2024 Dominican Summer League All-Star Game Superlatives
The Dominican Summer League held its annual all-star game on July 21 at the Brewers’ complex in Santo Domingo. The game, which came with a raucous atmosphere not found in either the Florida or Arizona complex leagues, featured plenty of talent on both the American and National League rosters.
The game finished in a 2-2 tie. Afterward, Toronto’s Ramon Suarez and Texas’ Paulino Santana were named the game’s most valuable pitcher and hitter, respectively. The former struck out the side in his inning. The latter went 2-for-3 before yielding to Ramiro Dominguez (Twins) in the seventh inning.
The Brewers’ Luis Peña provided the home crowd a jolt when he swatted the game’s only home run.
Here are some of the players who stood out during the game for their superlative tools.
Best Hitter — Paulino Santana, OF, Rangers
Santana was the crown jewel of Texas’ most recent international signing class. The righty swinger led off for the American League and started in center field. He opened the game with a bloop single off of National League starter Christian Lopez (Brewers), but his best moment came in his next at-bat. Facing Braves righty Edward Cedano, Santana kept his hands in on a 97 mph with boring action and shot a ball into the gap for a double. Though the ball did not get to the wall, Santana easily coasted into second base as the ball split the right-center field gap. In the first half, the 17-year-old Santana hit .278/.458/.357 with three doubles, three triples and more walks (31) than strikeouts (24) over the course of 32 games. He also went 15-for-18 in stolen base tries.
Best Power — Luis Peña, 2B, Brewers
It should come as no surprise that Peña provided one of the game’s mightiest blasts. The 17-year-old infielder has been all over the league’s leaderboards in the first half. In 29 games, Peña is second in batting average (.425), ninth in on-base percentage (.488), fourth in slugging percentage (.623), second in OPS (1.111), seventh in extra-base hits (15) and third in total bases (88). In his second at-bat, facing Cleveland righty Santiago Peraza, Peña shot a line drive over the left-field wall, but just foul. A few pitches later, he kept it fair and gave the game its signature offensive moment.
Fastest Baserunner — Darlyn De Leon, OF, Cubs
De Leon, who is in his third straight summer in the DSL, was easily the game’s top speedster. He entered in the seventh inning as a pinch-hitter for Milwaukee’s Jose Anderson (who leads the league with eight home runs) and immediately bunted for a single. Catcher Juneiker Caceres (Cleveland) made a valiant effort, but De Leon reached first in 3.90 seconds. He then advanced to second base when Caceres’ throw got past first base. De Leon provided the game with a bit of late drama when he came up with the bases loaded in the bottom of ninth against sinkerballing righty Eliazar De Los Santos (Athletics). He ended a long at-bat by slapping a grounder to third baseman Elvin Garcia (Orioles), whose throw was just in time to nab the speedy De Leon and end the game.
Best Defensive Play — Jesmaylin Arias, 1B, Padres
For a while, this game’s only defensive plays were routine flies and grounders. In the fifth, that changed. Facing Jostin Florentino (Cubs), Juan Sierra (Astros) lofted a pop-up to the right side. Arias chased it, chased it and chased it some more, until he disappeared from view into a recessed section of the fence line near first base heading toward the dugout. Still, he kept his eye on the ball and snared it just before it could hit the chain links and give Sierra new life. Instead, the play ended in the inning and put a star on Arias’ ledger.
Best Fastball — Reinold Navarro, LHP, Pirates
It took him a little bit to settle in, but after a visit to the mound from NL pitching coach Osiris Matos (Giants), the 17-year-old Navarro dominated the proceeding AL hitters with a filthy mid-90s fastball. When it was in the zone, the pitch had plenty of angle and plane along with velocity that sat around 93-94 mph and touched 95. He paired the heater with a short-breaking slider in the low 80s. He finished his day with a pair of swinging strikeouts. Both came against 95 mph fastballs, one elevated and one running away from a lefty.
Best Breaking Ball (tie) — Henry Tejada, RHP, Orioles and Ramon Suarez, LHP, Blue Jays
Suarez was the only pitcher to strike out the side. He did so with the help of a curveball that flashed power and finish through the zone. Despite garnering swings and misses, Suarez’s hook was inconsistent. It’s unlikely to be effective against more advanced hitters without further refinement. At its best, though, it had the makings of a pitch that could be dropped over the front shoulder of a lefty and onto the outside corner. Suarez signed in 2022 as an 18-year-old, then missed all of 2023 while on the 60-day injured list.
Tejada, 19, signed with the Orioles in 2022, debuted that summer but missed all of 2023 with an injury. He has re-emerged in 2024 as a reliever. On Sunday he flashed an east-west mix that should help him get both grounders and whiffs. The righthander’s slider was responsible for both of his strikeouts on Sunday, the last resulting in a “sword” swing. At its best, the slider featured hard sweep away from righthanders. He also showed enough aptitude with the pitch to land it on the outer half against lefties.
