Jostin Florentino – Image via his Facebook page
The Dominican Summer League is officially over and the Instructs season is about to begin. The only information we will get on that will likely come via Instagram videos when players post videos of a strikeout or a home run.
I’ve had a lot of fun reporting on the DSL every week. It’s actually the most entertaining post for me, simply because I learn along with you. I learn names and follow the players on Instagram, I get to know faces.
The blue team finished 28-26, while the red team finished 19-35.
This final review post contains only the ten things that caught my attention in the DSL.
Before I go into detail, however, I need to make one thing clear: success in the Dominican Republic is not a prerequisite for emigrating to the United States.
A lot of development can happen in the life of a 17-21 year old between September 1st and the end of spring training the following year. A new pitch, a change in throwing technique, a new batting stance, a few different pitching grips and just a new attitude can change a lot for a player. A good performance doesn’t hurt a player, but it’s not the only thing, as development and talent determine who goes north.
These are listed in no particular order of importance.
1. More
Fernando Cruz was the most touted and hyped talent in the Dominican Republic this summer, but I want more as he has struggled with injuries all season. He has only played 25 games and that is simply not enough. He will need a lot more and he will need to stay healthy in 2025. I am not worried about his stats as he has rarely been a regular in games. He had a nice stretch for a few weeks in August where he flashed strong before getting injured again.
2. Split
It’s good to look at how a player has performed over the course of the year, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. That’s why I look at how players are doing month to month and whether they’re making progress. I’ve talked about this early and often, and there’s no better example this year than Robin Ortiz. The 17-year-old outfielder went from a sub-.200 average in June to over .300 in July and August.
3. Starting thrower
Overall, both teams showed a lot of good pitchers who will likely go to Mesa. In fact, this could be the largest class of starting pitchers to go north in a long time. Don’t be surprised if eight or nine guys are north. One name I should have talked about more this year was Ronny Lopez, who finished with a 1.77 ERA. He should be in Mesa with Emilio Ramos, Pitcher of the Year Jostin Florentino, Darian Rivero, Emannoel Madeira, Yander Maria and Ismael Morey.
4. Long relievers
If you want to look at why these two teams struggled at times this year, it was difficult to get the ball from the starter to the short relievers. Both teams had excellent set-up men and closers, but the guys in between, the piggybackers if you will, just weren’t very good, and that’s probably the nicest way I can put it.
5. Edgardo De Leon
I’ve really enjoyed watching this kid pound the baseball every week on his Instagram page. Edgardo De León played a mix of first and third and some DH this year, but he’s a pretty solid kid who could do well next year, as he had an OBP of almost .430 this year. That tells me he can miss some throws and draw a walk. And his videos show his threatening power.
6. Keep track
One of the most fun things I did this year was keep track of who the starting pitchers were on each team each week. Some of you might find this weird, but I found it pretty interesting as the season went on to see how much they changed over time. Occasionally a new player would come in and start, and that was a little surprising. Some even changed teams, including Darian Rivero, who threw four innings of one run ball for the red team on the last Saturday of the season.
7. Roller coasters
This ties into the above discussion of splits, as I had forgotten how much a player’s stats can fluctuate between ages 17 and 21. It was crazy to see how some guys did, and some guys went from a batting average of .159 to .308 the next month, and also saw their monthly ERAs go from 3.00 to 12+ and back to under 3.00.
8. Alexey Energy
The Blue Squad’s doubles and triples machine led the entire Cubs organization in OPS this year, largely because he couldn’t stop hitting triples. I’m excited to see how energetic he’ll be next year when he gets to Mesa.
9. The Nine-Point
This is where Darlyn De Leon hit every day for the blue team. He was also their best hitter in terms of average and he was a DSL All-Star. He is not very big and I am curious to see if he can adapt to playing against the competition in Arizona next summer.
10. Normally
Usually at the beginning of the summer we hear rumors about who the Cubs might be linked to in the next round of signings. That’s only about 4 months away and I haven’t heard anything from either Ben Badler or Jesse Sanchez about who the Cubs might be linked to. That makes me wonder if they’re saving all their money to bring in a Japanese player or two. Hmmm…
I’m excited to see how free agency unfolds this fall and will keep you updated on The Weekly!
And here is the final rotation list!
The blue starting rotation
Week 1 – David Bracho, Yander Maria, Emannoel Madeira, Darian Rivero
Week 2 – Yander Maria, Emannoel Madeira, Gabriel De La Cruz, Darian Rivero, Maria Again
Week 3 – Emmanuel Madeira, Gabriel De La Cruz, Darian Rivero, Yander Maria, Madeira
Week 4 – – De La Cruz, Rivero, Ronny Lopez, Maria, De La Cruz
Week 5 – Rivero, Alvarez, Geovanny Vazquez, Maria, De La Cruz
Week 6 – Rivero, Vazquez, Madeira, Maria, Rivero
Week 7 – Alvarez, Vazquez, Madeira, Ismael Morey, Maria
Week 8 – Alvarez, Vazquez, Madeira, Maria, Rivero
Week 9 – Ronny Lopez, Saul Siri, Madeira, Morey (cancelled due to rain), Maria (finished the rain game),
Week 10 – Lopez, Vazquez, Madeira, Morey, Maria
Week 11 – Lopez (makeover game), Madeira, Morey, Maria
Week 12 – Lopez, Madeira
Red starting rotation
Week 1 – Santiago Payares, Frailin Alejo, Luis Ghisays, Juan Archbold
Week 2 – Emilio Ramos (18 years old from Mexico), Jostin Florentino, Luis Ghisays, Juan Archbold, Stiven Sanchez, Ramos again, Alejo
Week 3 – Florentino, Alejo, Ghisays, Payares, Ramos, Stiven Sanchez
Week 4 – Alejo, Florentino, Ghisays, Ramos, Sanchez
Week 5 – Archbold, Alejo, Ghisays, Florentino
Week 6 – Ramos, Archbold, Alejo, Ghisays, Ramos
Week 7 – Archbold, Alejo, Ghisays, Ramos
Week 8 – Edwardo Melendez, Alejo, Ghisays, Ramos, Florentino
Week 9 – Alejo, Melendez, Ramos (cancelled due to rain), Ghisays
Week 10 – Alejo, Melendez, Ramos, Ghisays
Week 11 – Alejo, Rangel, Melendez, Ghisays, Ramos, Rivero (team change)
Week 12 – Rangel, Ramos
