The Dominican Summer League (DSL), founded in 1985, is a summer league playing all of its games in the Dominican Republic. It is comprised of thirty-six teams in five divisions. Each team is affiliated with a MLB team and bears that team’s name. Five MLB organizations field two teams in the DSL – Mets, Orioles, Pirates, Reds, Yankees. Although the Dodgers presently do not have two teams in the DSL they have periodically fielded two teams in the past. In 1990 they had the DSL Cibao Dodgers and the DSL San Pedro de Macoris Dodgers and from 1992-2004 they had the DSL Dodgers 1 and DSL Dodgers 2.

Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda has spent a lot of time working with the DSL Dodgers at their Campo Las Palmas Academy. (Photo courtesy of Dodgers.com)

The teams in the DSL play a 70 game schedule with six teams making the playoff round – the winner of each of the five divisions and one wild card with the best record. The DSL Dodgers play in the Boca Chica Northwest Division of the league. Their home field is the Campo Las Palmas complex. The other teams in this division are affiliated with Houston, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Oakland and Kansas City.

The Houston Astros Academy in Guerra, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic is arguably the finest facility in the DSL. (Photo courtesy of houston-astros.mlb.com)

The DSL Dodgers 2014 schedule started on May 31 with a 5-4 win against the DSL Royals and ended on August 21 with a 6-2 loss to the DSL Astros Blue. The Dodgers finished the season with a 36-34 record leaving them out of the playoffs six games back of the Royals. They did finish the season strongly with a 12-7 record in August while taking three out of four games from the Royals during the month.

Having a winning record was no small feat as the Dodgers had a team batting average of .226 with only four hitters at or above .275. The success no doubt can be mainly attributed to the pitching staff which compiled an ERA of 2.97 ranking seventh in the league. Near the bottom of the league in strikeouts with 464 the staff was also near the top of the league in fewest hits allowed with 530 in 627 innings pitched.

Pedro Mega managed the Dodgers in 2014 having become manager in 1998 at age 25 following a brief career in the Dominican Summer League. He won the DSL championship in 2000 with a 49-21 record.

Because the players in the Domincan Summer League are so young and information is scant it is difficult and perhaps unfair to pigeon hole them as prospects or non prospects. In fact, every player is a prospect until time runs out for them.

Johan Mieses, the Dodgers July Pride Award winner, had the best offensive year with the DSL Dodgers. The nineteen-year-old right fielder led the team in most offensive categories including stolen bases with 29. He hit .299 with 24 extra base hits among his 61 hits. Signed out of the Dominican Republic as a seventeen year old, Mieses is playing in his second year with the Dodgers. He hit particularly well after the All-Star break posting a .360 batting average, a .417 OBP and a .975 OPS.

Two other youngsters on the DSL Dodgers have followed a similar path in their young careers. Both were signed as sixteen year olds from Willemstad, Curacao – the home town of Dodger closer Kenley Jansen. Both were playing in their first year in the Dodger organization.

Catcher Hendrik Clementina burst out of the gate in June hitting. 391 with a .412 OBP. Clementina was named to the National League squad for the Dominican Summer League All-Star game held on Sunday, July 20th at the Cleveland Indians complex in Boca Chica. As the season progressed Clementina found the going a bit more difficult. He finished the season with a .275 BA and .314 OBP. He definitely will return to the DSL Dodgers in 2015 not turning eighteen until June 17.

The other member of this duo from Curacao is left fielder Shakir Albert. Albert was consistent throughout the season finishing with a .275 batting average and a .350 OBP. He hit in the .270’s during each month of the season and finished by hitting safely in nine of his last ten games in August. He too should return to the DSL in 2015.

Mieses, Clementina and Albert all participated in the Dodgers Arizona Instructional League that concluded on October 10.

The pitching staff featured five starters with a seasonal ERA of 2.60 or better: Robert Fernandez (2.14), Hector Rodriguez (1.98), Miguel Urena (1.60), Osiris Ramirez (2.29) and Dennys Chica (2.60). As a group they struck out only 219 batters in 304 innings. However, by allowing only 249 hits and walking 78 they combined for a 1.08 WHIP. Fernandez, Rodriguez and Urena all pitched the season as nineteen year olds while Ramirez and Chica turned nineteen after the season ended.

All five starters showed significant improvement in 2014, each in his second year with the DSL Dodgers.

• Robert Fernandez in 2013 in limited innings struck out 16 and walked 13. In 2014 he struck out 40 and walked 20.
• Hector Rodriguez threw the equivalent of an 11 inning no hitter during the season. In a June 7 game he pitched five perfect innings and pitched six hitless innings on July 24. In the two games he struck out 10 and walked two in the second game.
• Miguel Urena improved his ERA from 7.76 in 2013 to 1.60 in 2014 and finished the season by allowing one earned run in his last 19 innings.
• Osiris Ramirez also lowered his 2013 ERA from 6.06 to 2.59 in 2014 and his WHIP from 1.78 to 1.27.
• Dennys Ramirez was the most consistent of the group lowering his ERA from 3.62 to 2.60 in 2014. He also struck out a hitter per inning while striking out 50 and walking 10 during the season.

Hopefully that group of pitchers will continue to progress through the Dodger farm system and be assigned to the AZL Dodgers in 2015. Fernandez and Urena did participate in the recent Dodgers Arizona Instructional League.

Of all the young pitchers on the DSL Dodgers staff eighteen-year-old Dennis Santana is my pick to click. He was signed by the Dodgers on March 12, 2013. An athletic young man he played 56 games at shortstop in his first season with the DSL Dodgers. From San Pedro de Macoris it is not be surprising that he could play shortstop. When signed it was also known he could pitch and pitch quite well. Santana did not experience offensive success as a seventeen-year-old but perhaps the Dodgers were simply waiting for him to grow physically before converting him to pitching.

As a relief pitcher in 2014 he finished the season with an ERA of 1.05 and a WHIP of 0.99 while holding opposing hitters to a .156 batting average. His strike out per innings ratio was 9.96. At one point during the season he had a scoreless streak of 20.2 innings. It would appear that starting may well be in his future. He finished the season with two four inning appearances in which he gave up only one run. I would think he might start with the DSL Dodgers in 2015 to build up innings before any advancement to the AZL Dodgers or Ogden Raptors.

Dennis Santana also participated in the Dodgers Arizona Instructional League.