Mel Rojas Jr., former KBO league MVP playing in his home country, the Dominican Republic, lifted another championship trophy.
Tigres del Reisei, a team belonging to the Winter League in the Dominican Republic, where Rojas is involved, represented the league as a champion in the 2023 Caribbean Series. The Caribbean Series is an international baseball tournament held in Central and South America every winter since 1949. In the professional baseball leagues of the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Mexico, ‘Champion’ teams represent their respective countries. In the past, Cuba and Panama also participated, but now six teams from six countries participate. 온라인바카라
The Dominican Republic is the strongest country that has won the tournament 22 times. Among them, Tigres del Reese, where Rojas is playing, is the most winning team with 11 championships. However, this win has been a long time coming. Since winning the tournament held in Santiago, Dominican Republic in 2008, he has not won a championship for nearly 15 years.
Rojas’ performance was outstanding. Rojas played a big role in the offense and defense in the final and contributed to the championship. In an interview with the local media after winning the championship, Rojas expressed his feelings, “I am so happy today that our team has not won the Caribbean Series since 2008.” They posted a picture of them lifting the champion trophy together.
Rojas also flew in the Dominican Winter League in the 2022-2023 season, leading the team to win the league, followed by the Caribbean Series Champion title.
What I am curious about now is Lohas’ next move. Lohas, who peaked by winning the league MVP while playing for KT Wiz, later advanced to the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), but was sluggish for two seasons. Although Hanshin invested a large amount, Rojas’ performance over the two seasons was only 2.22 with an average batting average of 17 homers and 37 RBIs. It took a long time to go up and down the 1st and 2nd groups. The competition for survival among foreign players is fierce, and it seems that they have not fully adapted to the unfamiliar environment of the Japanese stage. Eventually, after the two-year contract period with Hanshin ended, he returned to his home country and joined the Winter League.
LOHAS is currently held by KT in Korea. Unless KT lifts the reservation right, he cannot sign a contract with another domestic team. KT has already completed all foreign players. Contracts with other clubs in NPB have already passed, and there is a possibility of advancing to the minor leagues again starting with a big success in the winter league. Although the contract was not signed at the time before spring camp, in the case of Lohas, it is necessary to seek a replacement. Born in 1990, he is 33 years old this year, so he is not very old, so the opportunity seems to come again.