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Winter Leagues: Garcia Returns From Injury, Strong Outing For Heredia

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In the Dominican on Tuesday night, Alen Hanson picked up his second base hit, though he continued his slow start very early in the winter season. He is now 2-for-15 with two singles.

Willy Garcia returned from an injury(see video below) and batted lead-off, playing center field. He went 1-for-4 with a single and a strikeout.

Mel Rojas Jr. went 2-for-4 with a double. Through three games, he is 5-for-13 with a home run.

Gustavo Nunez went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Wilkin Castillo went 0-for-2 with a walk.

In Venezuela, Junior Sosa and Jose Osuna both started in the outfield for Bravos de Margarita. Osuna was in left field and went 1-for-3 with a walk and run scored. It’s his first run of the winter and also his first walk. He’s hitting .290 through nine games and has picked up at least one hit in eight of those games. Sosa started in center field and went 1-for-4 with a run scored, a double, an RBI and a walk. He also picked up an outfield assist.

Jhondaniel Medina threw 1.2 scoreless innings, but continued to have command issues. He allowed a hit and walked two batters, giving him six walks in three innings.

In Mexico, Harold Ramirez went 0-for-4 with a sacrifice bunt. Through nine games, he is 6-for-36 at the plate.

Luis Heredia came into the game in the seventh inning with one out, two runners on and his team down 8-5. He got a ground ball double play from the first batter he faced, getting out of the inning. Heredia remained in the game and retired the side in order in the eighth. He needed 15 pitches total to record five outs.

Carlos Munoz hadn’t hit a triple during the regular season since 2013, but he hit one on Saturday. Munoz added a second triple on Tuesday night, finishing the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs. He finished a homer short of the cycle. He has just three triples total in five seasons of pro ball.

Rosters were announced in Australia on Tuesday and the only player from the Pirates’ system in the league is Sam Kennelly. He’s played two season in the league already. The ABL begins play this weekend.

Here is video of Julio Vivas pitching last week. It was uploaded on our Facebook page.

We also found video of Willy Garcia getting hurt during his first game of winter ball. He ended up hitting his face/eye on the ground after passing home plate and missed a few games before returning Tuesday night. Garcia actually got hurt in two straight games, leaving an Indianapolis playoff game early after sliding into an outfield wall trying to make a catch. He missed the final game of the postseason as well.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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