photo: Cardinals Dominican Academy (St. Louis Cardinals)

The rookie-level Cardinals Dominican Summer League club finished above .500 for the first time in three years. On the young roster, hitters and starting pitchers again led the way, with the bullpen and defense lagging.

What is the DSL?
The Dominican Summer League (DSL) is at the rookie level within baseball’s minor league system.  The league is a gateway into affiliated professional baseball for players who are not eligible for Major League Baseball’s annual First-Year Player Draft.  The lack of player eligibility is mainly due to them not meeting the residency requirement.

Please refer to the Week 1 Notebook for an overview of the league, its current construct and the team as it stood on the cusp of the 2025 season.

St. Louis’ History in the DSL

After 13 seasons with one team in the league, St. Louis expanded to two squads for the 2018 season, becoming one of 17 organizations fielding two teams.  The original team became Cardinals Blue and the second team Cardinals Red. They shared the Baseball Oasis facility with one team home while the other was on the road.  Except for the 2020 season, wiped out by a worldwide pandemic, this arrangement held through the 2021 season.

During the 2021-2022 off-season, St. Louis contracted its Dominican Summer League organization back to one team.  With Cincinnati expanding to two squads for 2024 and Toronto expanding to two teams for 2025, the Cardinals are only one of eight Major League organizations with just one DSL squad.

Since joining the league in 2005, St. Louis has fielded 23 teams, including the three overlap seasons (2018, 2019 and 2021) and no games were played in 2020.

Nine of the 23 entries finished over .500, including 2025. Just one was a division winner, and the 2018 Cardinals Blue squad was eliminated in the first round.

The 2025 Season
The 2025 season was comprised of 52 squads each playing 56 games running from Monday, June 2^nd through Tuesday, August 19^th. Sunday was a league-wide off-day with Wednesday’s scheduled off-days used for postponed or suspended contests, as needed.

The DSL Cardinals played all 56 scheduled contests.  Only one of the 56 games was suspended, a rarity, although 16 games ended after seven frames.

The Team
The DSL has 35-player active rosters and the Dominican Birds began the season with 33 active players:  14 position players and 19 pitchers.  20 players were in their rookie campaign, nine position players and 11 hurlers.  11 players had one year of prior pro experience, five hitters and six pitchers.  Two had two years of prior pro experience, both pitchers.  (Note: These numbers are for the Opening Day roster and do not include in-season signees.)  Included in that number are many of the 12 International signings to open the 2025 period, detailed here.

Additionally, five players were inactive. Two rookies were on the injured list (IL), pitchers Michael Correa and Domingo Mejia, one rookie was on the restricted list (RL), pitcher Kristol Peralta, one one-year veteran was on the IL, first baseman Christian Saez, and one two-year player was on the suspended list, pitcher Kener Perez.

Michael Correa

In-season action was taken on four of the five inactive players.  Rookie hurler Kristol Peralta came off the RL on June 26^th and moved into the bullpen. Correa and Saez were activated off the 60-day IL on August 4^th. Correra had also spent the entire 2024 season on the IL.  Finally, Perez was activated from the suspended list and released on July 25^th.

Christian Sáez

In-season roster moves included two signings – C/3B Hector Cabrera on June 13 and OF Lucas Takahashi on July 23, one promotion – RHP Brailyn Paulino (two-year vet) to the Florida Complex League on June 25 and one release – RHP Guanchi Martinez (one-year vet) on July 9.

Brailyn Paulino

Baseball Reference separates each team’s average age between position players and pitchers.  Only personnel seeing in-game action during the season are included.  The Dominican Birds’ position players averaged 17.2 years old, placing them in a four-way tie for fourth youngest with the Phillies White, Brewers Gold and Rangers Blue.  All four trail the first-place Rays (17.0) and second-place Braves and Twins (17.1).  The oldest squad was the Marlins (18.5), which won the Southeast Division, four games ahead of the third-place Cardinals.

The average age on the mound side was 18.0, with the Cardinals tied for 11^th place with the Braves.  The youngest pitching staff belonged to three teams: Colorado, Guardians Goryl and Mariners with an average age of 17.7.  The oldest staff was the Rangers Red at 20.0.

The Season
The 2025 season revealed the Cardinals to be an above-average team, performance-wise.  The squad went 30-26 overall, finishing third in the seven-team Southeast Division, four games behind the Marlins (34-22) and a game behind second-place Bombers (31-25).  Their Pythagorean Won/Loss was 35-21 with 392 runs scored and 300 runs allowed.

