22/06/2021 - 26/06/2021

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Dominican Republic bolsters roster ahead of final Olympic baseball qualifier

Dominican Republic bolsters roster ahead of final Olympic baseball qualifier
15/06/2021
Luis Castillo and Felipe Garcia have received permission from the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. Manager Hector Borg is also in talks with Raynel Espinal and Marcos Diplan.

The Dominican Republic National Baseball Team is boosting its pitching staff for the last remaining Olympic qualifier, the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier in Mexico, where the team could be considered the favorite despite being the lowest-ranked team in the tournament.

Luis Felipe Castillo and Junior Garcia have received from the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB) to represent the Dominican Republic in the qualifying tournament, according to Dominican officials.

Castillo, 26, is a right-handed reliever at the Double-A level. He has so far appeared in 12 games and has allowed only four earned runs over 15.1 innings.

Garcia, 25, is a left-handed reliever. He has four saved games at the Double-A level during the current season without allowing a run and has pitched in 11 games at the Triple-A level, allowing four earned runs over 16.1 innings of work and collecting two saves.

The Dominican Republic will also add to its roster free agent 28-year old infielder Ramon Torres, who appeared in over 100 MLB games over the 2017 and 2018 seasons for the Kansas City Royals and played in the Dominican Winter League 2020-21.

Dominican manager Hector Borg is also in talks with other players under contract with MLB organizations such as right-handed starter Raynel Espinal (Triple-A, Boston Red Sox), right-handed reliever Marcos Diplan (Triple-A, Baltimore Orioles) and slugger Johan Mieses, who has been promoted to Triple-A by the Boston Red Sox after hitting 11 home runs in 23 games at the Double-A level.

World No. 10 Dominican Republic finished second behind the winners USA at the WBSC Americas Qualifier and earned the right to compete in the Final Qualifier together with Venezuela.

The Dominican Republic will open the final qualifier against No. 8 Venezuela on 22 June and then have an off day before taking on the No. 10 Netherlands on the 24th. In the Dominican Republic's last meetings with Venezuela (at the Americas qualifier) and Netherlands (at the 2019 WBSC Premier12), Dominican Republic registered 14-4 wins.

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