Two days worth of action today, with Monday being a relatively quiet night around winter ball. Also at the bottom, we take a look at two players of note in Colombia right now.
Monday
On Monday night in the Dominican, Alen Hanson went 1-for-4 with a two-run double in the second inning, which accounted for all of his team’s runs in a 2-1 victory.
Eury Perez played center field and went 0-for-4 in the lead-off spot.
Jason Rogers played left field for the third day in a row and went 1-for-4 with a single. He was replaced on defense late in the game by Mel Rojas Jr.
Tuesday
On Tuesday in the Dominican, Alen Hanson went 0-for-5 with a strikeout and he committed an error. This was his first game without a hit since returning early last week from his wrist injury that put him out for exactly one month.
Jason Rogers played first base and went 0-for-3 with a walk. He is batting .207 through nine games, with two double, a homer and eight walks.
Eric Wood went 0-for-2 with two walks, a strikeout and a run scored. He had an interesting day on defense. He was in the starting lineup in left field, but moved to first base in the bottom of the first after the third baseman got hurt while batting. Despite the fact that Wood’s natural position is third base, he hasn’t played there since the second game of the winter. In the third inning, the right fielder got hurt and Wood went back out to left field. He is hitting .200 through 23 games.
Willy Garcia played center field and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He’s hitting .185 this winter, and in his last six games, he’s 1-for-15 with seven strikeouts.
Eury Perez went 1-for-3 with an RBI single and a sacrifice bunt. He’s hitting .200 through 32 games.
In Venezuela, Elvis Escobar went 1-for-3 with an RBI single in the first game of a doubleheader. In game two, he played left field for the last two innings and didn’t get to bat. Escobar is hitting .275/.286/.405 through 44 games.
Jose Osuna went 2-for-4 with a run scored. He extended his on base streak to 16 games. He is hitting .269/.342/.378 through 54 games.
In Mexico, Luis Heredia had a tough outing, especially considering the rest of his team allowed one run over 8.1 innings on Tuesday. He gave up two runs on four hits, while recording just two outs. He has a 5.40 ERA over 33.1 innings and 17 appearances.
Carlos Munoz went 2-for-5 and drove in two runs in his team’s 10-3 win. He has a modest four-game hit streak that has his average up to .203 through 45 games.
In Puerto Rico, Danny Ortiz went 1-for-4 with a run scored. Through 30 games, he has a .904 OPS, which leads the league.
Wednesday-Friday results will be posted tomorrow.
Colombian League News
We have some news from Colombia, where center fielder Sandy Santos has joined the Indios team, while Francisco Acuna recently made his debut for the same club. Acuna probably isn’t a familiar name to most, but he is an interesting player for a few reasons. The Pirates signed him on July 2nd for $70,000 and he showed enough progress over the summer to be the #1 draft pick for the Colombian league this winter.
Teams add unsigned players each year in winter ball and Acuna topped the list, which also included DSL Pirates catcher Yair Babilonia going 17th overall, Santiago Florez going 18th and Luis Arrieta going 21st. The latter two were July 2nd signings this season, who each received six-figure bonuses. Acuna is the only one who has played so far, finishing one game on defense at shortstop, and hitting a single in a pinch-hit at-bat during another game. He is still just 16 years old, so this is quite a leap in competition for someone his age. The level of player in Colombia is approximately equal to High-A ball.
As for Sandy Santos, he just arrived in Colombia on Monday and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in his debut on Tuesday. He is a toolsy, 22-year-old center fielder from the Dominican Republic. Santos is the perfect player for winter ball because he needs all of the game experience he can get. Colombia makes more sense for him than the Dominican due to the level of player being closer to his own progress.
Santos has a quick bat with power, and a 6’3″ frame, with room to add muscle. He has above average speed and can cover ground in center field, with a strong arm as well. Santos posted a .748 OPS this season for Morgantown, spending most of his time hitting in the lead-off spot.
His problem is that he makes far too many mistakes on the field. That was something we heard during scouting reports from his time in the DSL, and it was something I personally saw often while watching Morgantown games this year. His six outfield errors in 61 games and 7-for-17 in stolen bases despite plus speed, only begin to tell the story. Getting extra game experience can only be a positive for a player who has all of the tools you want to see on the field, but can look like he’s never played the game before due to all of the mental mistakes.
The season in Colombia has ten games left, plus two rounds of playoffs possibly. The Indios are in last place, but they trail first place by just three games and the top three teams make the playoffs.
