Standout Croes re-signs with Goldeyes

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This article was published 27/01/2025 (423 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dayson Croes hoped he had taken his last at-bat as a member of the Winnipeg Goldeyes.

That he had finally done enough to earn a chance with an organization in Major League Baseball.

It nearly happened last June when the Minnesota Twins came calling. One of their affiliate teams needed someone to play immediately, but Croes couldn’t get a work visa on short notice and the deal fell through.

The product of Noord, Aruba, went on to have another outstanding campaign with the Goldeyes in 2024, finishing in the top-three among all American Association players in batting average (.342) and hits (128) while playing in 93 out of 100 regular season contests and splitting time at second and third base.

He showed the ability to shine when the lights were brightest in the playoffs, leading all players with 13 hits and finishing among the post-season leaders in average (.382), RBI (six) and walks (five), as the Goldeyes made a run to the championship series.

Despite those numbers, Croes struck out this winter and never received a call.

On Monday, the 25-year-old re-signed with the Goldeyes to return for a third season with the club. It marked a bitter-sweet moment for Croes, who will return to a place that has grown near and dear to him but accepted his dreams will have to wait a bit longer.

“It’s always been No. 1 goal is going to the minors, but Winnipeg is the place that gave me a chance to play professional baseball in the first place when everybody else said no, so, just that loyalty. I have a great setup with my host family,” said Croes, who was offered more money to play in the Mexican Baseball League next season but declined.

“It was going to take a lot for me not to come back to Winnipeg. Great setup, great people, great fans — everything. There’s nothing not to love about Winnipeg.”

No player in the association has recorded more hits than Croes’ 263 since he turned pro and joined the Goldeyes in 2023. In his rookie season, he nearly broke a franchise record by registering a hit in 25 consecutive games en route to being named Rookie of the Year.

After his rookie campaign, however, MLB evaluators told Croes he would need to steal more bases, hit for more power and clean up his game defensively before he would get a look at the next level. He did just that, doubling the number of stolen bags (10), recording five home runs (two more than his rookie year) and cutting his errors from 15 to six in 2024.

His improvement while maintaining his stellar on-base efficiency hasn’t been enough to generate interest, though.

Goldeyes field manager Logan Watkins, who played 58 games for the Chicago Cubs from 2013-14, said MLB organizations follow a new school of thought where they are more concerned about the ability to hit for home runs and extra bases and place less value on a player who can avoid striking out.

If a player can’t bring power to the table, they need to be elite in another area like stealing bases or defensively.

“I know when we talked last week on the phone he was asking me as far as how to get better at stealing bases because I think he’s well aware that those kind of things are what’s going to stand out as far as getting picked up, because apparently hitting .330 every year is not good enough,” Watkins said, adding he couldn’t get the contract to Croes fast enough when he expressed his desire to re-sign.

“My mentality for running a roster, a guy who hits .330, .340 for me is way harder to find and has a lot more value than I guess maybe affiliated teams see. I know there’s plenty of teams in our league that really wish Dayson Croes wasn’t in our lineup.”

Croes has been in the gym and is taking his diet more seriously this winter while he trains at his alma mater, Quincy University (Illinois). He hasn’t played in any winter leagues but represented the Netherlands at the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 tournament, which featured the 12 highest-ranked national teams in the world, in November.

He was a sponge during those two weeks while playing alongside several big leaguers and working with hitting coach Bart Hanegraaff, who has spent the last five seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates as the head of methodology.

“Every year you want to get better. If it’s not in one thing, it’s the other. I still had six errors last year, so if I can cut down… I always (say) if I’m going to play I want to get better. I’m working on my swing a little bit,” Croes said.

Winnipeg now has 14 players under contract for the 2025 season. American Association clubs may carry up to 33 players during spring training, which begins April 26.

Watkins said several important players from last season are not expected to return in 2025.

Most notably, Joey Matulovich, an all-star last season, and fellow starting arms Zach Reininger and Travis Seabrooke, who helped form one of the best rotations in the league, are unlikely to be back. Meanwhile, outfielder Miles Simmington and relief pitchers Ben Onyshko, Nick Trogrlic-Iverson and Joey Steele have all signed in the Mexican league.

“It’s hard to determine if it’s going to be a better roster than last year,” Watkins said.

“Filling those holes are definitely going to be difficult. Don’t get me wrong, we’re planning on filling those holes with good players. Are they going to be as good as those guys? It’s really to be determined.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca