What Dominican Series means for Rays with ties to DR

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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Jose Siri had heard about it, but he didn’t believe it. The Rays were going to break up the monotony of Spring Training with a couple of games against the Red Sox in his native Dominican Republic?

Then Siri saw a post on the MLB Dominicana Instagram page, with his own face staring back at him. It was happening.

“That’s when I ended up calling my mom and telling [my family] that, ‘Hey, I might be playing out there,’” Siri said through interpreter Manny Navarro.

Today, Siri and a traveling party of Rays executives, staff, coaches and players are leaving the Grapefruit League and flying south to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Tampa Bay and Boston will meet this weekend for a pair of games at Estadio Quisqueya, the winter league home of Tigres del Licey and Leones del Escogido, in the Dominican Republic Series as part of the 2024 MLB World Tour.

Pitching prospect Yoniel Curet (No. 18, per MLB Pipeline) will start for the Rays in Saturday’s 5:05 p.m. ET opener, taking the mound in his home country for the first time in a Major League uniform. Right-handers Aaron Civale and Naoyuki Uwasawa are expected to pitch in Sunday’s finale, which begins at 1:05 p.m. ET.

This is only the fourth time Major League teams will play exhibitions in the Dominican Republic, following the Mets and Expos in 1999, the Astros and Red Sox in 2000 and the Tigers and Twins in '20. This trip is a big deal for the country’s avid baseball fans, said bench coach Rodney Linares, but also for the Rays’ Dominican players.

“It's going to be cool. I know everybody's talking about and thinking about it. I know it's a big deal for me, going back home in this setting,” said Linares, who managed the Dominican’s World Baseball Classic team. “It's a really big deal for me, and I know it was a big deal for the kids.”

Most of the Dominican players on the trip have experience in LIDOM, playing winter ball in their home country. But wearing a big league uniform, even in a Spring Training exhibition, is something different entirely.

“A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s a proud moment for myself, for my family, representing my family,” said Minor League infielder Ronny Simon, the reigning LIDOM MVP, through Rays communications director Elvis Martinez. “Dream come true. Never thought this would happen. But once you’re wearing a Tampa Bay Rays uniform, they see you different. It’s like, ‘OK, he kind of made it.’ Even if it’s an exhibition game or a Spring Training game, it means a lot for us.”

No. 1 prospect Junior Caminero is from the capital, with family still living in Santo Domingo, and he was the top pick in last year’s Dominican Winter League draft by Escogido. He’s attended games at Estadio Quisqueya since he was a boy, watching Licey and Escogido. He’s so excited to play there this weekend, Linares said, that he recently asked two or three times in one morning if he’d get to play all nine innings even though it’s still a Spring Training game.

“I’m going to take advantage of it and have as much fun as I can,” Caminero said through Navarro. “It’s going to be a great time.”

The trip will present a few special events away from the ballpark. On Saturday morning, players, alumni and staff will participate in an MLB Play Ball event with local children focused on “vitilla,” the Dominican’s version of stickball, often played with a broomstick and bottle cap as the bat and ball. The Rays’ traveling party will also be able to visit their Dominican academy.

For many Rays, this is a welcome trip home. Amed Rosario, a Dominican native who’s never played winter ball there, will take the field in his home country. Linares will see his family and invite his father, Julio, a longtime coach and manager in the Astros organization, to the ballpark for pregame practice. Francisco Mejía said he will have “a lot of family” around, and Simon laughed and said “everybody” is coming to see him.

It’s a unique opportunity, and the Rays intend to enjoy it.

“It’s almost kind of the same excitement similar to when I signed professionally,” Curet said through Martinez. “Now, having the opportunity to go back to my country wearing a Major League uniform and being added to the 40-man roster, it makes me feel like I’m a little closer to my dreams.”

Travel roster

The Rays aren’t sending their entire squad, so there will be some familiar faces missing from the series. Pitching coach Kyle Snyder will also stay back at Charlotte Sports Park, where the Rays will stage some intrasquad action Friday and Saturday.

Plenty of recognizable Rays will be there, though, including most of the big league position players.

Pitchers: Civale, Curet, Manuel Rodríguez, Trevor Brigden, Carlos Garcia, Michael Gomez, Antonio Jimenez, Enmanuel Mejia, Erasmo Ramírez, Justin Sterner, Edwin Uceta, Uwasawa, Jacob Waguespack

Catchers: René Pinto, Mejía, Logan Driscoll

Infielders: Jonathan Aranda, Osleivis Basabe, José Caballero, Caminero, Curtis Mead, Isaac Paredes, Rosario, Simon

Outfielders: Randy Arozarena, Jonny DeLuca, Richie Palacios, Harold Ramírez, Siri, Niko Hulsizer