitcher after the Rangers signed him as an outfielder back in 2005.  After the whole fake birth certificate fiasco, Ogando made his way to the states, and on to the big league roster as a closer.  After one year as a closer, he moved to the starting rotation, and made an All-Star team and pitched in a World Series.

Another young Dominican pitcher is hoping to have similar success in the Rangers system.  Johan Yan had a breakthrough year last in AA.  He pitched some as a closer and some as a starter.  Yan is still developing as a pitcher, so the Rangers are not sure where he will land in the big leagues.  But either as a starter or closure, the Rangers think he will be their next big time Dominican pitcher, to go along with Ogando and Neftali Feliz, just to name two.

Ogando and Yan are both from the famed city of San Pedro de Macoris.  Feliz is from Azua, Dominican Republic.

Johan Yan hopes to follow in steps of fellow Dominican pitcher Alexi Ogando (seen here), photo by mjl816 on Flickr

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 player Albert Pujols arrives at Spring Training, Pujols llega para "Spring Training"

The great Dominican baseball player Albert Pujols arrived at Angels camp Monday.  He arrived at spring training on the first day with pitchers and catchers.  ESPN outside the lines ran a feature story on their mid-day broadcast.

Pujols met his new teammates, made some comments to the media, and got a workout in.  It is a big change for Pujols.  He is leaving behind a great network in Saint Louis that included family and friends, his non-profit organization The Pujols Family Foundation, and a legion of the best fans in baseball. 

Albert is excited and hopeful about the move.  "I can't go back and feel sorry. Now, it's time to move on," Pujols said. "That was an old chapter in my life. Now, it's time to open a new one."

The Angels are looking to return to form and challenge the Rangers out west this season.  They spent over $350 million this off-season.  Albert says the whole goal of everyone in the Angels organization is to win the World Series.

Dominican baseball player Albert Pujols is from Santo Dominigo, Republica Dominicana.

Dominican baseball player Albert Pujols, by Leoraul Torres on Flickr

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.

Dominican Coco Cordero hopes to remain Cincinati Red, Coco Cordero quire quedarse en Cincinati

The Dominican Baseball Guy has been a big fan of Coco Cordero since he busted on the scene with the Texas Rangers around 2000.  He truly made his mark with the Rangers in the 2004 season in which he went 49 or 54 in save chances.

That season he set the all-time save record for a Dominican pitcher in one season.  He broke Jose Mesa's Dominican record for saves in a season that year, and should pass him for the Dominican record of all-time MLB saves.  Cordero is currently 14th on the all-time list with 319 and Mesa is just 2 ahead of him.  Mesa is of course remembered by the Dominican Baseball Guy as a great closer on those classic Cleveland Indians of the mid-1990's, but also as having one of the most classic "lost in translation" names in MLB history: Joe Table.

Cordero sees Mesa as a role model and sees him often, as they both make their permanent homes in Santo Domingo, DR.  So, breaking Mesa's records are a major milestone for Cordero.

According to the recent article the Dominican Baseball Guy just cited above, Cordero has no plans after his contract expires this year or next: he is playing to win a World Series this year.  But as the title says, he would love to stay in Cincinati.

Coco is a nickname, and his real name is actually Francisco.  He has gone by both throughout his career.  Coco is from Santo Domingo, DR and Mesa is from Azua, DR.

Francisco Cordero pitches for the Reds, by FujiMatt 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.

Happy Birthday former Ranger-Met-Brave-Escogido player Julio Franco, feliz cumpleaños Dominicano Julio Franco

The Big League Stew rightfully gave big ups to one of the Dominican Baseball Guy's favorite players of all time this week, as Julio Franco turned 53 years old today.  The Dominican Baseball Guy first became a fan of Julio Franco during his early years with the Texas Rangers.  He pushed .400 one year, and was considered one of the top five players in the game during these years from 1989-1991.

He had 2,586 career hits in MLB, but had over 4,000 in his career while playing in several leagues.  He obviously spent some time in the minors as everyone does, but also played in Japan, Mexico, and in the best winter league around-the Dominican League of Winter Baseball (LIDOM) for Escogido.

