In a light day of Winter League action yesterday, Starling Marte went 2-for-4, with two singles and a run scored. He now has a .320/.394/.485 line in 25 games. Marte started the season off showing improved plate patience, but has hit a wall the last eight games. After having 11 walks through just 17 games, Marte has failed to draw a walk in his last eight games, striking out six times during that streak. He has still managed to hit .306 with nine RBI’s over that time.
The only other Pirates’ farmhand to play yesterday was Anderson Hernandez, who went 1-for-3, with an RBI and a walk. He is hitting .433 over his last eight games, with five walks and just one strikeout. On the year, Hernandez is hitting .285 with 16 RBI’s in 38 games and his 137 AB’s in tops among all Pirates players participating in Fall/Winter ball.
One omission from yesterday’s recap, that showed up on the Pirates stat sheet this morning, was Willy Garcia. He made his Winter League debut on Sunday playing for Aguilas Cibaenas of the Dominican League. Garcia came in to pinch-run for Manny Ramirez in the eighth inning of his team’s 14-1 win. He scored on a sacrifice fly, then got a chance to bat in the ninth inning and came through with an RBI single. Garcia, who turned twenty-years-old just as the minor league season ended, hit .240 with 18 homers and 77 RBI’s for the West Virginia Power this year. His major drawback was a 32/131 BB/K ratio, though he has tremendous power and plays strong defense in right field.
If you missed yesterday’s recap, Nate Baker and Kris Johnson also made their debut on Sunday. That article can be viewed here.
Monday was a scheduled off day for all five leagues currently running. The two games played yesterday were make-up games of rainouts. All of the Winter leagues, with the lone exception of the Australian League, resume their schedule tonight. The ABL resumes play on Friday.
