It wasn’t a surprise to see Ronny Mauricio playing in the Dominican Winter Leagues. After all, he’s played there in each of the past two seasons.
The surprise is how he’s using the Dominican Winter Leagues to announce he’s ready to take that next step as a prospect. Indeed, he’s been a completely different player than he’s been in past seasons.
In 2020-2021, he appeared in one game. Last season, he struggled in 25 games with a .643 OPS and just one more hit than strikeout. Now, he’s been the best player for Tigres de Licey, the best team in the league.
Through 29 games, he’s hitting .316/.353/.483 with 11 doubles, two triples, two homers, and 22 RBI. He’s been on a hot streak and especially good lately.
On Sunday, Mauricio ripped another double. Notably, he’s the league leader in that category. However, something else stood out more than that – two walks.
Mauricio is not someone who ever walks. In fact, he only had one game this past season where he drew two walks in a game. In fact, it’s a feat he’s only accomplished five times in his five year professional career.
The walks speaks to better pitch recognition and selection. That leads not just to walks but an ability to identify and drive pitches to hit. Mauricio certainly did that with a monster homer in his last game.
With that prodigious blast, Mauricio is now the league leader in OPS and RBI.
Again, this homer was a sign of progress. Mauricio has far more power as a left-handed than right-handed hitter. To wit, he had a .493 SLG as a left-handed batter as compared to a .376 SLG as a right-handed hitter.
That homer came from the right-side. It was the type of long homer we really haven’t seen from him as a right-handed hitter.
Overall, we are not only seeing Mauricio thrive in the Dominican Winter Leagues. More importantly, we are seeing him improve in areas he needed to improve. As a result, he’s starting to show his immense potential on the field.
