In Venezuela, the regular season wrapped up on Friday and Elvis Escobar finished up strong. He went 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk and the only run scored in a 1-0 game. He also stole two bases. He had two hits in Thursday’s game, including his ninth double. Escobar finished the season with a .272/.328/.342 slash line in 61 games. He had nine doubles, two triples and he went 5-for-8 in steals.
That’s a surprisingly low number of stolen base attempts when you realize that the Pirates asked his to work on his base running this winter. His team made the playoffs, so he should have a chance to continue on with his winter unless the Pirates shut him down. I haven’t seen any indication that they will do that yet.
In Mexico, Jerrick Suiter went 0-for-4, driving in a run in the ninth inning on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch. He made his third start at first base, with the other four coming as the DH. Suiter is hitting .200 through seven games, with a double and two walks. The regular season is over in Mexico now, but Suiter’s team has made the playoffs, so he will have at least one playoff series left and it may possibly be more than a month before his season ends if his team makes the Caribbean World Series. The playoffs start on Monday.
In yesterday’s winter article, we mentioned that 2017 21st round pick Robbie Glendinning made his winter debut, making him the first draft pick of the Pirates in at least ten years to play winter ball during the same year he was drafted. His team had a doubleheader on Saturday. Glendinning started at shortstop in game one and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Game two is still early in it’s progress and we will post results from that game tomorrow. Glendinning walked three times in his debut on Friday.
Michael Suchy went 1-for-4 with a single, walk and a run scored. He now has a nine-game hitting streak. Suchy is batting .250/.347/.413 through 22 games this winter.
In the Dominican, Richard Rodriguez made his playoff debut and threw a scoreless inning. He allowed one hit and struck out two batters. During the regular season this winter, he had a 4.22 ERA and a 30:2 SO/BB ratio in 21.1 innings over 23 appearances. He didn’t allow a single earned run during his last 12 appearances.
Anderson Feliz went 2-for-7 with a double in a game that went 16 innings. He is 3-for-14 in the playoffs.
