Ronnie Dawson heads to Rakuten Monkeys in comeback move
Ronnie Dawson’s hot start with the Lexington Legends pushed him into another international job, with the outfielder headed to the Rakuten Monkeys of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League after giving Lexington one of its best bats in 2026. Dawson hit .315 with a .386 on-base percentage and a .581 slugging percentage for the Legends, adding eight home runs and 28 RBIs in 140 plate appearances before the Monkeys moved to bring him in.
For Lexington, the transaction cut both ways. The Legends lost a middle-of-the-order hitter, but they also watched one of the Atlantic League’s most visible comeback stories climb back into affiliated-level interest overseas. Dawson’s path had already taken him from the majors to South Korea and back into independent baseball, and the Taiwan move gave him another chance to keep that travel-heavy career alive.
Dawson’s recent stop in Korea made the rebound more notable. He spent 2023 and 2024 with the Kiwoom Heroes in the Korea Baseball Organization, where he hit .336 with 77 hits, three home runs and 29 RBIs in 57 games in 2023, then followed with a .330 season in 2024 that included 126 hits, 31 doubles, 11 home runs and 57 RBIs in 95 games. His 2024 season ended with a torn ACL after a collision with a teammate in the outfield, and he spent nearly a year rehabbing before returning to play in 2025.
The move to Rakuten also fit the Monkeys’ need. Taiwan’s lineup was near the bottom of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in both OPS and runs scored when it pursued Dawson, making his power and on-base track record a clear fit for a club looking for offense. For a player who has already worked his way through the Houston Astros, the Cincinnati Reds, South Korea and the Atlantic League, the signing showed that strong independent-league production can still reopen doors halfway around the world.
Dawson was drafted by the Houston Astros in the second round of the 2016 MLB Draft and reached the majors with Houston in 2021 before later appearing with the Reds. His stop in Lexington did more than fill a lineup card: it restored his visibility, and now it has carried him to Taiwan for the next stage of a career that has kept finding new ground.