A few weeks ago, I saw that the two teams in LIDOM (the Dominican Winter League) with the most championships in the league’s history were coming to New York to play a three-game series for the second year in a row. Los Tigres de Licey has two top 100-ish prospects on their roster in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Jordan Lawlar and the Toronto Blue Jays’ Orelvis Martinez, so this seemed like a no-brainer for me, since it’s just a two-hour drive from my house to the city (well, to Jersey City, and then I take the PATH train, because I may be a native New Yorker but I am not a masochist).
On Thursday, we found out that the first two games, to be played at Yankee Stadium, were cancelled. There was no reason given and there still has been no public announcement as to why, but that left just one game, the Sunday matinee at Citi Field. I went anyway, because one baseball game is always better than no baseball games. Of course, I was already in Manhattan when I found out that neither of those two players made the trip, so the whole thing just amounted to a fun day at a nice ballpark.
And it was fun; I had never been to a LIDOM game before, but the league’s atmosphere is legendary, and Citi Field was alive with a reported 30,000+ fans (I might take the under on that, but it was more than half full), and approximately 50,000 vuvuzelas. The vibe was better than the game, which Águilas won 3-2 on a walk-off groundball — no hitter hit a ball even to the warning track. Both teams were a combined 12 for 63 with just one extra-base hit, a double by Cesar Prieto (St. Louis Cardinals), and their batting line for the day was .190/.261/.206.
¡Final en NY!
El show ha terminado, el martes jugamos en casa. 😎#LosBicampeones 💙👑 pic.twitter.com/PupPaAfnS8
— Tigres del Licey (@TigresdelLicey) November 10, 2024
Las Cibaeñas de Águilas started a familiar name in Johnny Cueto, who threw two scoreless innings and struck out three, working 89-91 mph with a lot of fade and tail to his changeup. I know he’s probably done as a big leaguer but he could probably go to Triple A for another year and help someone there, even without much chance of a call-up.
Cueto was followed by a bunch of guys who are trying to work their way back to the majors in one way or another — Dinelson Lamet (93-94, with a grade-40 (on the 20-80 scouting scale) changeup), Nick Wittgren (90-91 with five distinct pitches), Amir Garrett (92-94), Junior Fernández (96-98), and others. The most interesting pitcher of the day was Keona Kela, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2021 but had a great year for Mexicali in the Mexican League. He was 94-95 with a hammer 12/6 curveball, throwing all of 10 pitches, just for context. I’d sign that guy as a minor-league free agent before he got to the shower, assuming I had any money.
Licey’s pitchers were more of the “didn’t he used to throw harder?” variety, including Lisalverto Bonilla (topped out at 88), Juan Then (90-93), and Miguel Díaz (touched 92.5). Boston Red Sox right-hander Felix Cepeda, who reached Double A in 2024, was 96-97 with an average slider, but had zero command. Houston Astros right-hander Misael Tamarez was 94-95 with a 55 slider, and seven of his nine pitches were strikes, although he has a history of very high walk totals and I’m not falling for this act. Right-hander Ben Heller posted an 11.25 ERA in 12 innings for the Pirates this year, so while he was 95-97 with an average changeup and maybe a 45 slider if you’re generous, I’m not going to oversell him, either. (He is coming back from a shoulder injury, to be fair, and it’s good to see his velocity is back.)
As for the hitters, le sigh. Prieto had two hits, so he gets the player of the game award, I guess, and he made a couple of nice plays at second base. He didn’t hit anything hard, consistent with what I’ve seen from him in the past.
Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Liover Peguero had the only hit of the day with an exit velocity over 100 mph, a hard grounder coming off a 92 mph fastball from Lamet. Peguero walked and struck out in his other two PA. The rest of the hitters were more “remember some guys” than prospects or even good minor-league free agents; of the guys looking for jobs, Francisco Mejía did have the hardest-hit ball of the game, a 101.5 mph groundball … that went for a double play. I’m really trying here, folks. It just wasn’t quite the scouting experience I’d expected.
I hope they do this series again next year, with a full three-game set, because it drew a great crowd and seems like excellent exposure for the sport and for LIDOM. The various winter leagues are a huge part of baseball history and the culture in their various home countries, so if this helps support them, I’m all for it.
(Photo of Prieto sliding in safely at second: Christopher Pasatieri / Getty Images)
