myworldofbaseball

Myworld had a long day yesterday, seeing two games in two cities.  The last time we did that was watching a day game in Wrigley and driving to Milwaukee to see a night game.  That was when Geoff Jenkins was patrolling left field for Milwaukee.

The surprising Orioles won a four game series from the first place White Sox in the opener 5-3.  Oriole fans are either asleep, or they all lived in Virginia and are now watching the Nationals play.  Only 40,000 attended the four game series.  If you had told any Oriole fan their team would be just three games behind the Yankees from first place and it was two days till September they would be pretty excited.  That excitement has not translated into attending the games.

The Oriole bats connected against Jose Quintana in the third inning for five extra base hits in a row to score four runs to prove the difference in the game.  Taylor Teagarden started the inning off with a solo homerun into the right field pavillion.  Nick Markakis and J.J. Hardy ripped back to back doubles almost in the same spot along the left field line to score the second run.  Adam Jones ended the scoring with a monstrous shot almost clearing the seats in the first row of the left field bleachers to make the score 4-1.  Mark Reynolds followed with a double off the top of the left field wall that the umpires had to review to determine if it was a homerun.  It was not a homerun and Reynolds was stranded at second.

Zach Britton was carving up the White Sox bats.  He had nine strikeouts after five innings and finished the game going eight innings with ten strikeouts.  The White Sox collected four hits off him in the second but could only one run.  A.J. Pierzynski was thrown out at home on a Alexi Ramirez single to Adam Jones.  They scored the first run of the game on a Gordon Beckham single to center scoring Dayan Viciedo, who runs a little faster than Pierzynski.

After the second inning the White Sox could get only two more baserunners off Britton.  They rallied for two runs in the ninth off Pedro Strop.  Buck had to bring in Jim Johnson after Alex Rios and Hector Gimenez hit back to back singles off Strop.  Johnson gave up a 2-run single to Ramirez, but struck out Beckham to pick up the save.

The White Sox relievers Nate Jones, Hector Santiago and Donnie Veal struck out seven hitters in the last three innings.  Nate Jones throws the hardest of the three, hitting the high 90s, but he likes to show the hitters the ball in his delivery, cocking his arm behind his head and advertising where the ball is.  He could be more effective if he did a better job of hiding the ball, but perhaps that is how he generates his velocity.

In the second game the Nationals had an easy time over the Cardinals 8-1.  Bryce Harper started off the festivities with a 2-run line drive homerun in the first inning.  It was his third homerun in two days.  He also sent one deep to the centerfield warning track in his second at bat.

Edwin Jackson was on his game, striking out 10 Cardinals.  He had seven strikeouts after the first three innings.  A Ryan Zimmerman error in the eighth inning when he sailed a ball over LaRoche’s head and into the seats ended a Cardinals 28 inning scoreless drought.  You look at the bats they have in their lineup and you have to wonder how they can go 28 innings without scoring a run.

Jaime Garcia was not sharp for the Cardinals.  Jayson Werth continues to shine from the leadoff spot.  He was on base his first three times up, scoring all three times.  He walked to lead off the first, singled in the third and then jacked a solo shot into the left field bullpen off Garcia.  In the sixth the Nationals strung together three hits in a row to score two runs, ending the day for Garcia and taking a 6-0 lead.  A Bryce Harper single just over the glove of a leaping shortstop Daniel Descalso scored one run, giving Bryce three RBIs for the game.  Rafael Furcal had to leave the game in the inning after making a throw to home.

Game Notes: The Baltimore Grand Prix was being held in the streets of Baltimore.  When you look at the trucks and the booths you recognize a lot of money goes into putting on these events.  The big container trucks filled the Camden parking lots, so maybe it was good the Oriole game could only draw 9,000 for the game.  What hurt is on Tuesday the Astros outdrew the Orioles.  The last place Astros.  It appears Baltimore has lost its pride as a baseball city…A.J. Pierzynski was taken out of the game after making three feeble swing and miss attempts against Britton.  After he had been thrown out at home in the second inning, without making a slide he struck out in his next two at bats…Ryan Zimmerman still does not look good when he makes an overhand throw to first.  He looks much crisper when he fields the ball and has to make a sidearm throw.

A monsoon went crashing through Korea, delaying the start of the 18 and under tournament.  The IBAF seems to have issues with rain at all their tournaments.  Perhaps their next event should be held in Phoenix.

