Full Name: Rafael Jose Dolis Hernandez
Name (Japanese): ラファエル・ドリス
Date of Birth: January 10, 1988
Hometown: La Romana, Dominican Republic
Height: 195 cm (6’5″)
Weight: 109 kg (240 lb)
Throws/Bats: Right/Right
Wore #: 98
Social Media: Instagram
Walk-Up Song: El Alfa El Jefe – Banda De Camion (NUEVO 2016)
Originally drafted by: Undrafted (2004 – Amateur Free Agent w/ Chicago Cubs)
Joined the Tigers’ roster in: 2016
Left Tigers in: 2019
Career Stats:
| Yr | Team | ERA | GP | GS | CG | SO | No BB | GC | W | L | HLD | HP | SV | W% | IP | BF | H | HR | K | K/9 | BB | HBP | WP | BK | R | ER | AVG vs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Tigers | 2.12 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 8 | .500 | 34.0 | 138 | 19 | 0 | 36 | 9.53 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 8 | .161 |
| 2017 | Tigers | 2.71 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 37 | .500 | 63.0 | 259 | 53 | 1 | 85 | 12.14 | 17 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 19 | .228 |
| 2018 | Tigers | 2.85 | 55 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 32 | .125 | 53.2 | 229 | 50 | 4 | 56 | 9.39 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 22 | 17 | .248 |
| 2019 | Tigers | 2.11 | 56 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 19 | .556 | 55.1 | 213 | 36 | 1 | 50 | 8.13 | 11 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 13 | .190 |
| Career | 2.49 | 208 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 154 | 13 | 18 | 28 | 41 | 96 | .419 | 206 | 839 | 158 | 6 | 227 | 9.92 | 61 | 6 | 19 | 0 | 71 | 57 | .213 |
Short Biography:
Rafael Dolis started his baseball career as a shortstop and was signed by the Chicago Cubs at a very young age. He made the conversion to pitcher when he realized he did not like the idea of being hit by pitches. He had a strong arm, and convinced the Cubs to let him try his hand at pitching. They told him that if he failed the tryout, they would cut him. He threw smoke and the club kept him on.
He ultimately made his debut with the Cubs in 2012, and stuck around with the team (mostly in the minors) until the end of the 2013 season. After that, he spent part of one year with the San Francisco Giants’ organization, but after being set free midway through the season, he signed with the Detroit Tigers at the end of 2014. He spent the whole 2015 season at AAA level, and was released at the end of the year.
Dolis was signed by Hanshin a little later than most imports. He reached an agreement with the team in the middle of January 2016, but still made it to spring training on time, having caught a flight with fellow Dominicans Mauro Gomez and Marcos Mateo. He reported to the club’s top squad spring training in Okinawa, although he was slated to begin the season on the second squad. While he impressed during the preseason, there was no room for him on the top roster because of the import limitation rule.
However, when fellow newcomer Matt Hague struggled early in the year and the top squad’s bullpen also lacked stability, the team swapped the third baseman for Dolis. He made his debut on April 19 against the Yakult Swallows. He also pitched the next night and two nights later, all scoreless innings. He allowed his first two runs against on April 23, which was his fourth appearance in 5 days. Dolis earned his first career win just over a week later when he pitched a scoreless top of the 8th against the DeNA Baystars and the bats pushed the winning run across the plate in the bottom of the frame. Unfortunately, Dolis was deactivated on May 17 due to arm fatigue. (Hague got the call up after a hot month on the farm, but could not keep it up in the short chance he was given at the end of May.)
Upon his recall on May 31, Dolis rattled off 15 straight innings of shutout ball over the course of six weeks. He picked up two wins and six saves during that stretch. With Mateo returning from an injury of his own in the middle of June and Kyuji Fujikawa struggling to find his old form, Dolis was given the closer’s role until he once again got deactivated at the end of July with a sore right elbow.
He remained inactive until season’s end, at which point he returned to America to get his elbow surgically repaired. The club announced his release on December 2, 2016.
The following February, however, he came to camp for a tryout and showed the team that his elbow was no longer an issue. He signed on for 2017, and was the team’s primary closer that season. He saved 10 games in April (tying a club record with Kyuji and Seung-hwan Oh), and finished the season with a CL-best 37 saves. He was quickly signed to a new single-year contract for the 2018 season.
Though he continued his role as closer in 2018 and contributed with 32 saves, he also was hung for 7 losses. The team chose to use him in tie game situations on several occasions, and many of those ended in losses. Despite his “off-year” he was brought back for the 2019 campaign, which he started as team closer.
The year started very strongly for Dolis, who set the new club record for most saves by an import with 81 (when he shut down the BayStars on April 24). He, along with the rest of the bullpen, went through a rough patch in interleague play, but picked right back up after that. However, because the team was in desperate need of some offense, they needed to drop an import pitcher down to the farm to make room for Yangervis Solarte. Dolis was the one who got bumped, but when Solarte struggled through August, Dolis came back up. His role as closer, however, had been taken over by Kyuji. Dolis would spend the rest of the season entering games anywhere from the fifth to eighth inning, and ended up with the best ERA of his career in 2019.
However, the team was reluctant to bring him back for a fifth season, stating issues with his defense and control. Though they did make an attempt at negotiating a new contract, the team announced on December 18, 2019 that the negotiations had ended without the two sides reaching an agreement.
Related Articles:
Tigers Web Magazine Interviews Dolis (August 25, 2017)
Closing Out a Fine Night (May 17, 2017)
Hanging out with a Tiger (March 21, 2016)
Tigers Sign Sixth Import Dolis (January 18, 2016)