Credit: Phrake Photo
The Dominican Winter League is home to several current and aspiring MLB players and prospects. In the current 2025-2026 LIDOM season, two key pieces of the Padres organization are making noise.
When the season ends, is baseball really over? The popular baseball video game, MLB The Show 24, presented this question in its opening trailer two years ago. Consequently, the answer to that question is a resounding no.
In the MLB world, the winter season marks a heavy period of business. However, for many players, the chilly season marks the beginning of several foreign winter leagues, most notably the Dominican Winter League. The league has grown vastly in popularity, due to games being broadcast on MLB.tv, the MLB’s comprehensive streaming service.
In addition, the baseball culture embedded in the Dominican Republic has drawn the attention of fans captivated by the Latin influence on the MLB. For example, a go-ahead home run in last year’s LIDOM championship from the Tampa Bay Rays’ Junior Caminero fostered loads of interaction and discourse among MLB fans. This was due to his home run trot lasting 56 seconds, a duration unheard of in the MLB.
Within the Padres organization, catcher Luis Campusano and relief pitcher Francis Peña are both participating in the Dominican Winter League. For Campusano, it’s his third season of winter ball, and his second year playing for the Tigres de Licey. Campusano spent the 2022-23 season playing with the Estrellas Orientales, a team managed by Fernando Tatis Sr. Meanwhile, Francis Peña is making his first appearance in the league and is competing with the Leones de Escogido, who won the LIDOM title the previous year.
Luis Campusano
Per Baseball Reference, Luis Campusano has a career .248 batting average with six home runs in LIDOM action. He’s historically played most of his defense behind the plate, but also started a few games at first base. He’s played a total of 31 games in the LIDOM. Through 11 games in 2025, Campusano is batting .214 with two home runs and 7 runs batted in.
Luis Campusano la manda para la calle ?#LIDOM #CopaBanreservas pic.twitter.com/t3Edu9puuT
— LIDOM (@LIDOMRD) November 23, 2025
Coming off a year in which Campusano tore up the Pacific Coast League, maintaining strong performance is key. Campusano posted a dazzling .336 batting average with 50 extra-base hits in 91 games of the Triple-A season. When veteran catchers struggled early on in the 2025 MLB season, recalling Campusano was a popular proposed fix to the situation. However, Campusano came up only to play nine games at designated hitter and failed to record a hit. Although his showing was rough, his 91-game sample of success at the Triple-A level indicates a successful 2025 campaign.
Campusano’s only true deficiency remains his defensive ability. In a league where catching is somewhat at a premium, developing Campusano behind the plate is a priority for the Padres organization. Getting the opportunity to work with a fresh set of pitchers in the Dominican Republic should bode well for his development.
Francis Peña
Unlike Campusano, Peña has yet to make his MLB debut and remains the Padres’ No. 20 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. The 23-year-old right-hander is a native of the Dominican Republic and is enjoying his first season of LIDOM winter ball. In three LIDOM games so far, Peña has tossed 2.1 innings, allowing one run and striking out one.
Although Peña is under the Padres’ control, his tenure with the Padres could come to an abrupt end. When the Padres added fellow prospects Miguel Mendez and Garrett Hawkins to the 40-man roster, Peña became vulnerable to the Rule 5 draft. On December 10, Peña, among many others, may be selected by another team via the draft. However, if he slides through the draft safely, he’ll be a candidate to earn an MLB debut sometime in 2026.
The stat to watch for Peña this winter will be the walk rate. With a mid-to-high 90s fastball and wipeout cutter and seven feet of extension down the mound, his arsenal is major league-ready. However, hitting spots, limiting walks, and keeping himself in the best counts to succeed are key for Peña’s outlook.
A 17-year-old San Diego native, Willy Warren is a baseball fan at heart who created High Leverage Baseball, a public baseball media account covering around-the-league statistical analysis and breakdowns on X. Willy is set to attend the Cronkite School of Journalism in the fall of 2026 at Arizona State University, where he’ll pursue a major in sports journalism.
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