The games appeared more competetive than the 15 and under.  Australia opened with a 7-4 win over Colombia.  It was a tightly contested 2-1 pitcher’s duel between Daniel McGrath from Australia and Nabil Crismatt from Colombia.  When Colombia went to their bullpen Australia erupted for five runs in the last three innings.  Colombia did score three runs in the ninth thanks to three walks to make the game close.  Leadoff hitter Elliott Hargreaves was the big bat for Australia driving in two runs.

On a different field but same time Panama shutout Italy 2-0.  Rigoberto Santamaria limited the Italian bats to one hit in his seven innings of work.  Omar Guzman threw the last two innings to complete the shutout.  Lorenzo Gradali only gave up one run in six innings for Italy.  Edmund Sosa scored both runs for Panama.

In the most exciting game, Canada took advantage of Japan’s inability to score in the top of the tenth after putting runners on first and second in the tie breaker formulae. After placing a successful sacrifice bunt and issuing an intentional walk to load the bases a wild pitch scored the winning run to give Canada a 6-5 run off victory over Japan. Canada had gotten a dramatic 2-run homer from Jesse Hodges in the bottom of the ninth to erase a 6-4 Japanese lead and send the game into extra innings.

The host South Korea team edged the 15 and under champion Venezuela 2-1. Korea got three plus innings of relief from Hyoung-Bae Yoon to get the win. Yoon did not allow a hit and struck out five.  Dae-Young Yoon drove in the only run and stole home after a pick off attempt at second base to account for both runs.  He also contributed two hits in two at bats for Korea.

In the most lopsided game, the United States crushed the Netherlands 17-0.  The United States team coaxed eight walks and banged out 16 hits for the victory.  Jeremy Martinez and Christian Arroyo each drove in three runs while Andrew McGuire scored four.  Garrett Williams threw six innings of shutout ball to get the win, striking out nine.  The game was 1-0 after three innings but the United States bats got over their jet lag and pounced for nine in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

Taiwan cruised past the Czech Republic 7-0.  Jung Hung Sen went the first six innings for Taiwan without allowing a run, giving up seven hits.  Three relievers finished the shutout throwing one inning each.  Chih Chieh Su was the big bat for Taiwan, scoring three of the seven runs.

The kid did not seem nervous at all. The old man was very fidgety, sweat dripping down his brow, jabbering constantly at Jason in a language Pablo assumed was Chinese. He had a stern, disciplined tone to his voice. The kid seemed to ignore his jabbering as he climbed up the half eaten hill referred to loosely as the pitcher’s mound. The rain and wind had worn it down from its regulation height. Jason kicked the piece of pitcher’s rubber still left on the hill. No telling where the other half of the rubber had disappeared. Jason said something to the old man in Chinese.

“Jason ask whether you want him pitch from windup or stretch?” the old man asked.

“Whatever he is comfortable with. It’s his show.”

The old man said something to Jason in Chinese. Jason nodded.

The catcher bent to his knees and settled behind a mud caked plate, pounding his hand into the glove. He flipped the catcher’s mask over his face. Jason took a slow windup, cocked his knee toward the blue sky, his arms lifting high in the air as if he was lifting an axe, pausing, his hips turning and like a burst of wind his right hand separating from his glove, the ball rifling towards the plate. “Swish” hissed the sound of the ball as it sliced through the air. “Splat,” came the sound created by the ball as it crashed into the catcher’s glove. The “splat” could be heard by everyone in the ballpark, causing motion to stop and heads to turn towards the bullpen area. Silence filled the stadium. The “splat” reverberated through the air like a firecracker.

Francisco was not silent. He was screaming every cuss word in the English language as he bounced around behind the plate. “S**t. F**k. Mother of Mary,” he yelled, flinging the glove off his left hand and slamming it to the ground. Pablo smiled. It is not often you see talent like that. That ball sliced through the air like a bullet through space. Without a warm up pitch. Or was that his warm up pitch? How hard could he throw after he had gotten warmed up?

“”Javier,” Francisco yelled in Spanish to one of the players warming up. “Could you get me a thicker glove? And bring some of that padding with it.”

“Bring me a gun to,” Pablo hollered, referring to the speed gun coaches use to clock pitches. His five other tryouts would just have to wait until Pablo was through with this Asian kid. He couldn’t contain his excitement, whipped out his cell phone from his pocket and hit speed dial for Larvell.

“I found him,” Pablo spit out as soon as Larvell answered the phone.

“Found who?”

