There are two days of winter ball action summarized below. The Australian Baseball League started on Thursday, but there weren’t any Pittsburgh Pirates players in action. So far, only Sam Kennelly and Nick Hutchings are slated to play in Australia. The league in Puerto Rico started Thursday night as well. The rosters that have been announced so far have three Pirates minor league players, Yhonathan Barrios, Bryton Trepagnier and Robert Andino.
In the Dominican on Wednesday night, catcher Carlos Paulino got his first start and went 1-for-3 with a run scored. His only other appearance was as a late game defensive replacement.
Mel Rojas Jr. went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. He had an outfield assist and stole a base against Paulino.
In Venezuela, Junior Sosa went 0-for-3 with a walk in his first start since last week. He is 4-for-18 so far with a .522 OPS(before Thursday’s action, see below).
In Mexico, Dean Anna went 1-for-3 with a walk. He has reached base at least once in all 16 starts. Anna has an .877 OPS.
Thursday’s Action
In the Dominican, Mel Rojas Jr. went 1-for-5 with a run scored. He is hitting .256 through 39 at-bats.
In Venezuela, Francisco Diaz made his winter debut for Tiburones de la Guaira and went 0-for-3 before leaving for a pinch-hitter in the ninth.
Junior Sosa pinch-hit in the seventh inning and had himself quite a game as it went into extra-innings. He finished 2-for-2 with two walks and not only scored the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, he drove in the winning run with two outs in the 12th.
Matt Nevarez got the win for Bravos de Margarita despite allowing the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th inning. He gave up one hit, a solo homer, and struck out two batters in his 1.2 innings.
Ramon Cabrera went 0-for-3 and his average is down to .156 through 13 games, with seven singles in 45 at-bats.
Jhonathan Ramos pitched a scoreless inning, retiring the side in order. In five outings, he has thrown 4.1 scoreless innings.
Reports out of Mexico are that Stetson Allie has missed the last couple days due to a stomach virus.