{"id":502259,"date":"2026-03-16T12:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T16:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/escogido-strengthens-its-roster-with-de-la-cruz-liz-hernandez-and-castillo\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T12:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T16:39:11","slug":"escogido-strengthens-its-roster-with-de-la-cruz-liz-hernandez-and-castillo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/sports\/baseball\/escogido-strengthens-its-roster-with-de-la-cruz-liz-hernandez-and-castillo\/","title":{"rendered":"Escogido strengthens its roster with De la Cruz, Liz, Hern\u00e1ndez and Castillo"},"content":{"rendered":"<strong>Santo Domingo.<\/strong> \u2013 The national two-time champions, the Leones del Escogido, announced the signing as free agents of catcher Michael De la Cruz, right-handed pitcher Radham\u00e9s Liz, and infielders Marco Hern\u00e1ndez and Iv\u00e1n Castillo, according to the management of Baseball Operations of the scarlet team.\n\n\n<p><strong>You may be interested in:<a href=\"http:\/\/Nelson Cruz: \u201cHubo muchas l\u00e1grimas; eso demuestra el amor y la pasi\u00f3n por nuestro pa\u00eds\u201d\">N<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/Nelson Cruz: \u201cHubo muchas l\u00e1grimas; eso demuestra el amor y la pasi\u00f3n por nuestro pa\u00eds\u201d\">elson Cruz: \u201cThere were many tears; that shows the love and passion for our country\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\nDe la Cruz, 32 years old, was a key piece in the team's conquest of the 18th championship during the 2025-26 season of the Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League. The catcher especially stood out in the Round Robin, where he batted .368 with an on-base percentage of .480, seven RBIs, and an OPS of .901 in 16 games.\n\nIn the Final Series against the Toros del Este, he also made important contributions, including a decisive performance in the fourth game played in La Romana, where he drove in a key run and scored the one that defined the scarlet victory.\n\nThe club's general manager, Carlos Pe\u00f1a, valued the catcher's impact on the team's success.\n\n\"His execution behind the plate and his ability to bring out the best in our pitchers were decisive. In addition, he contributed important production with the bat. We trust that he will have that impact on the team again,\" he said.\n\nFor his part, Liz, 42, opened games in the postseason last year with the Lions, recording an ERA of 3.37 in 13.1 innings and nine strikeouts. Throughout his career in Dominican baseball, he has accumulated an ERA of 2.60, with a WHIP of 1.12 and 359 strikeouts in 395 innings.\n\n\"Radham\u00e9s is a pitcher with extensive experience and a proven track record in this league. His performance in the Round Robin was key and we are confident that his leadership will once again be an important factor,\" Pe\u00f1a expressed.\n\nMeanwhile, 33-year-old Hern\u00e1ndez brings versatility by being able to play at third base and second base. The infielder batted .292 in the last regular season with the Gigantes del Cibao, driving in 11 runs and scoring 15 in 32 games.\n\n\"Marco gives us experience and solidity in the infield. He is a player who understands the game and can contribute both offensively and defensively,\" added the executive.\n\nCastillo, 30 years old, returns to the scarlet organization after wearing the team's uniform between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 seasons. In eight seasons in the Dominican league, he has a .256 average in 182 games, with 55 RBIs, 71 runs scored, 22 doubles, two home runs and 27 stolen bases.\n\n\"Iv\u00e1n gives us depth and energy. His ability to contribute in different areas of the game makes him a valuable piece for our roster,\" added Pe\u00f1a.\n\nThe Lions remain active during the offseason, reinforcing their roster with a view to defending the title. In addition to these signings, the club acquired utility player Vidal Bruj\u00e1n via trade and retained several of their free agents, including Erik Gonz\u00e1lez, S\u00f3crates Brito, Franchy Cordero, Jos\u00e9 Marmolejos, Alex Colom\u00e9, H\u00e9ctor Neris, and Jimmy Paredes.\n\nThe new hires grant the Escogido the reserve rights to these players for two seasons, with the 2027-28 campaign as the team's option, as established in the free agency agreement between the league and the National Federation of Professional Baseball Players.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Santo Domingo. \u2013 The national two-time champions, the Leones del Escogido, announced the signing as free agents of catcher Michael De la Cruz, right-handed pitcher Radham\u00e9s Liz, and infielders Marco Hern\u00e1ndez and Iv\u00e1n Castillo, according to the management of Baseball Operations of the scarlet team. You may be interested in:Nelson Cruz: \u201cThere were many tears; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35481],"tags":[611,40231,9098,41186],"class_list":{"0":"post-502259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-baseball","7":"tag-deultimominuto","8":"tag-dominican-republic","9":"tag-lidom","10":"tag-theperiodicodelatruth"},"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","dum_api":{"author_name":"Redacci\u00f3n De \u00daltimo Minuto","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-logo-de-ultimo-minuto-96x96.png","categories_name":["Baseball"],"featured_media_url":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}