In the Dominican on Friday night, Mel Rojas Jr. went 1-for-2 with a double, two walks, a stolen base and a run scored. He has been struggling lately, so it is a little surprising that his successful game came in the lead-off spot. He has been hitting in the bottom of the order most of the winter. Rojas was on a 4-for-25 streak coming into the day.
Pedro Florimon went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He has had strikeout issues this winter, going down 30 times in 84 at-bats. That has led to a .190 average through 23 games.
Gustavo Nunez went 1-for-3, raising his average to .222 through 33 games.
I was told on Friday that it’s unlikely that Alen Hanson plays winter ball again this year. He has been with the Pirates on their Care-A-Van tour. If he is indeed done, he finishes with a .258/.281/.301 slash line in 29 games.
In Venezuela, Wilfredo Boscan continued his recent hot streak by throwing six shutout innings. He allowed six hits, hit a batter and picked up three strikeouts. In his last two starts, he threw a total of 11.2 shutout innings. The Pirates re-signed Boscan earlier this week.
Jose Osuna went 1-for-5 and drove in his 27th run. He has a .330/.390/.500 through 52 games.
Elias Diaz went 1-for-4 for a single. He has a .239/.304/.423 slash line through 20 games.
Elvis Escobar popped out to catcher in his only at-bat, pinch-hitting in the eighth inning. He is 5-for-15 in 21 games.
One player who is done with winter ball, at least for our coverage, is Gorkys Hernandez. He just signed with the San Francisco Giants as a minor league free agent.
In Colombia, Harold Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a run scored on Thursday night. It was announced that day that he would participate in the home run derby prior to the All-Star game, with the derby taking place Friday night and the game taking place tonight. With 11 homers in four seasons in the minors, he obviously seems like the last person who would be in a home run derby. Former Pirates’ prospect Dilson Herrera was also in the derby, so it looks like they went for star power over actual power. Ramirez did quite well for himself in the derby, making it to the finals, where he lost 8-7 to Matt Oberste, a prospect from the Mets. Both Ramirez and Tito Polo will play in the All-Star game.
In Australia, Sam Kennelly had a real tough game on Friday, going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. He was selected for Team Australia in the ABL All-Star game, which will be played on Wednesday.
Kennelly isn’t the only Pirates’ player in the ABL anymore, as reliever Sam Street had joined Melbourne. He threw two shutout innings in his debut, giving up two hits and two walks. Street was drafted out of college in 2014, but he was born in Melbourne. During the regular season for the West Virginia Power, he had a 2.10 ERA in 85.2 innings, with 13 walks and 72 strikeouts.
In Puerto Rico, Danny Ortiz went 1-for-4 with a double and run scored. He is hitting .196/.284/.235 through 31 games.
In Mexico, Carlos Munoz had his first big game in almost a month. He hit a double and a two-run homer, his fifth home run of the season. The double is his seventh of the winter. He came into the game on a 7-for-52 stretch since mid-November.