Franco may be best know for his crazy over the head batting stance.  Kindred spirit of The Dominican Baseball Guy, The Batting Stance Guy, does perhaps one of his best impressions of Franco here.

After 2500 MLB games and God knows how many total games, Julio still has the hunger to be involved in the game.  Since his retirement in 2008, he has managed in the Mets minor league system as well as managing in the Venezuelan winter league.  He hopes to eventually get a big league gig as a manager for an MLB team.

Franco is from San Pedro de Macoris, the cradle of shortstops.  The Dominican Baseball Guy comments on San Pedro seemingly weekly, because the talent never stops flowing out of this baseball capital in the Dominican Republic.  See the tag for more on San Pedro de Macoris, the hometown of Alfredo Griffin, Robinson Cano, and Franco, among many more.

Happy Birthday Julio!

Julio Franco with the Atlanta Braves in 2006

Alexi Ogando fifth Ranger named to all-star team

Alexi Ogando has had a strong year as a starter and has been named as a replacement for CC Sabathia in this season's mid-summer classic.  Ogando joins other Rangers Josh Hamilton, CJ Wilson, Michael Young, and fellow Dominican Adrian Beltre on the American League all-star team.

In his first year as a starter, Ogando is 9-3 with a 2.92 ERA in 17 starts and will be making his first All-Star appearance.  This follows his first year in the big leagues in which he had a 1.30 ERA in 41 innings of releif.  Ogando was featured as the Dominican Baseball Guy player of the week for week two.

Ogando is from San Pedro de Macoris, DR.  Beltre is from Santo Domingo, DR.

Alexi Ogando, by Red3Biggs

Dominican Alfonso Soriano goes on disabled list, Dominicano Alfonso Soriano va a DL

The Dominican Baseball Guy loves Alfonso Soriano.  He was great with the Dominican Baseball Guy's home state Rangers.  And he has been great since moving over to the NL.

The Dominican Baseball Guy last mentioned him in April as the best paid Dominican athlete.  And the Dominican Baseball Guy mentioned him earlier this month: Alfonso Soriano honors mother on mother's day.

Well, unfortunately the Dominican Baseball Guy has to report bad news about a Dominicano player.  Soriano has gone to the 15-day disabled list.  He had been having another productive year for the Cubs, leading the team with 12 home runs and 29 RBI before he got hurt Monday.

Here's hoping he makes a quick recovery.  Soriano is from San Pedro de Macoris, the town with the most MLB players per capita in the world.

Cool custom shot of Alfosno Soriano with the Cubs, by Guano on Flickr

Alexi Ogando dominate in first start for Rangers

To follow up on the big match up between two Dominican pitchers that the Dominican Baseball Guy blogged on yesterday, Alexi Ogando had a great debut as a starter for the Rangers and led them to a 3-2 win over the Mariners.  He went six innings with two hits and no runs.  Last year as a reliever he had the second lowest ERA in all the majors with a 1.30 mark.  He was not even slotted to start this off season, until an injury forced him into the fifth starter role.  With more performances like this it will be hard to take him out.  Ogando is from San Pedro de Macoris, DR.

Rookie phenom Michael Pineda also had a good game, though he was overshadowed by the performance of Ogando.  Pineda also went six innings, but allowed three runs.  Being that this was his first big league game, Mariners fans should expect to see improvement from him.  Pineda is from Yaguate, DR.

Alexi Ogando with the Rangers, by Red3Biggs

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

86 Dominican baseball players on opening day Major League Baseball rosters

Major League baseball released the anual list of opening day foreign born players and there are 86 Dominicans out of the 846 active players on opening day big league clubs.  This comes out to an astounding just over ten percent of all Major League Baseball players.  The Rangers have the most Dominicans with seven out of 25 players hailing from the country.  


As usual, the per capita rate of Dominicans in the big leagues far exceeds even the United States.  In the Dominican Republic 1/116,000 individuals are on Major League Baseball roster, whereas in the United States the rate is 1/539,000.  


See full article and further commentary at the Dominican Baseball Examiner