The 2025 season for the Dominican Summer League (DSL) began on Monday.
This year, the league consists of 52 teams separated into eight divisions. While most MLB franchises have two teams of players competing in the league, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of eight that are fielding only one squad. The teams will play 72 games, with the regular season ending on Aug. 19.
The 2025 season will mark the debut of the DSL Cup, a revamped playoff format involving 16 teams from the league. Postseason berths will go to the eight division champions, determined by winning percentage, and the next eight best teams overall, who will enter as Wild Cards.
Once in the postseason, the 16 qualifying clubs will be split into four groups of four for round-robin Pool Play. The top team from each pool will move on to the Championship Bracket, a two-round showdown featuring best-of-three Semifinals and Finals to determine the DSL Cup champion.
The DSL Cardinals opened the season with a pair of losses. On Monday, DSL Colorado scored five runs over the final three innings, including two in the top of the ninth, to win 9-7. Miguel Hernandez, Yaxson Lucena and Cristofer Lebron each had two hits each had two hits to lead the Cardinals’ 10-hit attack. The Cardinals fell to DSL Rangers Red 11-9 on Tuesday, despite another two-hit day from Hernandez, who also drove in a pair of runs.
To mark the start of the DSL season, here are scouting reports on some of the “names to know” among the Cardinals’ international signings from 2025, all of whom are playing for their DSL squad. The information comes courtesy of Baseball America, with the players presented in alphabetical order.
Sebastien Dos Santos
The Cardinals invested $75,000 to sign 17-year-old Venezuelan shortstop Sebastian Dos Santos, a defensive-minded prospect whose glove is already drawing attention. At 6 feet tall and a lean 140 pounds, Dos Santos is known more for his fielding instincts than his speed.
He’s a switch-hitter with a solid feel for contact at the plate, though he’ll need to get stronger to tap into more extra-base potential. In the field, Dos Santos shows natural feel. Soft hands, a reliable internal clock, and an impressive ability to anticipate the ball make him a steady presence at shortstop.
Daniel Gomez
The Cardinals added 17-year-old right-hander Daniel Gomez to their system with a $350,000 signing bonus. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, Gomez is more power than finesse at this stage, leaning on a strong, heavy fastball that reaches up to 92 mph.
Gomez's delivery is smooth and repeatable, giving him a solid foundation for throwing strikes. He currently pairs the fastball with a curveball that’s more advanced than his developing changeup.
Miguel Hernandez
Since signing with the Cardinals for $500,000, Miguel Hernandez has been trending in the right direction. The 6-foot shortstop, who turned 17 on Opening Day, is one of the younger players in his international signing class, but he’s already showing a mature, well-rounded offensive game that continues to improve.
Lean and athletic, Hernandez is a fluid mover on defense with soft hands, above-average speed, and the kind of light, agile footwork that fits the shortstop position. The biggest question mark right now is his arm—currently fringe-average—but there’s reason to believe that continued physical development and added strength could allow him to stick at the position long-term.
At the plate, Hernandez has shown promise early on. His right-handed swing has become quicker and more compact as he’s begun to add muscle, and the result is a line-drive approach that plays gap to gap with emerging doubles power. He consistently puts the bat on the ball and shows a good feel for contact, suggesting a profile that leans hit-over-power for now. Still, with physical growth, some of those doubles could start clearing fences in the coming years.
Kenley Hunter
A 17-year-old outfielder from Nicaragua, Kenley Hunter, one of the most promising prospects to emerge from the country in recent years, signed with the Cardinals for $700,000. A standout in last year’s U-18 World Cup Americas Qualifier, Hunter posted an impressive .423/.444/.577 slash line over 27 plate appearances and finished tied for the tournament lead with 11 hits.
Hunter, who recently celebrated his birthday in May, brings a wiry, athletic frame at 6-foot, 170 pounds. A former shortstop, he’s transitioned smoothly to the outfield, showing natural instincts and impressive range for his age, suggesting that he could remain in center field long-term. Defensively, he boasts a plus arm and above-average speed, which help him stand out in the field.
At the plate, the right-handed-hitting Hunter shows an aggressive mindset and a quick, compact swing that currently produces doubles power. With time, added strength, and experience against more advanced velocity than he’s seen in Nicaragua, there’s reason to believe his offensive tools could continue trending up.
Yeferson Portolatin
Seventeen-year-old switch-hitting shortstop Yeferson Portolatin inked a $450,000 deal, bringing intriguing upside to the field. At 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, Portolatin features a compact swing from both sides of the plate, though his left-handed stroke shows more quickness and efficiency. He displays solid strike-zone awareness and pitch recognition, already flashing doubles power at the plate.
Defensively, Portolatin plays with high energy and has both speed and arm strength that grade slightly above average. While he’s capable of sticking in the middle infield, scouts see second base as a more likely long-term fit than shortstop.
Juan Rujano
Seventeen-year-old Juan Rujano secured the highest bonus among Panamanian players in this year’s international signing class, inking a $750,000 deal with the Cardinals. The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder – signed as a catcher, although listed as a shortstop on the team’s roster – brings a loud toolset headlined by raw power that already shows up in games. A right-handed hitter, Rujano profiles as a power-first bat with the physical projection to unlock even more pop as he matures and adds strength.
While his offensive game is built more around slug than contact right now, the upside is clear. Behind the plate, Rujano is notably agile and flexible for his size. His arm is already grading out as solid-average with a chance to tick up, though there’s still refinement needed in his receiving and blocking. He’s currently recovering from a triceps injury, but the expectation is that he’ll return early in the DSL season.
Royel Strop
Pedro Strop carved out a 13-year career as a major league reliever from 2009 to 2021, beginning with stints in Texas and Baltimore before finding a long-term home in Chicago. With the Cubs, he spent eight seasons and delivered many of his most effective performances out of the bullpen. Now, a new generation of the Strop name is entering professional baseball.
His son, Royel Strop, is a center fielder who signed with the St. Louis Cardinals for $1.4 million. Deemed by Baseball America as “Top of the Class” among the international signees, Strop, who turned 17 today, is a left-handed hitter with athleticism and strong instincts for the game. A lean 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, Strop shows a patient approach at the plate, often working counts in his favor and showing discipline that’s advanced for his age. While there’s some division among scouts about how consistently he’ll hit – particularly due to concerns about swing-and-miss – his bat speed is impressive. Though he’s not yet physically strong, there’s plenty of projection left, with the potential to add muscle and hit for more power, especially to the pull side.
Strop already drives the ball well into the gaps and has shown flashes of home run ability. He’s also a plus runner, and scouts expect he’ll maintain that speed as he matures physically. Defensively, he boasts an above-average arm from center field that could develop into a clear strength as he adds strength to his frame.