Liga Mexicana de Béisbol’s Toros de Tijuana have agreed to a contract for 2025 with Dominican outfielder Emilio Bonifácio. Bonifácio, 39, played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball from 2007-17, and he added a 12th in 2020 with the Washington Nationals.
Bonifácio’s debut for the Toros in 2025 will be his first taste of professional baseball in Mexico. The 2024-25 LIDOM season was Bonifácio’s 16th playing for the Tigres del Licey. In 50 games, the switch-hitter batted .291 with nine RBI and 13 stolen bases in 16 attempts. Despite Bonifácio’s age, he remains a threat to run often on the basepaths, creating a golden opportunity for Tijuana to utilize him as their leadoff hitter.
In 12 MLB seasons, Bonifácio accumulated a career WAR of 3.2 with an OPS+ of 75 and 166 stolen bases in 215 attempts. Bonifácio does not hit for much power, slugging only 13 home runs in 834 games
The Toros officially signed Bonifácio on Monday at a press conference at the Hotel Lucerna in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. The outfielder, who primarily plays center field for the Tigres del Licey during the winter, threw on a Toros de Tijuana jersey and hat for the first time for pictures.
“I have a lot of people close to me who told me I had to play in the summer,” Bonifácio told the media at his press conference. “Obviously, it was a very, very personal decision. As I was approached (by the Toros), the vision they have with the team and I consider myself a winner, and I accepted the challenge of coming here this year.”
Bonifácio was left off the reinforcement list for the Dominican Republic in the 2025 Caribbean Series in Mexicali. He made four appearances for the D.R. (2008, 2014, 2023, 2024) in the annual tournament as a representative of the Tigres del Licey. Despite finishing the 2024-25 LIDOM regular season at a paltry 24-25, the Leones del Escogido defeated the Tigres four games to three in the championship series.
According to an article from Mexican League News on MiLB.com, the Toros de Tijuana have had the most players with MLB experience on their roster in the LMB in the last ten years. Since 2014, 129 former MLB players have suited up for Tijuana.
Bonifácio and the Toros play their first game of the 2025 LMB season on Friday, April 18, against the Rieleros de Aguascalientes at Estadio Chevron in Tijuana, Mexico.
