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Winter Leagues: Richard Rodriguez Debuts in the Dominican; Ji-Hwan Bae Continues to Hit Well

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In Australia on Thursday, Ji-Hwan Bae continued his early success at the plate, going 2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored. He had a nice day on defense, handling all eight chances, including two double plays he started. Through eight games, he is hitting .321/.424/.679, with four doubles, two homers and 11 runs scored.

Jerrick Suiter went 1-for-2 with a walk, RBI and run scored in his team’s 7-5 win. He’s hitting .273/.314/.303 in nine games.

In the Dominican on Wednesday night, Pablo Reyes continued to struggle at the plate, but he also had a tough game in the field. He started at shortstop and went 0-for-3 with a walk, while committing two errors. Reyes was replaced on defense in the seventh inning. He’s hitting .172/.206/.344 in 17 games.

Richard Rodriguez debuted in the Dominican with a shutout inning, retiring the side in order on 17 pitches. He noted to the local media that he was there to get in shape for Spring Training. Rodriguez made 72 appearances with the Pirates this season, plus another two in Indianapolis, so this seems a bit odd that he’s already in winter ball to get in shape for Spring Training. That being said, he’s in his fifth season of winter ball, so he is used to pitching on shorter rest over the off-season. Here’s video of his debut:

In Puerto Rico, Chris Sharpe went 1-for-4 with a single in his team’s 4-2 loss. He is batting .205/.294/.273 in 14 games, with one double, one triple and two stolen bases.

Ike Schlabach had his best outing of the winter, throwing two perfect innings, while picking up three strikeouts. In six appearances, he has allowed two runs over 5.2 innings on four hits, two walks and six strikeouts.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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