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2009 18 and Under United States Pan Am Team

Saturday, May 4th, 2013

They were roommates in 2009 playing in Venezuela for the 2009 United States Pan Am team.  In 2010 they were two of the first three picks in the 2010 draft, sandwiched between another of their teammates.  They became major leaguers in 2012, playing for teams about one hour from each other, both considered franchise players for their major league team.  They are Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.

Both starred for the 18 and under team playing in the Pan Am games in Venezuela that finished 8-0, beating a Cuban team with outfielder Jorge Soler twice.  They were not the only stars on that tema.  Jameson Taillon struck out 16 Cubans in the championship match, including Jorge Soler twice.  Taillon didn’t give up a run in two starts, pitching 13 plus innings and striking out 28.  He was the second player selected in the 2010 draft, just after Harper and in front of Machado.

Manny hit .367 with two homeruns and nine RBIs on that 2009 team.  Bryce hit .294 with two homeruns and 12 RBIs.  The big RBI bat on that team was Brian Ragira, who hit .241 with two homeruns and 14 RBIs.  Brian chose to go to Stanford and is considered by Baseball America the 25th best college prospect in the 2013 draft.  He was drafted by the Rangers in the 30th round in 2010 but chose to play for Stanford instead.

Other noteable players on the 2009 team include Kevin Gausman, drafted in the first round of the 2012 draft by the Baltimore Orioles.  Gausman had four relief appearances with a 1.93 ERA.  Nick Castellanos was a Tiger supplemental pick first round pick in 2010 and is considered the Tigers top prospect.  He hit .308 with one homerun and eight RBIs for the 2009 team.

Karsten Whitson was a first round pick of the Padres in 2010 but chose to go to Florida instead.  He is considered the 18th top college propsect in the 2013 draft.  He only got one start on the 2009 team, working five innings without giving up a run, walking four and striking out nine.

Nicholas Delmonico is the third Oriole from the 2009 team.  He was drafted in the sixth round of the 2011 draft, hitting only .250 as a 17 year old.  He was rated the Orioles fourth rated prospect in 2013 and hopes to join Gausman and Machado to lead the Orioles to a World Series championship.

Cody Buckel was a second round pick of the Texas Rangers and is considered their eighth rated prospect.  Garin Cecchini was a fourth round pick in 2010 by the Boston Red Sox and is their seventh rated prospect.  Sean Coyle is his Red Sox teammate and though he was drafted in the third round of the 2010 draft his prospect status has dropped while Cecchini’s has risen in the Red Sox system.

Robbie Ray was on that 2009 team and hopes to be a teammate again with Bryce Harper.  He was drafted by the Nationals in the 12th round of the 2010 draft.  He needs to improve on his 4-12, 6.56 2012 Potomac season.

Tony Wolters was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the third round of the 2010 draft but like Coyle his prospect status has stalled as he tries to rise up the Indians prospect ladder. He plays the middle infield made more crowded by Francisco Lindor, Dorssys Paulino and Ronny Rodriguez.

You can see the complete roster here: http://web.usabaseball.com/events/events.jsp?ymd=20100120&content_id=7944630&vkey=event_usab

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Canada Gets Their First Gold in Pan Am Games

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Canada 2 United States 1

The Canadians have won their first major international tournament with a well pitched 2-1 win over the United States.  Andrew Albers started the first six plus innings, giving up six hits and one run and then Scott Richmond retired all seven hitters he faced to preserve the win.  The lone run by the United States was driven in by Brett Carroll in the first inning to give the U.S. squad a quick 1-0 lead.

The United States started their ace Andy Van Hekken, who had only given up one run in 14 innings of World Cup prowess.  He shut the Canadians out for the first five innings, giving up only three hits.  In the sixth, the Canadians erupted for two, James Van Ostrand getting the big 2-run double to drive in the runs.  The two hits that preceded the double were contributed by Chris Robinson and Tim Smith, both coming after two were out.

So after Cuba and the United States dominanted the international baseball tournaments, two new countries have been heard from.  the Canadian team, who has always played the little brother to the United States team, wins the Pan am and Netherlands, who was just lucky to win a game a decade ago are the first European team to win a tournament.

