Rodríguez and Tatis top my ballot for LIDOM end-of-season awards

The awards at the end of the LIDOM regular season will be presented between January 6 and 10, starting with the Rookie of the Year.

For the second time in three years, since the Professional Baseball League of the Dominican Republic (LIDOM) established its official awards, we have been selected as one of the 69 voters who were tasked with the mission of choosing the best players of the 2024-25 season.

This year, the LIDOM has implemented a new voting system by points, in which a number of players, leaders or managers are chosen and according to the place where they have been chosen, they are assigned a score, very similar to the system used MLB for the purposes of choosing the winners of their end-of-season awards.

In the cases of prizes Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Pitcher of the Yearthose who receive a first-place vote will earn seven points, four points for second place, three points for third place, two points for fourth and one point for fifth. For the awards of Leader of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Yearfive points will be assigned to the elected person for first place, three points for second and one point for third. While the last award, Most Gentleman Player (Knight of the Year) It will be chosen by the players themselves, so the press has no influence on that.

At the same time, the LIDOM established voting criteria regarding candidates and finalists for the award. For example, no position player may be eligible for the award MVP if he has not exhausted at least 135 plate appearances, just as starters are not eligible for the Pitcher of the Year if they did not throw at least 40 innings, a requirement that does not apply to relievers.

Taking this voting system into account, as well as the eligibility requirements, in total votes and points could be assigned to a total of 19 people among all categories. These were my selections.

Rookie of the Year

for the prize Rookie of the Yearonly those who in the last two seasons did not accumulate more than 50 plate appearances or 20 innings pitched in the case of pitchers were eligible. A player who has seen action in three consecutive seasons is not eligible for the award, nor are players who have exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in MLB or Japan.

With this in mind and given the general low production of the rookies at the offensive level in LIDOMmy first place vote went to the pitcher of the Eastern Stars, Luis Morenowho in 39.1 innings had a 1.83 ERA with 49 strikeouts and 23 walks as a starter. To this he added a WHIP of 0.97 and a FIP of 2.84.

Secondly, I chose Geraldi Diaz (Gigantes del Cibao) and in third place to Angel Ortiz (Tigres del Licey).

Manager of the Year

Establish who is the best manager in a season LIDOM It is usually extremely subjective and depends on two fundamental things: what the manager did before starting the year and what he did during the campaign. In my case, the second was what had the most weight in choosing the order in which I voted for the three possible finalists for the award.

Angel Ovalles received my first place vote, taking into account that nine games into the season he had to fire the manager Manny Garcia and instead brought Yadier Molina. Subsequent hiring, as in the case of JC Escarrathey took the Cibaeñas Eagles and they made them finish in second place and still, after being classified and before the end of the regular season, the team continued announcing impact hirings seeking to strengthen themselves.

In a year when the very job security of Ovals was questioned after a forgettable start, the efforts of its operations office must be, without a doubt, recognized.

I chose second place Audo Vicente (Tigres del Licey) and in third place to Jose Mejia (Eastern Stars).

Leader of the Year

Surprisingly, this will be the most controversial award of the 2024-25 season, regardless of who ends up winning it, as there are two serious contenders competing for the award. The only requirement imposed to vote is that candidates must have led at least 30 parties in the campaign.

My first place vote went to Fernando Tatisleader of the starsfor three basic reasons. The first, win the regular season with an advantage and be the team that first qualified for the Round Robin.

The second reason was because Tatis had the mission of directing the lowest payroll in the entire company LIDOMwithout big names or established superstars and this is how he has had to do it in the last three years, where he has had to work with three different managers and at one point, together with a collegiate baseball operations department. 2024-25 was where the need for a manager of his type was most evident for a team that no one gave as a favorite at the beginning of the season.

The third reason is that Tatis He led a team that lost two possible candidates for the award due to injury. MVP for injuries: Miguel Sano and Eguy Rosariowhile he had to manage a starting staff in which none of his pitchers reached 40 innings of work and whose best pitcher was a rookie who was making his debut in LIDOM.

I chose second place Yadier Molina (Águilas Cibaeñas) and in the third to Gilbert Gomez (Tigres del Licey).

Pitcher of the Year

Contrary to Leader of the Yearthis was one of the easiest awards to choose, because there were two pitchers who separated themselves early from the rest. My first place vote went to Enny Romero of the Eagleswho with 51 innings of work finished first in ERA with 1.24, first in wins with six and second in strikeouts with 47, only behind Nabil Crismatt of Cibao Giantswho finished with 49.

Rosemary He was even, for a long time, my main candidate for the award of Most Valuable Player of the 2024-25 season, however, after the player I picked first place met the spot requirements, I had to re-engineer my votes in that category.

In any case, Enny Romero He was the best pitcher of the season and without a doubt, the most important piece of the Cibaeñas Eaglesespecially during the first stretch of the season, where there were not many bright spots. It became a coin of victory, practically assured, which speaks very well of the veteran’s work.

In second place I chose the aforementioned Nabil Crismattthird to the season’s saves leader Jean Carlos Mejía (Licey), Fernando Abad (Toros del Este) as fourth and Naftali Happy (Stars) as fifth.

Most Valuable Player

This was an award for which we had to wait all season in order to define the possible candidates, because some of the best position players of the year had not yet accumulated the 135 plate appearances to be eligible for the award. Once the requirement was met, there was no doubt that my first place vote was for Aderlin Rodriguez of the Eagles.

The case of Rodriguez was particular, because he did not start the year as a starter for the team, but had to earn that position after the arrival of Yadier Molina as a leader. He finished second in batting average with .323, co-leader in home runs with eight and leader in RBIs with 28 and he achieved all of this in just 35 games. To that must be added an OPS of .959, second in the league, and a shared lead in runs scored, and it is evident that his contribution was widespread on an offensive level. He was also among the leaders in hits for the season.

After Rodriguezmy second place vote went to Enny Romerofor the reasons explained above, then for the imported JC Escarra in third, Emilio Bonifacio as fourth and Erick Mejia as fifth.

When are the awards announced?

The awards of LIDOM They will be announced starting this Monday, January 6 and until Friday the 10th, at 12 noon in the Dominican Republic (1:00 PM Eastern Time in the United States).

The first prizes to be awarded will be those of Rookie of the Year and Knight of the Yearwhile on Tuesday the 7th the Manager of the Yearon Wednesday the 8th Leader of the Yearon Thursday the 9th Pitcher of the Year and the MVP It will be announced on Friday the 10th through a special program, which will be broadcast on LIDOM TV on YouTube.