“The Asian kid. I may have to find a new catcher since he may have broken his hand, but f**k, this kid throws some heat. First pitch. No warm up. Nice easy motion. It had to have hit three digits. And he’s wearing tennis shoes. I’ve never seen a kid throw so hard. A weird, awkward windup, but give him some proper equipment, a better slope of the mound and a bit of proper technique and this kid could be dynamite.”

“Where’d you find him?”

“He just walked into the facilities. He found us.”

“Don’t let him go. Do you know if he’s over nineteen?”

“He looks to be at least twenty.”

“If he’s not twenty we’ve got to hide him until the July draft.” In the new international draft players from 16-19 years of age were eligible for the draft provided they registered with major league baseball. The age depended on the country and the high school graduation rates. Players that had never been drafted or signed turning twenty before July 2 could be signed as free agents as long as they did not play in a college program. The last was a compromise to Japan, who still had some of their better players compete in college. If a kid played in college he had to turn 22 by July 2 before he could become a free agent. All other kids under twenty had to register for the draft. If not registered they could not be signed by a major league team until they reached their twentieth birthday or twenty second if they played at a college. “I’ll talk to Ruben. If you think he is good enough to sign and he is over nineteen get his name on a contract. I don’t care what it costs. I’ll trust your judgment. If he is not yet twenty get him registered for the draft. And hide him. Don’t let another team get a sniff of him.”

“Will do,” Pablo said, smiling from end to end. Larvell seemed to be pleased. That was good. He closed his phone shut with satisfaction, yelled over to his catcher. “Francisco. You ready for some more pitches.”

“Yes sir. Just give me a couple more seconds to let the throbbing go away.” Francisco was frantically stuffing the new catcher’s mitt with additional padding.

“Don’t be such a wimp,” chided Pablo.

“That pitch came in pretty good Pablo. My hand would estimate over 100 easily. I’ve never caught anyone who throws that hard.”

That was Pablo’s opinion too. In all the years he had watching kids throw he had never seen anyone who threw that hard. Hiding him would be a bit of a challenge with all the witnesses who heard the “splat”. Tales of that sound would get around the small island country pretty quickly with lots of embellishment along the way.

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You can see the list of rosters here: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/winter-baseball/arizona-fall-league/2012/2613978.html.  Most teams do not send their top pitchers to Arizona because of a concern for their inning workload.  This may be a reason for a number of teams not yet set as far as pitchers.  One of the better pitchers in Fall Ball last year from a results standpoint was Terry Doyle who is now pitching for the Softbank Hawks, so you never know where your performance will take you.  Most teams are taking a look at players who are borderline 40 man roster players.  Some players not placed on the 40 man roster must be exposed to the Rule V draft.

Below are some of the players myworld will follow on each of the rosters:

Mesa Solar Sox

Dylan Bundy is not listed here, but the talk is he will not be promoted to Baltimore in September but will instead pitch in Fall Ball.  So look for him to be added to the roster.  Jared Cosart is a pitcher from Houston to watch.  On the international circuit, Chia-Jen Lo from Taiwan will get some work in.  A couple years ago he was set to make the Astros bullpen but surgery stalled his career.  Dae-Eun Rhee from Korea will try to impress the Cubs.

For the position players, Jonathan Singleton (Astros) has the potential to lead the league in homeruns.  Javier Baez is a top Puerto Rican shortstop prospect but may end up expanding his versatility at other positions.  The Cubs recently signed Starlin Castro to a multi year contract so Baez needs to increase his flexibility.  Nick Castellanos was the Tigers savior after a good start in High A, but he hit a bump in AA.  The Tigers moved him from third base to the outfield where he will continue to get some work.  Yasiel Puig is from Cuba and signed for more money than Yoennis Cespedes, so he will need to show he is worth it.  Two other top notch outfielders to watch are the speedy centerfielder Matt Szczur (Cubs) and potential five tool player George Springer (Astros).

Peoria Javelinas

Casey Kelly recently threw a shutout for the Padres and after a number of major league starts he may be replaced on the roster to save his arm.  Kyle Gibson needs to get some work for the Twins because of Tommy John surgery ending his 2012 season.  James Paxton is one of the Mariners top pitching prospects.

