By DZ. Filed 8 Aug. 2025.
A trio of East Africans are competing in the Dominican Summer League, which has less than two weeks of regular season to go. They are trying to follow the lead of Ugandan David Matoma, whose success in the DSL led to his jump to the U.S. complex league last season and another promotion to Low-A this year. South Africa’s lone representative, veteran reliever Tayler Scott, remains one level away from his return to the big leagues.
Key
Name (age*), organization, country, team.
*Age is as of Sept 1, 2025 (playing age this season).
Team Prospect Rankings: BA (Baseball America): #; FG (Fangraphs): #; MLB (MLB.com): #.
“NR” denotes not ranked (only included for players listed in other rankings).
Triple-A (1)
Tayler Scott (33), Houston Astros. South Africa. Sugar Land Skeeters.
Scott is still settling into his bullpen role with Houston’s Triple-A squad after starting the year with the Diamondbacks. Over his last six games, he is allowed nine runs on 13 hits in nine innings, striking out seven and walking four. His minor league ERA is up to 3.55 for the season.
Low-A (1)
David Matoma (19), Pittsburgh Pirates. Uganda. Bradenton Marauders. BA: NR; FG: 18; MLB: NR.
Matoma is facing adversity for the first time in his career, pitching to a 5.06 ERA in 32 innings as a 19-year-old in full-season baseball. He has allowed runs in his last three appearances after a couple of clean outings that had lowered his ERA to 4.40. He has allowed a hit per inning, striking out 30 and walking 21. Matoma has a few weeks left in his season, and should have plenty of chances to finish strong.
Rookie League, Dominican Complex Leagues (3)
Allen Ajoti (20), Los Angeles Dodgers. Uganda. DSL LAD Bautista.
Ajoti is riding a seven-game hitting streak that includes three doubles. He added another stolen base as well, giving him three without being caught. In 27 games this season, he is hitting .214 with nine extra base hits, 24 strikeouts, and seven walks, very strong production for a young catcher, let alone one from Uganda.
Joseph Deng Thon (18), Los Angeles Dodgers. South Sudan/Uganda. DSL LAD Mega.
Deng has struggled to find the zone during his short time in the DSL. He has pitched in seven games, accumulating 3.2 innings and allowing only one hit and striking out five. Unfortunately, he has walked 18 batters in that time, leading to nine earned runs. Deng has an 0-3 record with one hold and 22.09 ERA, despite that solo base hit given up.
Armstrong Muhoozi (18), Pittsburgh Pirates. Uganda. DSL Pirates Gold.
Muhoozi has been cold-hot-cold through his first season, playing in 28 games around a minor IL stint for a leg injury. He had an eight-game hit streak in mid-July but has hits in only two of his eight games since then. Muhoozi has scored 20 runs with seven extra base hits for the DSL season to date, walking seven times and striking out in 23 plate appearance, stealing an eye-opening 20 bases in 23 attempts. He is hitting .258/.340/.360 with two weeks of the season remaining.
Previous Articles in This Year’s Series:
May [link].
June [link].
July [link].
Mid-July [link].