Where In The World Is The Washington Nationals' Elijah Dukes? [UPDATED: 6:28 pm EST 11/9]

(ed. note - "Within 12 hours of posting this story, fans of Elijah Dukes, who were wondering when or even if he'd make his way down to the Dominican Winter League to play with the Tigres del Licey, got an answer. According to an article by Daniel Rufenacht at Licey.com (the team's official site) entitled, (or roughly translated as) "Major League Infield":

"In the Dominican league, until the middle of November, the teams play inexperienced players, veterans of smaller leagues and Mexico...

...In the next few days, Elijah Dukes, Jose Batista and Felix Pie will be integrated into the Tigres' roster." 

When he arrives in the Dominican Republic, Dukes will join Nationals' infielder Ian Desmond and former Nationals Wily Mo Pena, Emiliano Bonifacio, Bernie Castro, Anderson Hernandez and Daniel Cabrera in the Licey lineup, as he attempts to work on hitting the breaking balls Dukes identified as his main weakness at the plate in several year-ending articles...Read the original story after the JUMP...")

(ed. note - "Thanks, and a head nod to FB.com regular CD3K for tracking down the article and providing the initial translations.")

In early September several sources reported that Washington Nationals' outfielder Elijah Dukes would be playing Winter Ball with the Tigres del Licey this offseason as he attempted to address what he saw as his main weakness at the plate, hitting the curve. Washington Post writer Chico Harlan spoke with Dukes about his plans in an article entitled, "At Pivotal Point in Career, Dukes Trying To Step It Up", in which Dukes explained that he didn't need to take the winter off:

"I don't really want no time off," Dukes said. "I just want to keep seeing it, keep seeing it, until spring training of next year. I just haven't figured it out yet. . . . The curveball is the last piece."

So where is Elijah Dukes? He hasn't played in the DWL yet?

MLB.com's Bill Ladson, who wrote about Dukes' winter plans in the DWL in a 9/5/09 blog post entitled, "Elijah Dukes to play winter ball", talked about the 25-year-old outfielder in the most recent edition of Mr. Ladson's "Inbox: What role will Morse play", where he responded to a question about pursuing free agent outfielder Jermaine Dye by stating that he sees Dukes as the Nationals' '09 right fielder: 

"I don't see Dukes on the bench. As I say that, the 2010 season is the year Dukes must show that he can reach his full potential."

But there was no mention of what Dukes is doing right now to improve his chances of winning the job in right field or work on hitting curves...As of Sunday, Dukes' name was not on the Tigres' roster...Emiliano Bonifacio played right field for Licey last night...Anyone know when or if Dukes will be playing in the DWL?

Link: When Dukes played in the DWL in 2007, he had reported to the Tigres del Licey by the first week of October...