When José De León returned to the Puerto Rican Winter League for the first time in six years this winter, he found something that was missing for the last couple of years.
Finally, he felt confident in himself again.
What did that look like? He dominated the league with a 1.86 ERA in 29 innings, striking out 53 and walking 11. His team won a championship. He had success with his revamped slider and a new cutter that he started throwing.
“Ever since my surgery, I’ve been trying to find that confidence level that I had from when I was a prospect,” said De León, who had Tommy John surgery in 2018.