In the Dominican on Saturday night, Edwin Espinal collected his first home run of the winter (see video below). He homered 15 times for Altoona this year. He also singled, walked and had an RBI ground out. Espinal is making things very interesting for the Pittsburgh Pirates, especially after what we learned on Saturday and reported here. The Pirates signed two of their potential minor league free agents before they could hit free agency next month.
Espinal is clearly the biggest prize of their upcoming free agents, yet he wasn’t one of the first ones signed. There is no reason to sign early on Espinal’s part because he could market himself around if the Pirates won’t give him a 40-man roster spot. While it’s still early in the winter, a decision on whether to add him or not needs to be made soon, so every game is a showcase for Espinal. He’s batting .429 through seven games and has walked five times.
Cuadrangular para Edwin Espinal
Jung-Ho Kang went 0-for-3 with a walk and a sacrifice fly. He committed his fourth error of the winter. Kang is hitting .143/.200/.229 through 35 at-bats.
Anderson Feliz got his first start of the winter, after being used as a pinch-runner in each of his four appearances. This was also the first time he got to bat. Feliz played third base and went 1-for-3 with a walk. While he isn’t in the same class as Espinal, Feliz reaches minor league free agency next month if he isn’t re-signed.
In Venezuela, Elvis Escobar had a strong game as part of his team’s 14-run attack. He went 3-for-6 and scored two runs. Escobar went three games in a row (one off the bench) without a hit after reaching base safely in each of his first 12 games. He now has a .317 average through 16 games.
In Mexico, Carlos Munoz went 0-for-3 with an error, lowering his season average to .306 through 15 games.
Christian Navarro was used for the third time as a pinch-runner. He struck out as a pinch-hitter in his only other game. He’s an outfielder, but hasn’t played in the field yet.
