The Dominican League wrapped up play on Sunday, so action in winter ball was very light on Monday, but there was some news related to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Dean Treanor was named the Manager of the Year for guiding Estrellas de Oriente to a 32-18 record and first place in the league. It is his third time winning the award. Treanor has managed the Pirates AAA club in Indianapolis the last four years.
On the field on Monday in Venezuela, Deolis Guerra threw a scoreless inning of relief, striking out one and giving up one hit. In his last eight appearances, he has thrown a total of 7.2 scoreless innings.
In Colombia, where they are slow to update stats, Tito Polo hit his second triple of the season on Monday.
In Panama, Edgar Munoz went 1-for-4 with a walk, RBI and run scored.
Tuesday’s Action
We mentioned on Monday that the Dominican league playoffs are set, but the rosters could have some changes before the round robin tournament starts on Saturday. On Tuesday night, the four teams in the playoffs, held a draft in which they could select eligible players from the two teams that didn’t make the playoffs. Mel Rojas Jr. was selected by Gigantes del Cibao, so he will get a chance to continue his off-season. Rojas hit .254/.342/.346 in 41 games during the regular season.
In Puerto Rico, Yhonathan Barrios pitched a scoreless inning, allowing two walks and picking up one strikeout. In eight appearances, he has throwing 8.1 innings, allowing ten earned runs on 15 hits and six walks, with 11 strikeouts.
In Colombia, Tito Polo scored a run during his team’s three-run output in the second inning. Without boxscores or stat updates, it’s hard to tell exactly how well he is doing, just we know he is part of the offense and seeing regular time. As of December 7th, he was 11-for-50 on the season, but he has played a handful of times since then. What you can gather is that he is seeing more playing time than he did last year and that is what you like to see from a younger player in these winter leagues. He spent the season in the GCL this year, so the talent he is facing is a few steps up in winter. The fact he is seeing regular playing time is a good sign, even if the numbers aren’t standing out.
In Panama, 17-year-old Brian Sousa made his third appearance and threw 3.2 innings. He gave up two runs on three hits, two walks and one strikeout. Sousa has thrown six innings total, allowing three runs on five hits, two walks and he has three strikeouts. He signed with the Pirates on July 2nd for $160,000, the second highest total they paid for an international pitcher this year.
Edgar Munoz went 1-for-4 with a triple, run scored and an RBI. He is hitting .353/.450/529 through nine games, with eight runs scored, four doubles and a triple.
The schedule is very light now. The Dominican league is off until Saturday. Venezuela has one game scheduled for Friday, then back to a regular schedule on Saturday. In Puerto Rico, they start back up on Friday. Mexico has off Wednesday, but actually has a full schedule on Christmas. Colombia has off Wednesday and Thursday, as does the league in Panama. Australia normally plays their schedule Friday through Monday(or Thur-Sun), so they are on their normal Friday schedule.
