On Friday in Japan during the Premier12 tournament, Adam Frazier helped Team USA to a 6-1 win over Mexico, which put them in the finals on Saturday. Frazier went 3-for-4 with a run scored, an RBI and a stolen base. That win led to USA against South Korea in the finals today. Frazier started at second base on Saturday and went 0-for-3 with a walk, as Korea won by an 8-0 score. He finished the tournament with a .355 average, going 11-for-31 in eight games.
Jin-De Jhang went 3-for-8 with two doubles in three games for Chinese Taipei. He was the only other player from the Pirates’ organization in the Premier12 tournament.
In Venezuela, Jose Osuna went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk in his team’s 10-0 win. For the third straight game, he started in left field. Osuna also had a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly. He is hitting .339/.391/.476 in 124 at-bats.
Junior Sosa grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and finished the game in right field on defense. He’s hitting .173 in 52 at-bats.
Gorkys Hernandez went 0-for-3 with two sacrifice bunts. He has a .720 OPS in 36 games.
Only one game in the Dominican on Friday and Pedro Florimon was the only Pirates’ player to see action. He went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts. He is hitting .186 in 11 games and has 19 strikeouts in 43 at-bats.
In Mexico, Carlos Munoz went 2-for-4 with a run scored. He is hitting .320 through 33 games.
In Australia, Sam Kennelly started both games of a doubleheader at shortstop and went 0-for-4 with his first error in the opener. In game two, he went 0-for-3, leaving him 5-for-30 through nine games.
The Pirates purchased Patrick Johnson on Friday from an independent team in the American Association. He has been pitching winter ball for Caribes de Anzoategui in Venezuela, where he has been dominating the competition. Johnson has made seven starts, posting an 0.96 ERA in 37.1 innings, with a .228 BAA and 33 strikeouts. He is second in ERA in the league, second in strikeouts and fourth with a 1.02 WHIP. He last pitched on Tuesday, throwing six shutout innings.
