Rafael Dolis

Rafael Jose Dolis

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 180 lb.

• Debut September 26, 2011

• Born January 10, 1988 in La Romana, La Romana D.R.

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Biographical information

Pitcher Rafael Dolis reached the majors with the Chicago Cubs in 2011.

Dolis was signed by scouts Jose Serra and Marino Encarnacion for the Cubs in 2004 at age 16. He was originally a shortstop, but was converted to pitching before he came stateside. He began his U.S. career in 2006 pitching for the AZL Cubs, going 0-2 with an 8.28 ERA in 13 games (three starts) for them. In 25 innings of work, he struck out 33 batters but allowed 30 hits and 16 walks. He pitched for the Peoria Chiefs in 2007, going 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA in six starts, but went on the disabled list with tendonitis in early May and never came off the DL. Two months later, he had Tommy John surgery.

After not pitching in 2008 while recuperating from surgery, Dolis pitched for the Daytona Cubs in 2009, going 3-9 with a 3.79 ERA and .221 opponent average in 27 games (25 starts). He began 2010 back with Daytona and went 9-9 with a 3.42 ERA in 26 games that year between the team and the AA Tennessee Smokies. Moved to the bullpen the next year, he went 8-5 with a 3.22 ERA and 17 saves for the Smokies and earned a late season call-up with Chicago. He made his debut with the Cubs on September 26th, his only appearance in the Show that year. In 2012, he pitched 34 times for the Cubs, but with poor results as his ERA was 6.39, to go along with a 2-4 record and 4 saves. In 2013, he did not give up an earned run (although he did allow 2 unearned runs) in 5 appearances, but was then out of the major leagues until the following decade.

He pitched in Japan from 2016 to 2019, with the Hanshin Tigers of the Central League. He was used as a closer for much of that period, registering 37 saves in 2017 and 32 in 2018. After another good season in 2019, when he was 5-4, 2.11 with 19 saves in 56 games, he returned to the United States in 2020 as he signed a contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. He pitched an inning in the Jays' opening day win over the Tampa Bay Rays on July 24th, although it was a bit of a struggle as he allowed an unearned run and left the bases loaded before handing the ball over to closer Ken Giles who completed the 6-4 win. While his outings weren't always pretty, the end results were good as he went 2-2, 1.50 in 24 games, with 5 saves. He gave up just 16 hits in 24 innings, compensating for a high walk rate (14); he also struck out 31 batters as his forkball could be devastating when he was at his peak. He made his first career postseason appearance in the Wild Card Series against the Rays, with one scoreless inning.

He was counted on as a key member of the Blue Jays bullpen in 2021, but never got going. He would lose effectiveness suddenly when he seemed to finally have turned things around, and made two separate stays on the injured list, one in May and one in June. When he did take the mound, he worked so slowly that one Boston Red Sox announcer stated "a small civilization could rise and fall between ball two and ball three". Result were overall poor, with an ERA of 5.63 in 39 games, with a 2-3 record and 3 saves. He allowed 29 hits but 27 walks in 32 innings, continually having to deal with men on base. On August 18th, the Blue Jays threw up their hands and had him designated for assignment even though a number of their relievers were injured at the time and they were making do at that point with at least three members of the bullpen who should more properly have been pitching in AAA (Connor Overton, Kirby Snead and Trent Thornton).

Related Sites

• Rafael Dolis on mlb.com