Before we get down to the nitty-gritty of this week’s post, I want to extend my best wishes to Wilson Ramos’ family and the Washington Nationals organization. I was so happy to hear he’d been found safe and has returned to his family. I hope all our players in winter leagues around the world stay safe.
The playoff races are over in the Arizona Fall League. Last year’s champs, the Scottsdale Scorpions, will not repeat. They are 13-19 and still doing better than Phoenix, who has the worst record in the league at 12-21.
Austin Fleet got his first start of the fall season on November 12, pitching two innings and allowing two runs. He allowed his third home run so far, which seems to be his downfall. All of the runs scored against Fleet this fall are courtesy of the long ball. He did well November 7 against Salt River with two scoreless innings in relief.
Daryl Maday is likely done for the year. He hasn’t pitched since October 20.
Seth Rosin got his ERA to 0.82 thanks to two stellar outings last week. He pitched a total of four innings and allowed two hits. His November 7 appearance was very successful, with no base runners allowed. Rosin hasn’t allowed a run over his last eight innings.
Stephen Harrold could finish among the top 10 in ERA. His mark stands at 1.88 and he qualifies among leaders with 14 1/3 innings pitched. Harrold picked up a save on November 8 against Salt River with a scoreless inning. He followed that up with two strikeouts over one inning on Friday.
Joe Panik played in five games and had six hits, including a double in each of his last two games. Panik has a good balance of walks and strikeouts (eight walks to 9 strikeouts) but unfortunately he walked more in the beginning of the AFL season. He has one walk since October 28 and six of his nine strikeouts have come in the last two weeks. He’s played all 23 games at second base.
Gary Brown appears to be done for the year. SFGiantsGirl mentioned in the comments on last week’s post that Brown went home because he was suffering from the flu. With only a week left in the AFL season, Brown is out.
Brandon Crawford played in four games and is still hitting well. His 16 game hitting streak came to an end with an 0-for-4 game against Surprise on November 12. It was the third time this season that Crawford had served as the designated hitter. Last week he had two RBIs and a walk, his first free pass since October 14. Crawford is hitting .304 (yay) with 18 strikeouts (boo).
In the Mexican league, Justin Christian joined Mochis on November 1 and didn’t miss a beat. He has 15 hits in 51 at-bats and hit his first home run of the winter November 5. Christian is playing center field for los Caneros and he has six RBIs so far.
Tyler Graham hit well last week, going 6-for-25 with two RBIs. Like Christian, he’s sticking in center for los Tomateros.
Brett Pill is MIA.
Last week in the Dominican League, Brandon Belt snuck into the top 10 in batting. His overall average is .309 and he has two home runs. He shuffled around first base and the outfield a lot last week but it hasn’t affected his bat. He started an eight game hitting streak on November 4 and he hit a home run Friday night against Licey. I watched that game on TV and everything with his swing still looks fine.
Juan Carlos Perez is still leading the league with 30 hits. His picked up seven more knocks last week, including a 3-for-6 game against Licey on November 6. Perez also had two doubles and two RBIs.
Francisco Peguero took a week off and returned to the Gigantes lineup November 12. He’s 0-for-6 since hs rest but he has walked twice over his last few games.
David Quinowski made one appearance last week, throwing 2/3 innings with no hits or runs allowed, though he hit a batter.
Felix Romero is on a roll in November. He earned his second win by pitching 1/3 innings in Estrellas’ victory over Cibao November 8. Romero pitched two scoreless innings November 10 to get his ERA down to 0.98.
Osiris Matos allowed a run in one inning November 6 against Escogido but looked better in his next two appearances. Both were shutout performances and his one inning outing November 9 earned him a win.
In Venezuela, Jose Flores started out hot last week with three hits against Lara on November 9 but has one hit since then. Flores is sticking at third base and is hitting .273 in 33 at-bats.
Flores’ Zulia teammates Ebert Fernandez, Renzo Freite, Nelder Gonzalez, and Ydwin Villegas haven’t seen action yet.
Max Ramirez put together some good games at the plate last week with seven hits and six RBIs in five games. His last two games have been 0-for-5. He caught his first game of the winter league on November 12.
Edwin Escobar had a rough time in his start November 6. He allowed three runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings. Escobar has allowed six runs in 9 2/3 innings as a starter.
Jean Machi got two wins and a save last week, although his win was the benefit of a blown save. Machi allowed two runs in the top of the ninth inning against Caribes on November 6. He was bailed out when Magallanes walked off with a win. Machi was nearly flawless the rest of the week, pitching 3 1/3 innings without allowing a run.
Pablo Sandoval and Alberth Martinez are still not in action.
Ehire Adrianza is getting regular time at shortstop, which is something I really like to see. Adrianza played in five games last week–keep in mind he has 12 games since the Venezuelan League began in mid-October. He picked up two walks and three hits last week.
Hector Sanchez played in all seven games for La Guaira last week but only caught one of them. He was DH for the other six games. The good news is he extended his hitting streak to 11 games before it ended November 13. Sanchez had six RBIs and hit two home runs last week too.
Perth is leading the Australian Baseball League with a 7-0 record. The Giants have two players on Perth: Cameron Lamb and Alex Burg.
Lamb made two relief appearances last week and struck out four batters over 2 2/3 innings. Lamb has yet to allow a run.
Burg is splitting time between third base and catcher and is hitting the ball well. He started the season with nine hits in his first six games, including four home runs. He went 0-for-4 in his last game.
In this league, doubleheaders are frequent because of the long travel for the teams around Australia. Burg has played in two doubleheaders so far, catching in one game and playing third in the second game.
The Puerto Rican League had its first full week. Only one Giants player on the Caguas roster saw action. Johnny Monell served as the designated hitter in three games last week and had five hits in 11 at-bats. He hit a home run in his first game against Ponce on November 6.
Javier Lopez, Jean Delgado, and Christian Diaz have yet to play for los Criollos. Hector Correa hasn’t pitched for Carolina and Andres Torres and Gaspar Santiago are still not present for Mayaguez.
Don’t forget that the Colombian League starts up on Friday! I’m tentatively going to the Escogido/Aguilas game here on Friday night, which means I’ll be seeing Belt and Perez. Scouting reports will follow, if I go.
