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Winter Leagues: Jose Osuna Ejected After Ugly Incident

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In Venezuela on Saturday, Jose Osuna went 1-for-3 with a double and run scored on his 23rd birthday. The double was his 12th of the season. He was ejected in the seventh inning after being hit by a pitch and will likely be suspended for throwing his helmet at Bruce Rondon during a fight. As you can see in the video, immediately after being hit, Osuna objected to Rondon making a pick-off throw and then that’s when things got out of hand. He is hitting .330/.393/.503 in 53 games. Osuna ranks fifth in the league in OPS.

Elias Diaz went 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. He is hitting .233/.313/.411 in 21 games. He is 4-for-25 in his last eight games.

A.J. Morris allowed one run on three hits, while recording two outs. He allowed the double that Osuna hit. Morris has a 3.72 ERA in 29 innings.

In Mexico, Sebastian Valle went 1-for-3 with a solo homer, his second of the year. I’ve included two videos below because this article is a little light due to no games in the Dominican or Puerto Rico. The first is Friday’s home run from Carlos Munoz. The second is Valle’s homer, which got out of the park in about two seconds.

Carlos Munoz grounded out in his only at-bat on Saturday, pinch-hitting in the eighth inning. He is hitting .260/.362/.433 in 48 games.

In Australia on Saturday, Sam Kennelly went 1-for-2 with a walk and his third double of the season. On Sunday, he went 2-for-4 with two singles and an RBI. He played shortstop one day and third base the next. Kennelly isn’t hitting much, but it should be noted that he has improved on his previous seasons in the ABL. He has already set career bests in hits and extra-base hits with six more weekends of games left.

One of the good things about following winter ball, is that you can use it to track progress with a player. Gregory Polanco’s big season in the Dominican came right before he made his Major League debut and dominated AAA. Elias Diaz had a strong winter ball for the first time in 2013-14, then had his breakout year. Harold Ramirez and Tito Polo are both in their third year in Colombia and each keeps moving up in the system and doing better each winter. That could mean good things for Jose Osuna in 2016 and maybe down the road with someone like Kennelly.

On Sunday, Sam Street gave up a run on two hits and a walk in 1.1 innings, taking the loss. This was his second appearance of the winter. He threw two shutout innings in his debut.

Carlos Munoz’s fifth home run

Sebastian Valle’s second homer

 

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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