While Major League Baseball’s offseason rolls through the final weeks of December and into the new year, some of the top baseball leagues in Latin America continue to play on.
This year, some Cardinals minor leaguers — including one of the organization’s newest members — have spent parts of their offseason playing baseball in countries including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Venezuela. That opportunity has given some a chance to play for teams in their home countries while facing an array of talent overseas.
Here is how some Cardinals minor leaguers have performed in winter leagues abroad:
Infielder Cesar Prieto
The utility infielder and Cuban native has spent his second consecutive winter with the Águilas Cibaeñas — one of the top teams in the Dominican Winter League. Through 28 games entering Thursday, Prieto has batted .265 with a .311 on-base percentage. He’s struck out 12 times in 98 at-bats. The 25-year-old collected two hits — a single and a triple — and drove in one run on Wednesday in the Aguilas’ 8-2 win over the Gigantes del Cibao. He has 11 hits in 37 at-bats since the start of December. Prieto went into the offseason following an entire season spent with Class AAA Memphis. Acquired by the Cardinals from the Baltimore Orioles in 2023 as a part of the prospect haul in the Jack Flaherty trade, Prieto batted .279 with a .318 on-base percentage and a .445 slugging percentage in 129 games for Memphis. He set career highs in doubles (35) and home runs (14).
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Catcher Sammy Hernandez
While with the Leones de Ponce in his native Puerto Rico, Hernandez is batting .231 with a .322 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 18 games in the Puerto Rican Winter League. The 20-year-old catching prospect has struck out 14 times in 53 at-bats. All seven of his hits for Ponce have gone for singles. Hernandez, who reached Class High-A this past season, has thrown out three of the 15 stolen base attempts against him giving him a 20% caught stealing rate. In 64 minor league games at catcher in 2024 — 56 of which came in Class Low-A — Hernandez thwarted 31% of the attempted base stealers who tested him. This past season was Hernandez’s first full season within the Cardinals system. The catching prospect was acquired in 2023 in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays after reliever Genesis Cabrera was designated for assignment by St. Louis.
Right-hander Edwin Nuñez
Following his first professional season as a primary starter, the Dominican Republic-born right-hander has made three relief appearances for the Águilas Cibaeñas. Nuñez’s most recent outing came on Tuesday when he allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits including a home run in 1 1/3 innings. The 23-year-old pitching prospect logged 1 1/3 scoreless innings in his two outings before Tuesday. The winter league experience is the first for the 23-year-old. He is over eight years younger than the average pitcher who has appeared in the 2024-25 Dominican Winter League season. On Tuesday, Nuñez, who has yet to pitch above Class AA, allowed hits to Jorge Alfaro, Emilio Bonifacio, and Dawel Lugo — all of whom have time in the majors. Lugo’s hit off the hard-throwing Cardinals prospect was a two-run homer.
Shortstop Jeremy Rivas
Like Nuñez, Rivas’s winter league experience this year is his first. Rivas, a 21-year-old infielder from Venezuela, owns a .271 batting average, a .333 on-base percentage, and a .407 slugging percentage for the Bravos de Margarita in the Venezuelan Winter League. Rivas, a Valencia, Venezuela native, has appeared in 22 games at shortstop and one at third base for the Bravos. At his natural shortstop position, Rivas has a .957 fielding percentage. Seen as a glove-first infielder, Rivas’s 2024 season was his best offensive production since reaching a full-season affiliate at the start of 2022. In 123 games as Class AA Springfield’s starting shortstop, Rivas batted .263 with a .349 on-base percentage.
Left-hander Oddanier Mosqueda
In eight relief appearances for the Tiburones de la Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League, Mosqueda owns a 5.68 ERA. The 25-year-old lefty, who the Cardinals plucked from the New York Yankees’ system in the first round of the minor league phase of this year’s Rule 5 Draft, has struck out four of the 31 batters he’s faced across 6 1/3 innings of work. Mosqueda has allowed two home runs through eight appearances after allowing eight in 55 Class AAA appearances during the 2024 minor league season.
Right-hander Juan Salas
Before seemingly wrapping up his winter ball time with the Sultanes de Monterrey in the Mexican Pacific Winter League, the 21-year-old Salas logged 26 1/3 innings across seven starts. He held a 4.44 ERA, struck out 29% of the batters he faced, and maintained 1.63 walks plus hits allowed per inning (WHIP) in that stretch. One of Salas’s most effective outings came on Nov. 15 when he recorded seven strikeouts, walked one batter, and allowed one hit over 4 1/3 scoreless innings against the Tomateros de Culiacan. Salas, who has pitched for Monterrey in each of the last two winters, logged a career-high 113 1/3 innings, struck out 119 batters, and maintained a 3.41 ERA in 22 starts during the regular season for Class Low-A Palm Beach.
Outfielder Bryan Torres
Torres, the Texas League batting champion this past season, has produced a .276 average and a .446 on-base percentage for the Gigantes de Carolina in the Puerto Rican Winter League. Torres, 27, has 21 hits in 76 at-bats. He ranks fifth in batting average among qualified hitters. The former independent league standout signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals last September. He set a Springfield franchise record with a .331 average after not playing in affiliated baseball since 2021.