Cuba 6 Mexico 0

Cuba was saving Miguel Gonzalez for the finals.  Unfortunately, after being upset by the United States in the semi final game, Cuba had to pitch Miguel in the bronze medal game.  Back in the day, when Cuba lost it was always in pool play.  Uninspired, it was a given that they would lose an early game and it was always good fun to try to figure out what team that would be.  When the playoffs started losing was not in the Cubans vocabulary.  Cuba seems to win the games in pool play now, but they are prone to losing the playoff game.  The better competetion makes that possible and while the professionals that stock many of these teams are AAA at best, they are much better than the college level players the Cubans were seeing in the past.

Miguel Gonzalez was on his game as he limited the Mexican bats to seven hits in his six plus innings of work.  He only walked one and struck out six.  Yadier Pedroso, who shut down the U.S. bats in the World Cup in Panama, finished off the last two plus innings and preserved the shutout.  He only gave up one hit and walked one.

The Cuban offense didn’t waste any time supporting Miguel.  Alfredo Despaigne, who was 0 for 5 against the United States, rocketed a 2-run homer in the first inning to give Cuba a quick 2-0 lead.  Jose Abreu rifled a solo shot in the second and Yulieski Gourriel hit a solo shot in the fourth.  The Cubans never looked back.

Mexico started ex-major leaguer Walter Silva and he lasted only two innings, giving up two bombs.  Marco Duarte followed and worked three innings, giving up one bomb and an unearned run.  Mexico, who had started out the tournament strong winning their pool by upsetting the United States, finish the tournament with two losses to settle for fourth place.

Dominican Republic 14 Venezuela 7

Neither team had the premium prospects from the United States like Miguel Sano (Dom Rep) or Francisco Martinez (Venezuela).  Both teams battled with their veterans trying to prove that their country was the far superior team.  The Dominican Republic prevailed, lashing out 20 hits in their 14-7 victory.  The game was 7-7 after seven, but the Dominican Republic scored seven runs in the last two innings to blow the game open.

Leadoff hitter Jose Campusano had five hits and scored three times to lead the Dominican offense.  Juan Richardson scored four runs from the number three spot, contributing three hits, two of them doubles.  Venezuela was led by the four hits and two RBIs from Rodolfo Cardona.  Yonathan Sivira also had four hits that drove in three runs.  The Dominican Republic used four pitchers in relief after the fifth inning that did not allow Venezuela to cross the plate, giving their offense a chance to end the game.

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United States Shocks Cuba; Plays Canada for Pan Am Gold

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

United States 12 Cuba 10

The United States bats woke up for Cuba’s best pitchers, mauling them for all 12 of their runs in a three inning spurt.  Brett Carroll and Matt Clark each crossed the plate three times and Jody Mercer, James Gallagher and Tuffy Gosewisch each drove in two runs to lead the United States offense.  They did not hit a ball over the fence, but split the gaps for six doubles from six different players.

After being down 12-2, Cuba came back for eight unanswered runs, but fell short against Scott Patterson, who pitched one and a third innings of shutout relief.  Rudy Reyes hit a 2-run homer in the fourth to make the score 12-4.  Frederich Cepeda drove in three to lead the Cuban comeback, but eventually made the last out of the game.

Cuban ace Freddy Alvarez could not last past the second inning and the United States continued to abuse Yulieski Gonzalez, Jonder Martinez and Dalier Hinojosa in a 12 run three inning ambush, eliminating the 11 time defending champion, the last 10 in a row, to a bronze medal game.  The last time Cuba did not play for the gold medal game was in 1959 when they finished fourth.  The United States now leads the series against Cuba 8-7 since they started using professional players in 1999.

Canada 5 Mexico 3

Mexico scored all their runs in the first inning on a 3-run homerun from Jorge Guzman.  Shawn Hill settled down after that, going five innings to allow Canada to come back and score two runs in the top of the fifth to give Hill the victory.  Dustin Molleken gave Canada two innings of relief, yielding to Chris Kissock to get the ninth inning save.

Canada and the United States were supposed to play for the bronze at the World Cup.  The rains in Panama prevented that game from being played and the bronze medals were awarded to Canada based on a head to head game and best record.  Now the two will play for the gold in Mexico, an unusual situation considering the United States loss to Mexico a couple days ago.

Puerto Rico 3 Panama 2

Hiram Bocachica hit a solo homerun in the eighth inning to give Puerto Rico a 3-2 win over Panama for fifth place in the Pan Am.  Tomas Santiago retired the last two hitters to pick up the save.

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Mexico Upsets United States in Pan Am

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

Mexico 3 United States 2

The United States were rolling over their opponents in slaughter shortened games, 20-2 over the Dominican Republic and 11-0 over Panama.  Then they had to face the host team Mexico and pitcher Rolando Chavez.  Mexico has always given the United States team fits in these Pan Am games, losing to them early to be knocked out of qualifying for the Olympics.

Tonight Chavez limited the United States bats to three hits and an unearned run in five innings before yielding to six different relief pitchers, who were able to tame the torrid United States bats to just five hits.  Catcher Roman Solis got the big hit for Mexico with a 2-run homer in the fourth that gave Mexico a 2-1 lead.  The United States would never be able to retake the lead.  Thomas Mendonca did drive in one of the two United States runs, giving him a streak of driving in a run in all three games.

The loss by the United States now forces them to play an opening game against Cuba in the second round, while Mexico will battle Canada.

Canada 4 Venezuela 1

Kyle Lotzkar threw four plus innings of 3-hit shutout ball, then handed it to the Canadian bullpen, who continued the shutout until the ninth inning when James Henderson gave up an RBI double to Yonathan Sivira to spoil the shutout.  Shawn Bowman drove in two runs for Canada, while Timothy Smith and James Romak drove in the other runs.

Dominican Republic 8 Panama 6

In a game that had no bearing on the medal round, the Dominican Republic beat Panama 8-6.  Panama committed six errors that allowed four of the eight runs the Dominicans scored to be unearned, while the Dominican Republic’s three errors allowed all six runs that Panama scored to be unearned.  Alexis Gomez drove in two runs and contributed three hits while the top four hitters in the Dominican lineup each had two hits to lead the offense.  Adolfo Rivera led the offense for Panama with four hits.

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United States Routs Panama; Mexico/Cuba Stay Undefeated

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

United States 11 Panama 0

In two games the United States have beaten their opponents 31-2.  Can this be expected to last?  Brett Carroll and Thomas Mendonca continue with the hot bats, both hitting homeruns, while Carroll went 3 for 3 with three RBIs, leaving him 7 for 8 in his last two games.  Mendonca drove in two with a homerun and now has driven in eight runs in his last two games.  Drew Smyly pitched 6 innings of 4-hit shutout ball to get the win.  The game only went seven innings because of the slaughter rule.

Cuba 8 Puerto Rico 7

Cuba won their second one run game, jumping out to an early 5-1 lead, but Puerto Rico came back to tie it at 5-5.  In the top of the tenth Puerto Rico scored two runs to take a 7-5 lead.  Cuba was able to come back and score three in the bottom inning to pull out the 8-7 victory.  Hiram Bocachica and Cesar Crespo combined for seven walks and each drove in two runs to lead the offense for Puerto Rico.  Rusney Castillo led the Cuban offense with three RBIs while Alfredo Despaigne and Jose Abreu had two RBIs each.

Mexico 3 Dominican Republic 2

The Host team Mexico remained undefeated with another one run victory, this one over the Dominican Republic.  Veteran Walter Silva got the start and the victory, going five innings and giving up just two runs.  Alan Guerrero pitched the ninth inning and picked up the save.  Leonardo Haras, Jorge Guzman and Walter Ibarra each drove in one run to lead the Mexican offense.

With the top two teams in each pool advancing to the next round and only one more game of pool play remaining, Mexico and United States are both undefeated in Pool A.  They next will play each other to see who advances out of that pool as the number 1 seed.  The number 2 seed will have to play an opening round game against Cuba.

Cuba has won Pool B with a 3-0 record.  Canada and Venezuela are both 1-1.  The two teams will square off to see who comes out of pool play as the second seed.  Canada could be matched up against number 1 seed the United States.  The United States never got an opportunity to play Canada for the bronze medal in the World Cup because of weather, losing the bronze to the fact that Canada had beaten them in pool play and also owned a better record.  The united States would like to show they are a better team.

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United States and Cuba with Easy Victories

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

Yesterday the three games were all decided by one run.  That was not true for the second day of the Pan Am games.

