Estrellas Orientales, a team in the Liga De Beisbol Profesional De La Republica Dominicana winter league, extended manager Fernando Tatis Sr.’s contract for three seasons.
Tatis Sr. helped Estrellas Orientales reach the first Caribbean Series in the history of their franchise during the 2018-19 season and has made it to the league final three times in the last five years.
Estrellas Orientales are the lovable losers of the LIDOM winter league, with three total championships in the history of their franchise. Prior to the 2018-19 regular season, Estrellas Orientales had not won the league championship since the 1967-68 winter league season, predating when the Dominican Republic was invited to the Caribbean Series for the first time in 1970.
Estrellas won their first championship in 1954, four years after the LIDOM became a professional league during the 1950 regular season. Many notable players including Fernando Tatis Jr., Jose Siri, Rico Carty, and Robinson Cano have played for the Estrellas during the history of the organization.
Estrellas general manager Manny Garcia, hired in the beginning of February, has a great track record in Major League Baseball with the Arizona Diamondbacks organization for the last 16 seasons, and is currently the minor league pitching coordinator for the Diamondbacks organization.
Garcia worked with LIDOM’s Aguilas Cibaenas during the last few seasons as their pitching coach from 2019 to 2023, with a Caribbean Series title to his resume during the 2021 tournament. Garcia was the pitching coach for the Dominican Republic in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, helping the team earn a bronze medal and the first Olympic medal for baseball in their country’s history.
Garcia and Tatis Sr. have worked together during two separate winter league seasons with Estrellas. During the 2017-18 winter league season, Tatis Sr. was the bench coach and Garcia was their bullpen coach. The following season, during Estrellas’ championship run, Garcia was the pitching coach that helped the organization reach the Caribbean Series in Tatis Sr. first year managing.