The Cardinals performed much better at home, going 20-8 versus 10-18 on the road and went 21-10 within their division. Looking at the monthly splits, the Dominican Birds went 13-8 in June, but that record flipped to 8-13 in July before they closed with a 9-5 mark in August.

Pitching
The staff had 20 hurlers take the mound, with 17-year-old rookie tandem starter Hendrick Cana the sole lefty.  As mentioned above, the average age of the staff was 18.0 years old. Rookie right-hander Jan Cabrera, who turned 20 in February, was the oldest. and 16-year-old Ricardo Fernandez the youngest.  Both hurlers are Cuban.

Jan Cabrera

The rotation was managed differently than the prior season when the starters were set from the season’s beginning.  Nine pitchers made at least two starts in 2025, but the starting rotation was mainly comprised of six or seven hurlers with no set tandem pairings.

Gabriel Chinchilla

Cabrera, with nine starts, was the only one to start exclusively but one-year vet Gabriel Chinchilla led the team with 48 1/3 innings pitched over 12 appearances (10 starts) to Cabrera’s 36 2/3.

Further complicating matters was that Opening Day starter Earle Zulueta started twice before being sidelined until July 25^th, sitting out for a period of six-plus weeks.  Juan Carlos Garcia took his rotation slot after two relief efforts and the newly turned 17-year-old finished second in innings pitched, throwing 47 2/3 frames, 12 games/10 starts.

Juan Carlos Garcia

Xavier Cruz, who started fourth behind Zulueta-Garcia/Chinchilla/Cabrera, was sidelined from June 21^St. through July 3^rd, nine games, and was handled very carefully on his return with limited innings and a skipped start.

Although southpaw Cana started only four times in 11 appearances, all seven relief efforts were for multiple innings, six of the seven three or more frames.  Cana was often Cruz’ tandem mate but that was not always the case.

Daniel Gomez

The final swing or tandem starter was 17-year-old Daniel Gomez.  The rookie appeared in 12 games, six starts, tossing 44 innings, third behind Chinchilla and Juan Carlos Garcia.

The starters led a staff generating the following stats:

Dominican Birds hurlers finished in the top 25% of the league, 13^th or better, in four of seven categories and top half in six of seven areas.  Their batting average against rate was truly atrocious, pulled down by a bullpen that struggled to generate outs the entire season.  However, two starters placed in the top 25 in walk rate, with one leading the league.  More on that is coming in the Starter of the Year reveal.

Offense
The offense had 17 players take the field in 2025: 11 rookies and six one-year veterans.  As mentioned previously, their average age of 17.2 placed them in a four-way tie for fourth youngest with the Phillies White, Brewers Gold and Rangers Blue.

The youngest position player was corner infielder Michael Cordero, who did not turn 17 until August.  The elder statesman is catcher Juan Pablo Cabrera who is five days older than third baseman Edward Guribe.  Both turn 19 in November.

Michael Cordero

As outlined in the chart below, the offense was productive, placing in the upper 25% in most categories.   While their .254 Batting Average was only in the top half of the league, the squad was much stronger in both On-Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage and OPS, just missing the top 10% in OPS.

The team worked 345 walks, good for fourth best behind the Cleveland Goryl’s league-leading 358 walks.  Additionally, they were hit by pitches 77 times, tying them with Miami for fourth most behind Tampa Bay’s 88.  Their 35 home runs tied them with NYY Yankees for seventh, 21 bombs behind the Marlins.  The DSL Cardinals struck out 439 times, 12^th most in the league, but they did it in 1,756 at bats, which was fifth in the DSL.

Positions and Defense
Below is a chart listing all 17 position players and the number of games played at each position.  The nine bolded names were the Opening Day starters.

Impacting the chart’s numbers was the extended absence of several players.  (For the purpose of this report, extended absence is defined as not in the line-up for five consecutive games.)  They are:

Edward Guribe was the primary third baseman from Opening Day through August 4^th but missed the last 11 games of the season.  In 2024, the Dominican native was absent from the lineup from July 5^th through August 16^th.

Edward Guribe

Kenly Hunter, the Opening Day centerfielder, missed 10 straight games from July 1^St. through July 14^th.

Outfielder Jesus Perez was absent from the lineup from August 4^th onward, a span of 12 games.

Royelny Strop

Finally, bonus baby Roelny Strop, who received a reported $1.4MM signing bonus, missed several chunks of the season.  The rookie made his pro debut as the designated hitter on June 3^rd but was not seen again until June 21^st, 12 games later.  He played in two games before going missing from June 24^th through July 2^nd, seven games, then saw action in nine of the next 10 games.  However, Strop did not play in any of the next nine contests through July 30^th.  He was active from that point through season’s end, on August 19^th.

