Offseason Fish—1/28/21

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.

LPB (Colombia)

Final 2020-21 regular season/postseason combined stats

• Harold Ramirez (Caimanes de Barranquilla)—.345/.415/.482, 1 HR, 19 K in 159 PA
• Sandy León (Caimanes de Barranquilla)—.184/.293/.306, 1 HR, 11 K in 61 PA

As mentioned last week, the Caimanes fell behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven league championship series. But their bats roared to life after that, outscoring Toros Vaqueros 24-7 over the final three games to clinch the title. Congratulations to Harold Ramirez and Sandy León!

León was instrumental for his team in Game 7, driving in their first two runs. He caught the entire game, collaborating with six different pitchers on a shutout. The Marlins don’t intend to rely on León for a heavy workload in 2021, but it’s worth noting that he started all seven games of the series at catcher (finishing six of them) over a nine-day span.

Even I, one of Ramirez’s staunchest advocates, would tell you to take his impressive winter ball hitting stats with a grain of salt. Although the majority of 2020-21 LPB players had affiliated Minor League Baseball experience, only 10-15 total were current/former major leaguers.

LBPRC (Puerto Rico)

Final 2020-21 regular season/postseason combined stats

• Isan Díaz (Criollos de Caguas)—.167/.412/.250, 4 K in 16 PA
• Anthony Maldonado (Criollos de Caguas)—1.93 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 15 K in 14.0 IP
• Brian Navarreto (Indios de Mayagüez)— .318/.400/.727, 1 HR, 2 K in 25 PA
• Antonio Velez (Indios de Mayagüez)—5.40 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 5 K in 10.0 IP

It’s been a successful offseason for Maldonado and he is not done yet. He will be competing against fellow Marlins right-handed pitching prospect Alberto Guerrero (Panamá) in the Caribbean Series, beginning on Sunday.

Criollos de Caguas

The championship game is scheduled for Feb. 6, coinciding with Maldonado’s 23rd birthday.

LVBP (Venezuela)

Shortstop José Salas finished his winter ball participation several weeks ago, but he just released a statement on Wednesday via Instagram:

“To our fans, front office, coaching staff and every member of our team Águilas del Zulia, thanks. I’m very grateful for the opportunity, (thankful) for the hospitality and humbled by the experience.”