Offseason Fish—1/7/21

Marlins players Lewin Díaz (Dominican Republic), Isan Díaz (Puerto Rico) and Harold Ramirez (Colombia) are making deep postseason runs with their winter ball teams.

For much of 2020, COVID-19 brought baseball to a halt for players within the Marlins organization. Some of them are now making up for that lost time. Just like in previous years, Fish Stripes will be consistently updating the whereabouts of your favorite Fish during the offseason. At FishStripes.com/offseason, you can find weekly news, stats, highlights and (small sample size) analysis.

---

LIDOM (Dominican Republic)

2020-21 postseason stats

• Lewin Díaz (Estrellas Orientales)—.333/.391/.381, 3 K in 23 PA

Díaz started in the cleanup spot Wednesday with his team facing elimination in the LIDOM semifinals. That speaks volumes about the trust they’re putting in him. The 24-year-old is not hitting the ball particularly hard this postseason, but he’s making things happen by consistently making contact, and quality first base defense is a given.

Still trailing 3-1 in the series to Gigantes del Cibao, Estrellas Orientales will be the road team in Game 5 on Thursday night (6 p.m. ET first pitch).

New Marlins catcher Sandy León has since taken his talents to Colombia (keep reading for details), but it’s worth mentioning that he began the winter ball season with Tigres del Licey. Before they were knocked out of postseason contention, the veteran switch-hitter slashed .160/.288/.340 with three home runs in 59 plate appearances.

Congratulations to Joe Dunand! He’s been awarded the league’s Gold Glove award at third base. This video includes a few examples of his fielding prowess.

Although the Marlins initially drafted Dunand as a third baseman, he exclusively played shortstop in 2017 and 2018 before splitting his time between short and third with Double-A Jacksonville in 2019. Entering 2021, he’s poised to play the hot corner at Triple-A.

@EscogidoBBClub/Twitter

LPB (Colombia)

2020-21 regular season/postseason combined stats

• Harold Ramirez (Caimanes de Barranquilla)—.355/.445/.516, 1 HR, 17 K in 110 PA
• Sandy León (Caimanes de Barranquilla)—.308/.412/.385, 2 K in 18 PA

Caimanes de Barranquilla officially announced the signing of León on Saturday. Interesting landing spot for him—all of the other current/former big leaguers in LPB are of Colombian descent (León is Venezuelan).

So far, the team has a 2-2 record in the round robin-style postseason. Harold started each of those games in right field.

LBPRC (Puerto Rico)

2020-21 postseason stats

• Isan Díaz (Criollos de Caguas)—.250/.500/.375, 2 K in 12 PA
• Anthony Maldonado (Criollos de Caguas)—0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 2 K in 1.0 IP
• Antonio Velez (Indios de Mayagüez)—0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 1 K in 1.0 IP

With a win Thursday, Criollos de Caguas can clinch a berth in the league’s championship series.

LVBP (Venezuela)

2020-21 season stats

• José Salas (Águilas del Zulia)—.158/.238/.184, 18 K in 42 PA

I’ll emphasize it every week: Salas is 10 years younger than the average LVBP player!

Salas has not played at all since the calendar flipped, so this may prove to be his final stat line. The LVBP regular season concludes Jan. 10.

Off the Field

• Ross Detwiler says Miami’s 2020 postseason run and the team’s iffy bullpen depth played a role in his decision to sign with them.
• Marlins CEO Derek Jeter and players Lewis Brinson, Monte Harrison and Jazz Chisholm gave back to the Black community as part of the The Players Alliance pull-up tour.