Last winter, the Leones del Caracas pitching staff wasn’t the worst in the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, but it was close.
With a 6.30 ERA, the staff was just 0.15 points better than the Caribes de Anzoategui, who were dead last in the LVBP with a 6.45 ERA, and Caracas staff allowed 633 hits, the most in the league, had the worst WHIP in the league at 1.741, and allowed the second-most runs, 359, just two runs behind the Caribes.
Leones general manager Luis Soto knows that for the club to have a chance to get back to the Caribbean Series, which will be played in their home ballpark, the Estadio Monumental Simon Bolivar in February, the pitching is going to need to improve.
“The Leones’ pitching was the worst in the league (in 2024-2025), and although I didn’t see such a pronounced deficiency … we need to strengthen that area. So the bulk of the imports will be pitchers, because we have a lineup that can produce runs,” Sojo said on Beisbol Center, a Caracas-area radio program, according to the league’s website.
JC Keys, a former Cincinnati Reds farmhand out of the University of Southern Mississippi, is the latest import pitcher to join the Leones for 2025-26, joining Shea Spitzbarth, Aaron Shortridge, Beck Way, and Luis Miguel Romero.
Keys sat out the 2023 season after being released from the Reds minor league system late during spring training and returned to the field in 2024 with Kansas City of the independent American Association, throwing 32 innings in 22 relief appearances, posting a 2.81 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 22 walks. This past summer, he had 49 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings of work over 38 outings with Chicago in the American Association. This will be his first season playing winter ball in Latin America.
Cardenales Add Former Twins Farmhand Hunter McMahon – Hunter McMahon, a righty with experience at the Triple-A level in the Minnesota Twins farm system, will join the defending LVBP champion Cardenales de Lara for 2025-26.
McMahon pitched five seasons in affiliated baseball after signing with the Washington Nationals in 2019, pitching at every level from Rookie to Triple-A. The bulk of his pitching came in Double-A, where he had a 7.35 ERA in 78 1/3 innings over parts of three seasons with Wichita (Kan.) of the Texas League, the Double-A affiliate of Minnesota. He had remarkable success in limited Triple-A action, making seven appearances and two starts with St. Paul in 2023, throwing 11 1/3 innings with a 1.59 ERA. He’s played the past two seasons with Kansas City in the American Association, throwing 99 1/3 innings over 50 appearances and 10 starts with a 3.99 ERA and 99 strikeouts against just 26 walks.
Zach Plesac Joins Navegantes Magallanes As Import – Zach Plesac, who pitched parts of six seasons in Major League Baseball with the Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Angels, will make his winter ball debut with the Navegantes de Magallanes this winter.
Plesac, 30, has a career 4.31 ERA across 478 2/3 innings in 87 appearances, 86 of them starts, with a 1.237 WHIP and 364 strikeouts against 130 walks in the big leagues.
This past season, Plesac started the season with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, making seven starts and throwing 38 innings with a 2.84 ERA before signing a minor league deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. With Memphis, the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, Plesac threw 58 2/3 innings in 15 appearances with a 7.67 ERA.
Photo: Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Zach Plesac throws to a Detroit Tigers batter during the third inning of a baseball game Friday, June 28, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