The Phils want to take a look at Tommy Joseph.  Their other catching prospect Sebastian Valle will probably be playing in the Mexican winter league.  Didi Gregorious is a smooth fielding shortstop whose defense led the Netherlands to the gold medal in the last world cup.  If you want a bat you can ask for the Mariners Nick Franklin.  Donald Lutz (Reds) is a German with a big bat for first base.  The German roster hopes to have him for the World Baseball Classic qualifying round in Germany, but he is on the Reds 40-man roster.  Listed as an outfielder is the stolen base record holder Billy Hamilton (Reds).  The Padres have talented outfielder Rymer Liriano.

Phoenix Desert Dogs

Not really impressed or that familiar with their list of pitchers.

Matt Kennelly represents the Braves and Australia as one of the three catchers.  Tim Beckham (Rays) needs to get some work in after being suspended for a good portion of the season for a drug of abuse.  He is on the precipice of being a bust after being the first player picked in the 2008 draft.  Hak-Ju Lee is a smooth fielding Korean shortstop who is now considered the Rays shortstop of the future so it will be interesting who of the two Rays plays shortstop when they are paired together.  Miles Head was one of the plays the Athletics acquired from the Red Sox for Andrew Bailey.  He has had a breakout year.  Christian Yelich from the Marlins is the best outfielder from this group.

Salt River Rafters

Andre Rienzo is another player who served a drug suspension but had a breakout season when he returned.  He would like to be the first Brazillian pitcher to make the major leagues.  The White Sox will give him an opportunity to prove himself in Arizona.

Anthony Rendon missed most of the year with an ankle injury.  The Nationals will give their number one pick a chance to make up the at bats in Arizona.  Brian Goodwin is another National number one pick that covers a lot of ground in centerfield and comes with power.  Jake Marisnick is the Blue Jays best outfield prospect and also plays centerfield.

Scottsdale Scorpions

Not a lot of pitchers listed on the roster.

Austin Romine has not played much in 2012 because of back issues.  The Yankees were hoping he could be ready to take over more of the catching duties this year.  Gift Ngoepe is a nice story from South Africa.  He and his mother lived in a club house for one of the teams there.  He learned enough to play shortstop for the Pirates minor league affiliate and hopes to show he has enough of a stick to play in the show.  Randal Grichuk is an Angels outfielder who was selected before Mike Trout when the Angles had back to back first round picks in 2009.  Gary Brown is a speedy outfielder who the Giants hope can be ready for the 2013 season.

Surprise Saguaros

No pitchers to discuss.

Kellin Degalan is a first round pick from Canada who is a premium defensive catcher.  Kolton Wong is a 2011 number one pick from Hawaii who could be gunning for the Cardinals second base job next year.  Bryce Brentz (Red Sox) and Cesar Puello (Mets) are two promising sluggers for corner outfield positions.

“How can I help you?” Pablo asked the two men as he approached. “My name is Pablo Vargas. I’m in charge of international operations with the Baltimore Orioles.”

The young Asian kid bounced up from his bleacher seat. As he rose Pablo could see he was tall. They both shook the right hand of Pablo. The older man’s grip was a little limp but the younger man had a firm hand shake, swallowing the right hand of Pablo with his own. Pablo liked the broad shoulders of the young kid. He definitely had an athletic build to him, something he did not see from the Dominican rejects coming here. The older ones were a little doughy, the younger ones were too skinny with no meat on their bones. This kid looked solid, built from brick. He was wearing shorts and tennis shoes. No appearance of any cleats, but still, Pablo was starting to feel optimistic, wondering what kind of reclamation project stood before him. Since the kid looked to be between 20-23 years of age he had to be a short term project if he had any future. In this game, they signed the Dominicans at age 16 because it took six years to build up their strength and get them acclimated to the game. This kid was physically strong. The only question was his years of experience playing this game.

“My name John. This Jason,” the older man said in his broken English. The old man was pale and thin and looked like an elf standing next to the kid. Pablo wondered about his connection to the younger man. He couldn’t be his father. He was far too different physically than the younger man. He was too pale and frail. Short too. This kid was tanned and muscular, with tree trunks for legs. “I was hoping you look at Jason. Let him throw a few pitches. Tell me what you think.” His voice was measured as he thought out each English word.

Pablo didn’t want to spend a lot of time with them if this kid had no talent, but he passed the eye test for physicality. Let’s see what kind of stuff he has, Pablo thought to himself. What are the odds this is the same kid who created the commotion at the park last month? He was going to ask them about that, but he decided to let that wait. Let’s see what the kid has first.

“Francisco,” he cried out to a player throwing long toss in the outfield area. “Could you get a catcher’s glove and come over by the bullpen area? I’d like you to catch a couple warm up tosses.”

