Winter Talent and Summer Aspirations in the Venezuelan Winter League

It’s that time of the year again, the end of the regular season of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVBP). The 2024-2025 season has had an exciting first stage, to the point of needing an extra game between Tiburones and Leones to figure out the last spot in a play-in wild card game preceding the Round Robin, which started the day after Christmas.

Before we talk about specific individual talent, let’s give a little context.

Even though it’s not our subject, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Venezuela as a country immersed in a very difficult political situation. Just the mere existence of a season at all is kind of a miracle, and the fact that the all around level (playing, broadcast, stadiums) is highly competitive, speaks of the extremely qualified human resources in the country.

There’s also a darker take, the government uses all of its means trying to create a sense of normality while burying realities that are more important than baseball and has a hand on the development of the whole event.

But for now, let’s not take away from the actual skills being showcased in the league, regardless of the outside circumstances. Here are notes on some players worth mentioning.

Luis Matos – Tiburones de La Guaira – Age 22. A shoe-in for the LVBP Rookie of the Year Award, Matos’ performance is welcome news for the Giants, where he already played at the big league level last season. He led the LVBP in doubles with 20, and was also third in RBI and fourth in hits. His line was .300/.345/.536.

Jose Fernandez – Caribes de Anzoátegui – Age 21. Fernandez is versatile, and he will definitely help the Dbacks either playing SS, second or third base. His offensive numbers were more than solid, with 14 doubles, 6 HR and 30 RBI, all of them enough to put him amongst the elites of the league, with a hitting line of .308/.341/.517.

Luis Suisbel – Navegantes del Magallanes – Age 21. The Seattle Mariners have to be happy with Suisbel’s performance. He had a very good Single-A season with Modesto in 2024, and he finished a great year with Magallanes in Venezuela. Suisbel would’ve given Matos a run for the Rookie of the Year Award, but he missed some games. Still, in 105 AB (Matos had over 200), he hit 9 doubles, 5 HR and drove in 14. He finished with a .276/.367/.505 slashline.

Luisangel Acuña – Cardenales de Lara – Age 22. Last name sound familiar? Well, yes. It’s that Acuña. Ronald’s brother has already been in the big leagues with the Mets so it’s maybe not so much a promise and more of a reality. He played exceptionally well for the best team of the regular season. He took part in a little more than half of the games of the regular season and drove in 17 runs. For reference, 30 RBI in this league is the equivalent of 100 in MLB. His hitting line was .337/.419/.495.

Símon Muzziotti – Aguilas del Zulia – Age 25. Even though he’s a bit older than the rest of the bunch in this selection, a special mention has to be given to Muzziotti hoping that the Phillies give him another chance, because he has had an extraordinary season in the LVBP. Not only he proved to be an excellent CF but he also put on career offensive marks in every line, hitting .290/.335/.535 with 8 HR and 30 RBI, leading Aguilas in these last two statistics.

We were going to mention another 20-year-old named Jackson Chourio, but it just seemed unfair. It’s really great that some major league talent chooses to play at least a few games and the local folks get to see them. Chourio, for example, played 6 games for Aguilas del Zulia, ending with a line of .389/.500/.444, but more than the numbers, just the sheer excitement of getting to watch a true star doing what they do. Last season Ronald Acuña Jr. did the same thing.

Even at its worst, the LVBP always has something to offer, and there’s no way we can say the 2024-2025 Venezuelan Winter League regular season was “at its worst”. Quite the contrary.