With the trade between the Red Sox and Pirates completed, it adds two more names to the Winter League mix. Both Ivan DeJesus and Stolmy Pimentel came over to the Pirates yesterday from the Red Sox as part of the return for Joel Hanrahan and Brock Holt. They have also both played Winter ball this year, although it looks like Pimentel is done for the season.
Ivan DeJesus played last night and his first game while as a member of the Pirates wasn’t pretty. Batting lead-off and playing second base, he went 0-for-5, with a strikeout. Despite the inauspicious start to his Pirates career, DeJesus has actually been doing great so far down in Puerto Rico. In 33 games, he has a .341/.396/.468 line, with ten doubles, two homers and 20 RBI’s. DeJesus ranks second in the league hits, third in average, fourth in RBI’s and fourth in OPS.
As for Stolmy Pimentel, he made six starts and two relief appearances in the Dominican Winter League this year. He has a 1-2, 5.87 record in 23 innings pitched, with 25 hits allowed, seven walks and 23 strikeouts. Pimentel also has an excellent 2.50 GO/AO ratio. His off-season is likely done, as he last pitched on December 1st. That game, he went three innings, allowing one run(solo HR) on two hits, no walks and two strikeouts. In his previous outing, he gave up one run over three innings, walking none and he struck out five batters.
In the only other action from last night, Benji Gonzalez picked up his first base hit in over a week. He went 1-for-3 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. Gonzalez drove in a run, but he also committed a first inning error which allowed a run to score. The third inning single by Gonzalez broke an 0-for-23 streak dating back to December 16th.
In Australian League action from today, Adelaide won 9-7 despite getting a shaky outing from Zac Fuesser. He allowed seven runs over four innings of work, though four of those runs were unearned. Fuesser walked five batters and struck out four, while allowing six hits, two of them being home runs. He threw a total of 105 pitches, just 59 for strikes. Stefan Welch was the only Pirates player in the starting lineup. He went 0-for-5, with a run scored and an RBI. Quincy Latimore is scheduled to join the team on Sunday.
The Dominican League starts it’s playoffs today. The best four teams from the regular season now compete in a round-robin tournament, where they play each other six times each. The best two teams will then compete in a nine game championship series. For a list of Pirates players still on active rosters, please check this link which has been updated with the addition of Pimentel.
The Venezuelan and Mexican Leagues both resume their schedule today. This is the last week of each league’s regular season.