Yaxson Lucena

Defense is very difficult to ascertain at this level.  The players combine extreme youth with a lack of experience, which does not lead to defensive excellence.  Right fielder Yaxson Lucena led the outfield with five assists and Kenly Hunter had a team high 92 putouts with one and two errors, respectively.

Award winners

Branneli Franco

Guribe and 18-year-old right-handed pitcher Branneli Franco were named to the mid-season DSL All-Star Game roster representing the National League.

The Cardinals had no members of the more exclusive post-season DSL All-Star team.

Conclusion
The DSL Cardinals generated above-average results compared to 2024, driven by their offense and starting pitching.  The rotation was solid, by and large, but the bullpen was not, compiling just five saves against 11 blown saves.

The defense was far stronger than in 2024, committing 66 miscues, a three-way tie for 10^th best with Royals Venture and Tampa Bay.  (It needs to be mentioned that the 2024 Cardinals defense was bad.) They yielded 42 unearned runs.  But the 2025 squad underperformed their Pythagorean Won-Loss of 35-21 by five games by finishing at 30-26.

What is next

The Cardinal Nation’s 2025 minor league team recap articles will continue with the Florida Complex League next up.

The full schedule for The Cardinal Nation’s annual article series highlighting team results and top hitters and pitchers across the St. Louis Cardinals system can be found in the following article. After our free Team Recaps across affiliates, we will recognize individual player leaders through the current month and into November.

The Cardinal Nation’s Team Recaps and Top Players of 2025

Now 20% off – 2025 Cardinals Prospect Guide

The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its eighth year. It includes 256 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of all-new player scouting reports. Order your PDF or spiral-bound printed book copy today, with the latter on closeout for 20% off!

All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!

Order TCN’s 2025 St. Louis Cardinals Prospect Guide

Exclusively for members of The Cardinal Nation

2025 Cardinals Minor League Leaders – Pitching Rate Stats

Not yet a member?

Subscribe to The Cardinal Nation for the most comprehensive coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals from the majors through the entire minor league system.

© 2025 The Cardinal Nation, thecardinalnation.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

photo: Cardinals Dominican Academy (St. Louis Cardinals)

The rookie-level Cardinals Dominican Summer League club fell just short of a .500 record, finishing in fifth place at 26-27. On the young roster, the hitters and starting pitching led the way, with the bullpen and defense not as good.

Overall

The Dominican Summer League (DSL) is at the rookie level within baseball’s minor league system.  The league is a gateway into affiliated professional baseball for players not eligible for Major League Baseball’s annual First-Year Player Draft.  The lack of eligibility is mainly due to not meeting the residency requirement.

(TCN members: Please refer here to the Week 1 DSL Cardinals Notebook, which provides an overview of the league, its current construct and how the team stood on the cusp of the 2024 season.)

St. Louis’ history in the DSL

After 13 seasons with one team in the league, St Louis expanded to two squads for the 2018 season, one of 17 organizations to field two teams.  The original team became Cardinals Blue and the second team Cardinals Red. They shared the Baseball Oasis facility with one team home while the other was on the road.  Except for the 2020 season, wiped out by a worldwide pandemic, this arrangement held through the 2021 season.

Heading into the 2022 season, St. Louis contracted its Dominican Summer League organization back to one team, the only one of 30 major league organizations to so do.   With Cincinnati expanding to two squads for 2024, the Cardinals are one of just nine organizations fielding one DSL team.

The 2024 season

The 2024 season was comprised of 56 games running from Monday, June 3^rd through Tuesday, August 20^th. Sunday was a league-wide off-day with Wednesday’s scheduled off-days used for postponed or suspended contests, as needed.

The DSL Cardinals ended up playing 53 of 56 contests with three games cancelled: one at home versus the DSL Twins (30-25) on July 9^th and two away – at DSL Mets Blue (21-33) on July 22^nd and division rival DSL Nationals (23-30) on August 1^st.  It was the last game of the season on the 2024 schedule versus each of the three teams.

The team

The 35-player active roster consisted of 15 position players and 20 pitchers, 17 of them in their rookie campaign, and 18 with one year of prior professional experience.  The Cardinals had no players with two years prior pro experience for the first time since the 2021 season.  34 of the 35 members of the active roster saw action in 2024, with the one exception Cuban pitcher Earle Zulueta, a 17-year-old right-handed rookie.

