On Friday in Venezuela, Jose Osuna continued to play while awaiting his appeal hearing for his six game suspension. He went 1-for-5 with a walk and two strikeouts. He is hitting .333/.397/.515 in 56 games. Osuna ranks sixth in the league in average, third in slugging and fifth in OPS. He is fifth in the league in doubles and tied for second in homers.
Elias Diaz went 0-for-3 with two walks, before leaving for a pinch-runner in the 11th inning. He threw out both runners attempting to steal, continuing his impressive season on defense. The offense hasn’t been there, especially recently. Diaz is hitting .238/.323/.393 in 24 games, with a .558 OPS over his last ten games.
Elvis Escobar pinch-ran in the ninth inning and played the last two innings in right field without getting an at-bat. His team lost in the tenth on a walk-off grand slam. Escobar has played 25 games this winter, which is a significant amount for a player with only Low-A experience. Most have been off the bench though, as he has just 19 plate appearances.
In the Dominican, Pedro Florimon went 2-for-3 with a double and run scored. He also stole his fourth base.
Mel Rojas Jr. went 1-for-3 with a double, RBI, run scored and a walk. His .235 average is the second lowest among the 20 hitters with enough plate appearances to qualify for league leaders. Only Gustavo Nunez(.232) has a lower average. He has seven doubles and six homes, the latter ranking him second in the league. It’s been a very low offense year in the Dominican this season, with every team having less than a .700 OPS
On Friday in Australia, Sam Kennelly went 2-for-4 with an RBI. His team played a doubleheader on Saturday and Kennelly started both games at shortstop. He went 0-for-3 in the first game and went 1-for-5 with an RBI in the second game. He is having a breakout season of sorts, even though his stats are far from impressive. Not only is he getting more playing time than he has received before in three previous seasons in the ABL, but the 19-year-old is hitting better than before, posting a .219/.260/.260 slash line in 73 at-bats. His team’s OPS is .596, so he isn’t far off the production of his teammates.
The average age in the league is 24 and many of the players have upper level experience, so Kennelly is playing in a league well above his current progress in the minors. He is showing versatility by making multiple starts at third base, second base and shortstop, and this is after spending most of his time during the regular season in the GCL at first base. The Pirates liked Kennelly enough to give him a $225,000 bonus, so the potential is there for him to have a breakout season in 2016. He will likely begin the year with either Bristol or Morgantown, where his versatility will allow him to play any infield position.
In Mexico on Friday, Carlos Munoz went 1-for-4 with a single and an RBI. He is hitting .250/.347/.405 in 53 games, doing most of his damage in the first month of the season. Since November 19th, he is 12-for-74(.162) with two extra-base hits.
Sebastian Valle came into Friday’s game as a pinch-runner for the starting catcher and scored a run. He stayed behind the plate and caught the last two innings. Valle is hitting .204/.241/.340 in 30 games. It appears he could be signing with the Yankees soon, so this might be his last update.
In Puerto Rico, Danny Ortiz continues his recent stretch of strong hitting, going 2-for-4 with a double, triple and walk, driving in two runs. He has an .847 OPS in his last ten games.
In Colombia, Tito Polo played two games recently, and while the league still hasn’t posted boxscores regularly, we do have updated stats. He is hitting .279/.393/.471 in 68 at-bats, with three triples and two homers. Harold Ramirez didn’t play in either game. He is hitting .371/.432/.500 in 62 at-bats.
