he followed up the 1991 season by playing for the Tigres del Licey of the Dominican Winter League. In 47 games, he batted .266 with three home runs and 16 RBI as the Tigres reached the playoffs. During the 1992 season, Traxler played 127 games for Albuquerque. He batted .303 with 58 runs scored, 119 hits, 11 home runs, and 58 RBI. However, in the major leagues, Karros had taken over from Murray as the everyday first baseman and won the National League (NL) Rookie of the Year Award, diminishing Traxler's chances of returning to the major leagues with the Dodgers. After the season, Traxler returned to the Leones del Caracas, but he batted just .217 this time while only playing 27 games. Traxler had continued to pitch occasionally, making one appearance on the mound in 1990 and 1992 for Albuquerque. In 1993, he pitched two games for the Dukes, winning one of them, though his earned run average (ERA) was 11.57. Traxler again played 127 games for Albuquerque in 1993, ranking among the PCL leaders in several categories. His .333 batting average was fourth in the league (behind Jim Lindeman's .362, teammate Jerry Brooks's .344, and Brian Johnson's .339), his 81 runs scored were ninth, his 147 hits were fifth, his 36 doubles were tied with Kurt Abbott and Luis López for third (behind James Mouton's 42 and Steve Hosey's 40), his 16 home runs were tied with four other players for eighth, and his 83 RBI were ninth in the league. Despite his strong season, he was not called up by Los Angeles in September. This time, he went to Puerto Rico for winter ball, playing with the Indios de Mayagüez. In 27 games, he batted .256 with three home runs and 16 RBI. Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (1994) Entering the 1994 season, the Colorado Rockies were interested in acquiring Traxler, though they only planned to use him as a pinch hitter. Instead, Traxler cut his season in Puerto Rico short, signing with the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League in Nippon Professional Baseball. In Fukuoka, he was used as the everyday first baseman. He had seven RBI in his first game with the team. After a strong first half, he became the only foreign player named to the Japanese All-Star Game. The fans nicknamed him "Koro Koro-chan" (a reference to his heavy build), and a custom