United States 20 Dominican Repbulic 2

The United States scored 10 runs in the eighth inning to trigger the slaughter rule in a game that was already a rout.  The United States team slugged four homeruns, one each from Jordan Danks, Tuffy Gosewich, Brett Carroll and a grand slam from bench player James Gallagher.  Brett Carroll finished with four hits and four runs driven in, a double short of the cycle.  Thomas Mendonca did not go deep but his two doubles and single was good for six runs driven in.  Andy Van Hekken went seven innings to get the win.  Rafael Cruz and Dario Veras gave up nine hits and three homeruns mopping up for the Dominicans.  Dominican pitchers issued 10 walks in the game, four of them to Matt Clark.

Cuba 9 Canada 5

Cuba jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, back to back solo shots in the first inning from Frederich Cepeda and Alfredo Despaigne and a grand slam from Jose Abreu in the third.  The Cuban bats feasted on Mike Johnson and Scott Richmond for 12 hits in just four innings.  Every starter in the Cuban lineup got a hit, with the first six players in the batting order getting at least two hits.  Canada battled back with James Van Ostrand contributing three hits and Brock Kjeldgaard scoring two runs on his two hits, but they needed a lot more than that to dig out of the hole their pitchers left them.  Yulieski Gonzalez was the beneficiary of the Cuban offense and got credit for the win, pitching five plus innings.

Venezuela 9 Puerto Rico 6

Puerto Rico scored four runs in the last inning, otherwise this game would have been a rout.  Jose Granadillo and Jose Alen, each had a homer and double and three hits total, with Granandillo driving in three runs and Alen driving in two. Jesus Yepez got the start and the win for Venezuela, pitching seven innings.

You can get the box scores from these games at: http://200.57.183.69/ENG/ZZ/ZZS158A_BB@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ENG_date=2011-10-20.htm

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Pan Am Openers

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

The last time they played the Pan Am Games it was in 2007.  The Olympics still had baseball on the agenda and it was used as a qualifying event for the Olympics.  Cuba won the event for the tenth straight time while the United States finished in second for the third straight time.  Myworld isn’t too sure the purpose of this event, other than keeping the rivalries alive in case baseball gets returned to the Olympics and as a qualifying tournament for the World Cup.  Many of the teams are the same as those that competed in the World Cup.  Perhaps some rivalries will be built.

Canada 5 Puerto Rico 4

Canada dominated Puerto Rico in their opener in the World Cup.  This game was a bit closer than their 9-1 rout in the World Cup.  Canada had jumped to an early 5-1 lead, led by the solo homerun of Tim Smith and the two doubles from Shawn Bowman.  Puerto Rico rallied for three runs in the last two innings but just fell short, Dustin Molleken coming on to get the last batter out to pick up the save.  Hiram Bocachica was the offensive star for Puerto Rico, connecting for two doubles to drive in one run and score twice.  Shawn Hill had a little better outing than he had with Cuba during the World Cup, when the two teams battled for the opportunity to play Netherlands for the gold.  This time Shawn threw five effective innings and only gave up one run to get the win.

You can see the boxscore for the game here: http://200.57.183.69/ENG/BB/BBR173A_BBM40040010200001ENG.htm

Cuba 5 Venezuela 4

Jose Abreu hit a 2-run homer in the sixth inning to allow Cuba to jump out to a 4-0 lead against Venezuela.  Miguel Gonzalez had pitched six innings of shuout ball, but he yielded to Vic Odelin in the top of the seventh.  It appears an error by Cuba allowed Venezuela to rally for four runs to tie the game.  Cuba was able to score an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead.  Yadier Pedroso retired Venezuela in the ninth to pick up the save.

Mexico 2 Panama 1

Mexico is the only team in the Pan Am games that did not participate in the World Cup.  Some of the winter league teams are playing without a couple players as they participate in the Pan am games.  Last night’s game went 13 innings before Mexico pulled it out 2-1.  Augustin Murillo gets credit for the game winning single.  Rafael Diaz pitched two innings of perfect ball to get credit for the victory. Panama was up 1-0 until Leonardo Haras slapped a single in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game.

The Pan Am games do not have the same rules as the World Cup for extra innings, where runners are placed on first and second.  It adds some suspense to the extra inning games, but sometimes it results in the best bunting team having the best opportunity to win.  The Pan Am games make teams earn their runs.

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