A few days worth of action due to a light schedule all around winter ball. Before I get into that, there is an injury update. Last week, Elias Diaz left Tuesday’s game in the sixth inning due to a side injury, which occurred while he was batting. He was out the next day, then caught five innings the following game. He then played a full game on Friday. On Tuesday, Bravos de Margarita announced that Diaz would be out for at least ten days with an oblique injury. He has been removed from the active roster.
His return to the lineup seemed very quick last week, and looks like he may have rushed back. What stands out about his quick return, followed by him now being out for at least 12 days total, is the fact that he came back when backup catcher (and former Pirate) Francisco Diaz left the team for a couple days to get married. You would assume that Elias Diaz wouldn’t risk further injury by rushing back when his team was short-handed, but he obviously aggravated the injury and is now out longer. The original time-frame had him listed as day-to-day.
In other news, the Pirates have told Venados de Mazatlan that they don’t want Luis Heredia making anymore starts this winter. They only want him pitching in relief. Heredia started once and pitched well a couple weeks ago, but hasn’t started since then. Earlier in the off-season, Mazatlan said that he joined them with no restrictions, so that thinking has changed during the course of the season.
Sunday
Jason Rogers was the only Pirate to see action. He went 0-for-2 with two walks in his second game. That followed up an 0-for-5 debut.
Monday
Eric Wood was the only current Pirate to see action on Monday. He was the DH and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. It was the first game that he didn’t play in the field this winter. Wood is hitting .211/.338/.281 through 17 games. He did not play on Tuesday night, the first time since coming to the Dominican that he wasn’t in the starting lineup.
Kelvin Marte continued his strong winter by throwing seven shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and struck out two batters. Marte had a 10:4 GO/AO ratio. He now has a 1.25 ERA through 50.1 innings. He is still a free agent.
Tuesday
In the Dominican, Jason Rogers played first base and went 1-for-4, with a double. He is now 1-for-11 with two walks through three games.
In Venezuela, Jose Osuna went 2-for-5, driving in two runs with a ninth inning single in his team’s 8-5 loss. He has a .262 average through 49 games, with 11 doubles, three homers and 20 walks.
In Mexico, Carlos Munoz played first base in the ninth inning of his team’s 4-3 victory. He did not get a chance to bat.
In Puerto Rico, Danny Ortiz went 1-for-4 with a two-run single and a run scored. He has a .375 average through 25 games. Ortiz is still a free agent.
