Three days worth of action from around winter ball. Most leagues are off during the Christmas holiday, and the regular season in the Dominican wrapped up on Saturday with one makeup game. There will still be plenty of action coming up, as the playoff system in the Dominican consists of a lot of games for each team.
Wednesday
In the Dominican on Wednesday night, Alen Hanson went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Eric Wood went 1-for-5 with an RBI double and three strikeouts. It was his fourth double of the season.
Jason Rogers went 0-for-2 with two walks, giving him ten walks through ten games. Rogers was designated for assignment on Friday night when the Pirates picked up pitcher Nefi Ogando. While we wait to see if Rogers clears waivers, Ogando gives up a new player to follow in winter ball. He has made 17 appearances out of the bullpen in the Dominican, posting a 1.13 ERA and a 2.73 GO/AO ratio over 16 innings. While he’s been effective keeping runs off the board, and he’s holding batters to a .220 average, Ogando has 11 walks and seven strikeouts. So the results are there, but you’d definitely like to see better control and more strikeouts against winter ball hitters.
Willy Garcia went 0-for-2 with a strikeout before leaving for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. He’s hitting .179/.266/.196 through 23 games.
Eury Perez went 1-for-4 with a single and a run scored.
In Venezuela, Jose Osuna went 0-for-4, snapping his 16-game on base streak.
In Mexico, Carlos Munoz went 2-for-5, connecting on his third double.
In Colombia, Sandy Santos went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. He made his winter debut on Tuesday.
Francisco Acuna got his first start and went 0-for-4 with a stolen base. I explained on Friday why he and Santos are both interesting players to watch this winter.
In Puerto Rico, Danny Ortiz went 2-for-5 with two singles.
Thursday
In the Dominican on Thursday night, Eric Wood connected on his third home run of the winter, a solo shot in the sixth. He finished the day 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. Wood is hitting .202/.337/.357 through 25 games. While the average is low, the OPS is actually above league average. The league has a .619 OPS this season, as pitchers have dominated. The worst team OPS from last year is 18 points higher than the best team from this year.
Alen Hanson had the same night as Wednesday, going 1-for-3 with a single and a run scored. He is hitting .227/.244/.295 through 12 games, though that includes an .133 OPS in his first four games before he hurt his wrist and missed a month.
Eury Perez went 1-for-5 with a two-run single and a run scored. He is hitting .203/.305/.246 in 34 games.
Kelvin Marte had his worst start of the winter, allowing three earned runs on four hits and two walks over six innings. He had a 13:1 GO/AO ratio, after posting a 12:0 ratio in his last start. Marte now has a 1.44 ERA over 62.1 innings and won’t be in our winter coverage anymore because he just signed with the Marlins.
In Venezuela, Elvis Escobar went 1-for-4 with his ninth double of the season. He is hitting .274/.285/.407 through 45 games.
Jose Osuna went 2-for-4 with two singles and an RBI. He is hitting .268/.339/.373 through 56 games.
In Mexico, Carlos Munoz went 1-for-3 with his fourth double and a walk.
In Colombia, Sandy Santos and Francisco Acuna played a doubleheader on Thursday night. Santos went 1-for-3 with a single in game one and 0-for-3 in the nightcap. Acuna went 0-for-2 with a walk in game one, then 1-for-2 with a single, walk and a stolen base in the second game.
In Nicaragua, Anderson Feliz is hitting .303/.382/.474 through 41 games.
In Puerto Rico, Danny Ortiz went 1-for-5 with a single to extend his hit streak to 11 games. He leads the league with his .359 average, .461 slugging and .865 OPS. Ortiz is a free agent.
Friday
Due to a rain out in the Dominican, Mexico and Colombia were the only leagues active on Friday. Carlos Munoz went 0-for-4 to snap a six-game hit streak. He is hitting .208/.302/.277 this winter in 48 games. Munoz isn’t putting up his usual walk/strikeout totals, with 13 free passes on the season, compared to 25 strikeouts. During the regular season in 126 games, he had 51 walks and 54 strikeouts for West Virginia.
In Colombia, Sandy Santos went 3-for-4 with three singles and his first stolen base. He is 6-for-17 through his first four games.
Francisco Acuna went 1-for-3 with a walk. He is 3-for-12 with three walks and two stolen bases in six games.
If you missed it from Wednesday, Sam Kennelly was among the nine players released by the Pirates, so his winter coverage is done. Delvin Hiciano was also in that group. He hasn’t played winter ball yet, but he was drafted in the Dominican back in October, so he has a winter ball team.
Merry Christmas.