Earle Zulueta

Marking each player’s age as of midnight of June 30^th of the current season, per Baseball Reference, the 17 rookies consisted of two 16-year-olds, 10 17-year-olds, four 18-year-olds and one 20-year-old (righty Alan Reyes who was signed out of the Independent Mexican League where he pitched in 2023).  Of the 18 players for whom the 2023 campaign was their rookie season, one was 17, 12 were 18, four were 19 and one was 20.

Sorting the data between position players and pitchers, the experience level of the 15 position players was eight rookies and seven one-year veterans.  The eight rookies were two 16-year-olds and six 17-year-olds while the balance were six 18-year-olds and one 19-year-old.

Looking at the age and prior experience of the 20 hurlers, nine were rookies and 11 were one-year veterans.  The nine rookies were comprised of four 17-year-olds, four 18-year-olds and one 20-year-old.  The 11 veterans sorted out into one 17-year-old, six 18-year-olds, three 19-year-olds and one 20-year-old.

Three other players spent the entire 2024 season on the Injured List:  18-year-old outfielder Hancel Almonte, a one-year veteran, plus two rookie right-handers – 18-year-old Michael Correa and 16-year-old Ryan Rodriguez.

Overall, seven countries were represented: the Bahamas (one), Columbia (two), Cuba (two), the Dominican Republic (16), Mexico (three), Panama (two) and Venezuela (nine).

As has been the case in recent seasons, the 35-man roster remained almost entirely intact for the season’s entirety.  The sole in-season roster addition or subtraction was the trade of rookie right-hander Oliver Gonzalez to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a three-way trade that brought righty Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham to St Louis on July 29, 2024.

Kener Perez

Two other changes did occur, however, one in-season and the other after season’s end.  Veteran right-hander Kener Perez was idled on July 26^th for violation of baseball’s Performance Enhancement Drug policy.  The 19-year-old received a 56-game suspension.  On August 22^nd, two days after the DSL season finished, right-handed starter Keiverson Ramirez was promoted to the rookie-level Florida Coast League.

Keiverson Ramirez

The season

The 2024 season revealed a middle-of-the pack squad, performance-wise.  The ’24 DSL Cardinals went 26-27 overall, finishing fifth in the eight-team Central Division, 14 games behind the DSL Giants Black (40-13), whose .755 winning percentage was the best in the league.  (Side note: The Giants Black lost to the DSL Angels in the semi-finals of the playoffs and the Angels lost to the Red Sox Red in the finals.)

The Cardinals performed better at home, going 16-11 versus 10-16 on the road and went 17-21 within their division. Looking at the monthly splits, the Dominican Birds went 9-11 in June, 10-8 in July and 7-8 in August.  (Note on month-by-month records:  One game was suspended in July and completed in August.  This report uses actual real time results and not retroactive adjusted records.)

Twice, the squad strung together a four-game winning streak. The first went from June 21^st through 25^th and the second on July 23^rd through July 27^th.  The initial four-game winning spurt was followed by one of their two four-game losing skids, from June 26^th through June 29^th.   An earlier four-game losing streak occurred near the season’s start from June 8^th through June 12^th.

The majority of the games played by the Dominican Birds were close, defined here as two runs or less.  29 of 53 contests met this definition, including three two-run victories, four two-run losses, seven one-run victories and 15 one-run losses.  All four games in the June 26^th through June 29^th losing skid were decided by two or fewer tallies.

Comparing their results against other recent squads, the 2024 iteration was much better than their 2023 counterparts who went 17-36, finishing seventh in the nine-team South Division.  However, the 2022 version of the DSL Cardinals performed the best of the three, going 33-26 while finishing fourth in the nine-team South Division.

Pitching

The staff had 20 hurlers take the mound, with 18-year-old reliever Bernard Mack the sole lefty.  The average age of the staff was 18.0 years old, placing them in a tie with the DSL Rockies for ninth youngest among the 51 staffs in the DSL.

Branneli Franco

The youngest Cardinal pitcher was starter Branneli Franco, who turned 17 in February.  He was one of nine rookies, one of whom, Cuban Earle Zulueta, never made his professional debut despite spending the entire season on the active roster.  The remaining 11 hurlers all had one year of pro experience and ranged in age from reliever Guanchi Martinez, who turned 18 in mid-August, to starter Jefferson Moran who turned 20 on June 4^th.

Guanchi Martinez

The rotation was in place from the season’s onset, unlike several prior seasons.  Franco – he of the $800K signing bonus – was the Opening Day starter followed by a tandem pairing of rookies Gabriel Chinchilla and Oliver Gonzalez.  Moran started next just before fellow veteran Keiverson Ramirez who preceded rookie Andrew Bolivar.

