In the Dominican on Sunday, Alen Hanson went 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. He committed his first error at second base. Hanson is 5-for-27 in six games with no walks.
Andrew Lambo played his third game and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He is 0-for-9 so far. Lambo was in right field and played his first full game on defense.
Willy Garcia went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. He is 3-for-17 through five games.
Mel Rojas Jr. went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. He is hitting .333 in 21 at-bats.
Gustavo Nunez went 0-for-3 with a walk. He had a rough game in the field, committing three errors.
In Venezuela, Jose Osuna extended his hit streak to nine games with two hits. He scored once, drove in a run and drew a walk. Osuna started the game at first base and finished in left field. In the fifth inning, he was part of a 5-4-3 triple play on defense. Osuna is hitting .348 in 13 games.
Elvis Escobar struck out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning. He is 1-for-7 in nine games.
Julio Vivas retired two of the three batters he faced, one by strikeout. He hit the other batter. Vivas threw 12 pitches, nine for strikes. This winter he has given up three earned runs over 6.1 innings in six appearances.
Junior Sosa had a strong game, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored. All three hits were singles.
Francisco Diaz came in as a defensive replacement behind the plate in the eighth inning and didn’t get a chance to hit.
Gorkys Hernandez went 1-for-4 with a single, getting picked-off his only time on base.
In Mexico, Harold Ramirez went 1-for-5 in his team’s 6-3 victory, picking up a single late in the game. He had a big outfield assist(see below). Ramirez is hitting .191 through 12 games. That is a bit surprising because Mexico is a high offense winter league, but the talent level is also at least equivalent to AA, so it’s a bit better than what he was seeing this season. It’s also too early in the year to be concerned over his winter stats.
Luis Heredia pitched 2.2 innings and ran into some trouble near the end of his outing. He walked a batter in his first inning, but faced the minimum when he got a ground ball double play. In his second frame, Heredia walked another batter and got another double play. He also picked up his first strikeout of the winter. When he came out for his last inning, it started off bad, with a single and a walk. The next batter singled as well, though Harold Ramirez threw the runner out at home. After a sacrifice fly, Heredia was pulled from the game. He allowed one run on two hits and three walks. He threw 39 pitches, 22 for strikes. Heredia has a 2.35 ERA in 7.2 innings, with four hits, five walks and one strikeout. His previous high for innings was two, which happened in his last outing, so they could be stretching him out to pitch more.
Carlos Munoz had a double and hit his second homer(video below). He also had an intentional walk and struck out in his only other plate appearance. He is hitting .351 so far, with seven extra-base hits. As mentioned for Ramirez, it is a high offense league(Munoz is third on his team in batting and well off the league lead), but it should be remembered that Munoz played in rookie ball this year. Part of that was due to his own ongoing conditioning issues and it showed at the end of the year, when he really struggled. The fact that he is hitting well early means he will get extra playing time even if he starts to slow down, and that can only help his off-season conditioning, which has been very poor in the past. Despite only playing rookie ball this season, Munoz is slightly older than both Heredia and Ramirez.
Felipe Gonzalez worked a quick scoreless inning, throwing eight pitches total to retire all three batters he faced, one by strikeout.
