I apologize for dropping the ball on last week’s update. I had to study for midterms and polish a series of articles I wrote for my internship here.

I come bearing gifts from the Arizona Fall League as well as the Dominican and Venezuelan leagues.

First, here’s a handy chart of who is playing where this fall and winter, at least among the leagues that have already begun. AFL is the Arizona Fall League, DWL is the Dominican League, and VWL is the Venezuelan League.

Now here’s the analysis.

Arizona Fall League

The Scottsdale Scorpions are 4-8 and 5.5 games back of Salt River in the East division.

Austin Fleet is among the ERA leaders in the league with a 1.29 mark in seven innings and he has six strikeouts to one walk. He didn’t allow a run over his first three appearances and had allowed only one hit until October 17 against Phoenix, when he was touched up for four hits and a run in two innings.

Darryl Maday’s first AFL game was outstanding: four scoreless innings with one hit, two walks, and six strikeouts, and a win. His appearance on the 14th was not good: four runs on three hits with three walks in three innings, and the loss. Both were starts for Maday.

Seth Rosin had a similar successful debut to Fleet and Maday. He allowed one hit over his first two appearances and gave up a run and a hit October 18.

Steven Harrold has picked up two wins in relief and has a .136 batting average against. He’s become an early season workhorse with 7 1/3 innings pitched over four appearances and he’s gone two innings in each of his last three outings. Harrold got over his initial rough beginning on October 5 when he allowed two runs in 1/3 innings. Since then he’s been nearly flawless, allowing two hits and three walks in seven scoreless innings.

Joe Panik has logged 30 at-bats so far and is hitting .200. He has four hits over his last three games, which broke up a four game hitless streak. Panik has made all his starts at second base so far.

Gary Brown has five strikeouts in 35 at-bats and a .308 OBP. He has two steals on a team that hasn’t run a whole lot over its first 12 games. Bryce Harper leads the club with three steals. He is tied for the most at-bats on the team with 35, which has hurt his batting average. He’s 8-for-35 and a leader among base hits but since he’s in almost every game his average has gone down. Same thing with Harper, who’s 7-for-35 and also near the top in hits.

This is also a team with little power to show so far. They have a club OPS of .703 and five homers.

Meanwhile Brandon Crawford is sporting a .360 average (9-for-25) and has three RBIs. The two top hitters on the club–Crawford and fellow shortstop Jean Segura–have nine hits each. Segura is a highly rated prospect in the Angels system.

Dominican Winter League

Francisco Peguero is playing for los Gigantes del Cibao, a team from San Francisco de Macoris. I like the association here.

Anyway Peguero has started every game for los Gigantes in center and is hitting .294. He has a hit in each game so far and has two walks to three strikeouts. He had a double on October 16 and has the second most at-bats on the team so far, behind Astros prospect Jimmy Paredes.

David Quinowski allowed a run in his first Dominican League appearance October 15 but bounced back with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts October 18.

Juan Carlos Perez’s club Cibaenes (from his hometown of Santiago de los Caballeros) is 4-0. Perez is 4-for-15 and has started each of his team’s games in centerfield. He has four strikeouts so far.

Felix Romero’s team is the Estrellas Orientales, so named because they’re from the eastern part of the country. He’s sporting a 0.00 ERA in four innings and has allowed two hits with three strikeouts.

Brandon Belt is playing for Escogido, one of two teams in the capital city of Santo Domingo. Licey are like the Yankees here. They win everything. That makes Escogido the Mets. They’re the losers. That’s what Dominicans tell me here.

Belt has a home run (one of three homers for los Leones so far) and is 3-for-15. He has four strikeouts and two walks. He has three starts in the outfield (one in left and two in right) and one at first base. Looks like the Giants are committed to this farce of putting Belt in the outfield. October 18 was the first hitless game for Belt, after he picked up a hit in each of his first three games.

I am supposed to go to a game here with my internship group and I imagine we’ll be going to see either Licey or Escogido as they’re the teams in Santo Domingo. I really hope we get to see Escogido so I can get a look at Belt.