Three other pitchers – Reiner Lopez, Brailyn Paulino and Martinez – started at least one game, mainly filling in for Chinchilla whose last appearance was a July 22^nd start and his tandem mate Gonzalez who was traded on July 29^th.  (Moran missed a rotation turn in early August.)

Overall, the pitching staff was slightly above average in most categories, with their efforts compiled in 428 2/3 frames, 14th place.  Their results ranked them from 17^th to 29^th in six statistical categories.  See the chart below.

Offense

The offense had 15 players take the field in 2024: eight rookies and seven one-year veterans.  Their average age of 17.4 placed them in a three-way tie for 12^th with the Phillies Red and White Sox.

The eight first-year players were comprised of two 16-year-olds and six 17-year-olds.  The seven-player balance included six 18-year-olds and one 19-year-old.  The youngest was Venezuelan right fielder Brayan Amoroso who turned 17 on July 7th.  The eldest was Cuban third baseman Yoerny Junco who turns 20 in early November.

Yairo Padilla

The two rookies signed to the highest reported bonuses were Dominican shortstop Yairo Padilla ($760 K) and Dominican third baseman Edward Guribe ($700 K).  The two 17-year-olds made solid contributions at the plate but were absent from the line-up for extended periods.

Edward Guribe

As outlined in the chart below, the offense was productive, placing in the upper 25% in most categories.   Their chief strength was raw power, with the team’s 33 home runs ranking third best.  (Second place went to the Giants Black with 34 bombs while LAD Mega’s 49 home runs was tops.) The Cardinals went yard once every 51.73 at bats, also good for third best.  Their 23 triples placed them sixth, 10 off the lead set by the Brewers 1.

On the flip side of the performance coin, this team r-e-a-l-l-y did not walk much, working 250 bases-on-balls in 1,707 at bats (53 games).  That effort placed them 32^nd of 51 teams.  LAD Bautista led the league with 405 walks in 1,578 at bats (55 games).

The Dominican Birds also fanned 500 times in 2024.  That placed them seventh highest in K’s.

Positions and Defense

Below is a chart listing all 15 position players and the number of games played at each position.  The nine bolded names were the Opening Day starters.

Impacting the chart’s numbers was the extended absence of several players.  (For the purpose of this report, extended absence is defined as absent from the line-up for five consecutive games.)  They are:

Edward Guribe was very active over the season’s first month, alternating between third base and designated hitter (DH) only to miss action entirely from July 5^th through August 16^th.  He returned as the DH in the last season’s final three games.

Yoerny Junco was Opening Day designated hitter but did not play again until June 26th.

Rookie Christian Saez did not make his pro debut until June 20^th, day 12 of the season.

Starting shortstop Yairo Padilla was absent for a week in early July and then did not play again after August 8^th, a span of nine contests.

Bracewell Taveras

Bracewell Taveras, the starting second baseman, did not play over his team’s final 19 games, dating from July 26^th onward.

Guribe, Padilla and Taveras were among the team’s better hitters.

Defense is very difficult to ascertain at this level.  The players combine extreme youth with a lack of experience, the combination of which does not lend itself to defensive excellence.

Andru Arthur

That being said, veteran Andru Arthur was not charged with an error in 282 innings (40 games) in the outfield (25 in left and 15 in center).  Caveat:  One does not get charged with an error if one cannot get to the ball.  There is no way of knowing if that was the case with Arthur.

Facundo Velasquez

Another player of note is center fielder Facundo Velasquez who committed just one bobble in 329 1/3 frames, 42 contests.

Conclusion

The DSL Cardinals generated average results, driven by their offense and starting pitching.  The rotation was solid, by and large, but both the bullpen and defense were weaknesses many of their 19 close losses resulting from a leaky relief and unearned runs from shaky defense.  The substantial time missed by several key position players impacted the team but to what extent cannot fully be determined.

2024 Season Recap Series

The Cardinal Nation’s Team Recaps and Top Players of 2024

Now Available – 2024 Cardinals Prospect Guide

The Cardinal Nation Prospect Guide is back for its seventh year. It includes 282 pages of in-depth commentary about the very best St. Louis Cardinals minor leaguers, including dozens of all-new player scouting reports. Order your PDF or printed book copy today!

All paid members can purchase our Prospect Guide PDF at 50% off. Thank you for your support of The Cardinal Nation!

Order TCN’s 2024 St. Louis Cardinals Prospect Guide

© 2024 The Cardinal Nation, thecardinalnation.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.