Offseason Fish—12/10/20

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.

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LIDOM (Dominican Republic)

2020-21 season stats

• Lewin Díaz (Estrellas Orientales)—.212/.297/.333, 1 HR, 8 K, 107 wRC+ in 37 PA
• Jesús Sánchez (Toros del Este)—.281/.303/.406, 9 K, 109 wRC+ in 33 PA
• Jorge Guzman (Gigantes del Cibao)—18.00 ERA, 2.00 WHIP in 1.0 IP
• Joe Dunand (Leones del Escogido)—.362/.441/.586, 2 HR, 21 K, 232 wRC+ in 68 PA

This article was originally scheduled for an early-morning publication, but I delayed it by a few hours just to be certain that Joe Dunand was staying with the Marlins organization. He was left unprotected for Thursday’s Rule 5 draft—any other club with a vacant 40-man roster spot could have had him for a $100,000 claim fee. All of them passed on the opportunity, though.

Instead, Dunand will be an intriguing non-roster invitee to follow in Jupiter this coming spring. He’s been a LIDOM sensation, leading the league outright in batting average, total bases and OPS, and tied for the lead in hits and wRC+. The 25-year-old has reached base safely in 16 of his 17 games played.

Díaz returned to the Estrellas roster last Friday after missing the better part of two weeks. The next day, he recorded his first stolen base in any official game since May 17, 2018 (High-A Fort Myers). Then on Wednesday, he went yard. It would prove to be a critical run in a contest that his team eventually won in extra innings.

Sánchez recently mashed several booming extra-base hits, but nothing that has cleared the fences. Even in a part-time role, he’s getting more reps than he did during his previous two winters with the Toros combined.

And finally, Guzman made his 2020-21 debut over the weekend in a low-leverage relief role.

LPB (Colombia)

2020-21 season stats

• Harold Ramirez (Caimanes de Barranquilla)—.321/.441/.357, 8 K in 34 PA

When I say “Harold Ramirez,” you think corner outfielder/designated hitter, right? Me too. That’s why I assumed it was a typo when the Caimanes listed him as their starting first baseman multiple times last week. But tuning in for the LPB livestreams confirmed it. To the best of my knowledge, those are the only times in his professional career that he’s been at that position.

Offensively, Ramirez has thrived with runners in scoring position (6-for-15). He’s been hit by pitches five(!!!!!) times in eight games, the same total as in his 122 MLB regular season games.

Another odd feature about Colombian winter ball: lots of right-handed pitching. Ramirez has been at the platoon disadvantage in every plate appearance thus far.

LVBP (Venezuela)

2020-21 season stats

• José Salas (Águilas del Zulia)—.174/.269/.217, 10 K in 26 PA

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

Predictably, his production tailed off. Salas got two hits in his first two at-bats, but is 2-for-24 since then.

Defensively, Salas has split his time between the middle infield spots and center field.

LBPRC (Puerto Rico)

• Anthony Maldonado (Criollos de Caguas)—0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 1 K in 1.0 IP

• Brian Navarreto (Indios de Mayagüez)—.250/.250/1.000, 1 HR, 1 K in 4 PA

Off the field

• Outfielder Víctor Mesa Jr. has launched a YouTube channel. The second video he’s shared documents one of his workouts last week with Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas and future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera.