The Venezuelan winter league suspended play following the United States taking military action in Caracas, casting uncertainty on a couple of Los Angeles Dodgers players.
Edgardo Henriquez, a Venezuelan native, had been pitching for La Tiburones de la Guaira, and Dodgers prospect Eduardo Quintero also briefly spent time with the team.
With roughly five weeks until Spring Training begins, the Dodgers could face some challenges trying to get their players back to the United States. Travel in Venezuela has been impacted by the recent events and it isn’t clear when things may get back to normal.
Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said the organization has been in contact with their players and is trying to help them any way they can, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“We’ve been in contact with our guys and are trying to assist in any way we can obviously,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said.
Gomes added he isn’t concerned about the baseball aspect of the situation and simply wants to make sure the players are safe:
“I don’t really care about the baseball side of it right now. I just want to make sure our guys are in a good place and we’re trying to help out where we can,” Gomes said.
“Everybody is in a good place right now seemingly. It’s a little slower than anybody would like. Our goal is to stay in contact with them and do whatever we can to help them get out as soon as we can.”
The Venezuelan winter league has resumed play this week, but the upcoming Caribbean Series was moved from Caracas to Guadalajara, Mexico, due to travel concerns.
The Dodgers have two other players on their roster with ties to Venezuela in Miguel Rojas and Brusdar Graterol, but they are currently in the United States.
Eduardo Quintero wins Dodgers Minor League award
Quintero, who was signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent on Jan. 15, 2023, out of Ocumare del Tuy, Venezuela, was the organization’s Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year last season.
Quintero hit .306/.426/.533 with 14 home runs and 53 RBI with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga before earning a promotion to the Great Lakes Loons. Upon moving up to High-A, Quintero batted .259/.384/.440 with four doubles, one triple, five home runs and 16 RBI over 32 games.
Across his time with both affiliates, Quintero stole 47 bases in 60 attempts. That was good for fourth among all Dodgers Minor Leaguers, trailing Kendall George (100), Jaron Elkins (62) and Esteury Ruiz (61).
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