The Florida Complex League Season Begins This Weekend
Our nightly recaps are about to get one team bigger. The Florida Complex League Tigers kick off their season on Saturday, May 3rd, with a collection of exciting young players. Last year’s squad won the FCL Championship, led by players like Franyerber Montilla, Nomar Fana, and Enrique Jimenez.
It’s always tough to repeat as champions in any league, but this year’s FCL Tigers squad has plenty of interesting talent. Let’s take a look.
2024 Draft Picks
As always, rookie ball serves as a landing spot for many of then previous year’s draft picks. This year’s club features five of them, led by 2nd-rounder Ethan Schiefelbein. A left-hander who will presumably serve as one of the team’s starters, Schiefelbein just turned 19 at the beginning of April. He comes into pro ball with a reputation as a pitcher with solid stuff, but a precocious feel for the craft.
Another 2024 draft pick is 12th-round shortstop Jude Warwick, who made our Sleepers and Favorites list. Then there’s catcher Gabriel Rosado, who was taken in the 17th round, and a pair of pitchers. Bryce Alewine was Detroit’s 18th-round pick last year, and Dawson Price was their final selection, in the 20th round. You can see a bit of Price in this video from extended spring training. We should also mention catcher Hunter Dobbins here. He was signed as an undrafted free agent last July, and he’s set to make his professional debut this year.
Stateside Debuts
Of course the Florida Complex League isn’t just for domestic players, it’s frequently our first look at Detroit’s top international signings. This year’s team features 12 international players making their U.S. debuts. We’ll split them into pitchers and position players.
Pitchers
There are six interesting hurlers set to make their FCL debuts this year. Three of them — Eddy Felix, Antonio Florido, and Wanmer Ramirez — spent three seasons in the Dominican Summer League (DSL). We have some footage of Felix, who hits the mid-90s and throws a loopy mid-70s curve, as well as Ramirez, who throws two fastballs in the low-90s, and a slider in the low-to-mid 80s. Alistair Tanner is a native of Adelaide, Australia. He’s the youngest pitcher on the squad, and he has a fun story, to go along with what sounds like solid stuff.
But the two new pitchers we are most interested in watching are Wuilberth Mendez and Kelvis Salcedo. We got a brief look at Mendez in extended spring and were very impressed. He’s got a lean, projectible frame, his sinker sat in the 93-96 MPH range, he showed a very promising breaking ball, and he threw plenty of strikes.
Kelvis Salcedo is a lot of fun, too. His mid-90s fastball shows some natural cut, and he throws a variety of high-spin breaking balls. Check out the grainy video below to see for yourself.
Position Players
This year’s offensive stateside debuts are very interesting. The class is headlined by shortstop Jose Dickson, who we ranked 29th in the system, based largely on outside scouting reports and solid performance in the DSL last year. He hit .273/.407/.374 with 8 doubles, 3 triples, and 18 stolen bases. Infielder Ronald Ramirez and outfielder Jesus Pinto are also coming north after just one season in the DSL. Ramirez had a stellar debut with the bat, hitting .343/.451/.429 with 10 extra-base hits. Pinto is the youngest player on the entire team, having turned 18 at the end of March. He also has a very intriguing mix of power and speed, with 17 extra-base hits and 16 steals in the DSL last year.
The other three newcomers have seen plenty of time in the DSL. The headliner of this group is probably Javier Osorio, who received Detroit’s biggest bonus in the 2022 international class. He success hasn’t come as quickly as classmates Josue Briceno and Montilla, but he’s coming off a big season. He’s joined by Maikol Orozco, who was one of Detroit’s bigger signings in the 2023 class, and catcher Newremberg Rondon, who finally comes to the U.S. after putting up solid DSL stats for four years.
Returning Champions
This year’s FCL Tigers club also features a number of players who have seen Complex League action before. That includes a trio of 2023 draft picks in RHP Jatnk Diaz (8th), catcher Brady Cerkownyk (15th) and RHP Johnathan Rogers (20th).
Theres also a quartet of exciting young international players who made their U.S. debuts last year. This group is headlined by catcher Enrique Jimenez, who ranks 23rd on our prospect list. Then there’s lefty hitting infielder Juan Hernandez, who flashed some interesting power last year, and switch-hitting outfielder Anibal Salas, who has nice tools but hit just .195 with a 30% strikeout rate in 2024. And finally there’s RHP Eliseo Mota, who pitched to a 3.38 ERA last year in 32 innings.
Wild Cards
We finish with three players who all have very interesting stories. Clayton Campbell is a native of New Zealand who spent most of last year in Low A with the Flying Tigers. He has played catcher, first base, and third base, and he has plenty of raw power, but he struggles to make consistent contact.
Riley Valentine is a tall 19-year-old who went undrafted in 2024, but then opted to sign with the Tigers. He saw action in six games last year, but had a little trouble finding the strike zone, with 10 walks in 12.2 innings.
And we finish with Omari Daniel, who is listed on the roster as an infielder. That’s because he was drafted as a shortstop by the Twins in 2022, and that’s the position he played for two years. But Minnesota released him at the end of last season, and the Tigers scooped him up — to pitch. On the mound he throws in the low-90s with a promising mid-80s slider. You can see video of him here.
Rogelio Castillo 
Joe Rampe