Osiris Matos is pitching for los Toros, last year’s champs. His ERA is an inflated 5.40 because he was charged with a run in 2/3 innings October 18. Before that he pitched a perfect inning over two appearances. He has two strikeouts and no walks so far.

Venezuelan League

This league is one of the larger winter leagues out there with eight teams and expansive rosters. That explains why there are so many Giants players involved there. The league contains a few guys I know nothing about. So we’ll learn about them together!

Ebert Fernandez pitched 49 2/3 innings mostly as a reliever in the DSL this season and had 36 strikeouts. It was his fourth season in the Giants system and his second as a reliever. He turns 21 next week and he’s from Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Renzo Freite sounds like an Italian F-1 driver, or fashion designer, or at least a dude who works in a coffee house in Rome. I recently learned that Venezuela has a large Italian population. Marco Scutaro for example is Italian-Venezuelan. Freite must also be Italian-Venezuelan.

Freite had a successful 2011 year with the DSL Giants: 1.93 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 42 innings, making three starts in 13 appearances. He’s done well over his two years in the Giants system and doubled his innings total from 2010. He’s 6’1″, 170 and 18 years old so I expect him to grow into his frame. He’s from El Sombrero.

Nelder Gonzalez signed with the Giants in 2010 and made his pro debut this year with 28 at-bats with the DSL team. He turned 18 in August and he’s from Maracaibo.

Ydwin Villegas had 205 at-bats between three teams in the Giants system this year and has been with the Giants since 2008. He turned 21 in September and he’s from Valencia.

Jose Flores played for San Jose and Richmond this past season and has been in the Giants system since 2006.

Fernandez and Freite (or Ebert and Renzo, which I think would make a good title for a buddy cop movie) haven’t yet been in a game. Neither have Gonzalez, Villegas, or Flores. The VWL has played six games so far.

Max Ramirez caught on with Fresno this year. He’s included here in case the Giants keep him. He has a home run and five hits in 21 at-bats for Margarita.

Edwin Escobar is a left-hander from La Sabana who made 12 starts in the AZL and had 42 strikeouts in 46 innings. He started out in the Rangers system and was acquired for another lefty Ben Snyder in 2010. Escobar’s ERA has suffered because of his October 15 game where he allowed a run without recording an out. He’s pitched 1 1/3 innings so far. His first outing on October 12 was a scoreless 1/3 inning performance with one strikeout.

Jean Machi was born the same year as I was (1982) making him very, very old. He signed with the Giants sometime in 2011, after he made 48 appearances for Mexicali in the Mexican League–not to be confused with the Mexican Pacific League, which is the winter league there. Mexico also operates a regular season league that runs around the same time as the regular season leagues in the US do.

Anyway, Machi made three appearances for Triple-A Fresno and had a 9.00 ERA. He’s from El Tigre so he’s come home to get a chance to pitch again. I’m including him in these updates in case the Giants hang onto him for 2012. He’s making a strong case with three scoreless appearances so far. He’s allowed one hit with three strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings.

Pablo Sandoval is listed on the Magallanes roster, the team he’s played for the last few winters, but he hasn’t appeared in a game yet.

Hector Sanchez, who is hitting .429 with three RBIs in 14 at-bats and is near the top of the VWL in hitting. He has a hit in each of his four games played and hit a home run October 15 against Aragua. He’s made three starts at catcher.

Ehire Adrianza has played one game for La Guaira, October 13 against Anzoategui. He had one hit in four at-bats and drove in a run. He also made an error in the game.

Just for fun: Jerome Williams is here and carving up opposing batters. He’s pitched six scores innings and has six strikeouts so far.

I didn’t find any Giants players in the Mexican Pacific League. They do add players throughout the season so I’ll keep checking back.

The Colombian League starts Saturday. http://www.teamrenteria.com has roster info for the last two seasons and hasn’t updated them for 2011-2012 yet. In case you care, Michael Sandoval and Carlos Willoughby played there in 2010-2011. And Henry Henry played there. I just included him because his name is funny.

The Nicaraguan League begins a few days before Halloween with the Australian League starting November 3 and the Puerto Rican League starting the day after.

See you next week!