Speaking on a Dominican sports radio program, New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto said that he asked for and received permission from Mets owner Steven A. Cohen to play 10 games for the Tigres del Licey of LIDOM.
Soto noted that he would decide when he would play for Licey, but noted that it would not be this season.
Dijo Juan Soto en @GrandesELD que nadie de Yankees maltrató a su familia. "Eso es mentira", dijo Soto.
También dijo que le pidió permiso a Mets para jugar 10 juegos con Tigres del Licey en pelota invernal, pero no para esta temporada.
— Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) December 20, 2024
Soto also noted that no one from the New York Yankees organization ever mistreated his family, a rumor that was circulating in the wake of the outfielder signing a 15-year, $765 million deal with the crosstown rival Mets.
The Tigres del Licey, who play in Estadio Quisqueya Juan Marichal, are the winningest winter ball team in the Caribbean and two-time defending LIDOM champs. Known as “El Glorioso,” the Tigres have appeared in the last two Caribbean Series championship games, beating the Leones del Caracas of Venezuela’s LVBP in 2023 and falling to the Tiburones de La Guaira of the LVBP in Miami in 2024.
The most notable current player in the Mets organization to play for the Tigres del Licey is infielder Ronny Mauricio, who was named the LIDOM MVP in 2022-23, a winter season that saw him bat .287/.335/.468 with 31 RBIs and five homers.
Mauricio returned to Licey last winter over objections from the Mets organization because of personal financial concerns, the New York Post reported in January, a month after Mauricio suffered an ACL injury in his eighth game of the winter season with Licey that ended up costing him the entire 2024 regular season.
Soto, 26, has never appeared in winter ball, and has batted .285/.421/.532 with 201 homers and 592 RBIs in 936 MLB games over seven seasons.