Pablo turned to the young Asian kid. “Do you have a glove?”

The old man barked some unintelligible words to the Asian kid. He scrambled towards the bleacher seats to pick up a worn and ragged glove whose leather appeared quite frayed. Some of the strings appeared ready to snap off. The pocket looked good, like an old couch that had become acquainted to the same rear end sitting in it for over twenty years. It needed little effort to close and appeared to have a lot of use. Pablo would have had his doubts if he had brought a rigid glove with little wear just bought at a retail store.

“Follow me” said Pablo as he walked the duo to their bullpen area, which consisted of a small hill next to the right field bleachers. They only had to wait a couple minutes before Francisco came jogging over with his catcher’s glove, the shin guards clacking with each step, covering up his short and stubby legs. Like most catchers he was stout, an advantage for one who had to do a lot of bending at the knees.

Jason was stretching his arm and rotating his hips while they waited. He seemed to know the basic concepts of stretching exercises for pitchers. That was a good sign. Pablo wondered where he learned this. If he had any kind of coaching he wouldn’t be looking for a tryout if he was talented. A coach or agent would be finding teams for him, or keeping him for his own team. This old man was definitely not a coach. He was also too short to have pitched. He had called him “Jason”. He had never referred to him as “my son”. Maybe he was an agent. That was Pablo’s best guess. An equivalent of an Asian buscone. Pablo was not that familiar with how they played the game in Asia.

The kid wore an old UCLA sweat shirt. Pablo wondered where he may have gotten that. Did he attend UCLA? Judging from the old man’s discussion with him he didn’t appear to speak English.

“Okay. Here’s a ball.” Pablo flipped the ball to Jason. With a steady calmness Jason caught the ball with the webbing in his glove, making little effort to trap the ball in the pocket. That was another good sign. He had seen many a tryout where the player couldn’t even pass that simple test of athleticism, bobbling the ball until it hit the ground. “No need to start out too fast. Take a few warm up tosses. You let me know when you are ready then we’ll see what you’ve got.”

Dylan Bundy pitched five plus innings and the Bay Sox reduced their magic number to two games by defeating the Erie Seawolves 4-2.  Bundy went five plus innings to get credit for his second AA victory.  Kyler Newby struck out the side in the ninth to pick up the save.

While Bundy throws his fastball at 94-98 in the first two innings he was not getting a lot of swings and misses.  Two lefthanders actually pulled his fastball to the first base dugout.  When he began mixing in his curve and change after the second inning he got more swings and misses, especially with his curve.  He got a little wild in the fifth and sixth, walking two in each inning.  The two walks in the sixth proved to be the end for Bundy.  Both runners later scored to cut the lead to 4-2.

Ronnie Welty had another big bat for the Bay Sox.  He finished the night with two hits, one single and a double to allow him to cross the plate once.

The Seawolves Nick Castellanos had four at bats and four whiffs.  Avisail Garcia had two of the six Seawolves hits.  They are playing him in centerfield, but he seems to thick to play the position at the major league level.

There was a steady stream of chatter on the field from the players warming up. Some were stretching while others were lightly tossing the ball back and forth to loosen up their arms. The chatter was all in Spanish, a language Pablo loved to feel surrounded by. There was an occasional English swear word, followed by a Spanish phrase. Pablo didn’t know why American swear words were so popular with the young Dominican players. Many of them could not speak a word of English, but they had no problem knowing all the English swear words.

In addition to the Spanish chatter there was also the pounding of hammers, the constant whirring of saws as construction workers cut through wood and the roaring of the automated blade cutters trimming through the large chunks of brush that had been swallowing the facilities. Most of the work was being done in the dormitories. Pablo knew nothing about construction so he put a friend in charge of the refurbishing. He made it clear they were to fix only what was not safe. “This is only a temporary facility. We are not building a home here.” But the dorms were the temporary home for the players and they had to be comfortable if Pablo expected them to stay. His friend was grateful for the work Pablo provided him and his crew.

Pablo was prepared to scout five players today to see if he was interested in keeping them at the facility. Three of these players would be pitchers. He wasn’t too impressed with the players he was seeing. They were obviously rejects from other teams. Pablo had to lower his standards quite a bit just to get enough players into the facility to practice as a team. If he scheduled games with the other teams in the area these kids wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Pardon me Pablo”, one of the workers said to him, interrupting him from his thoughts. Pablo sighed at the interruption. Instead of being greeted by a pretty secretary in a short skirt he was greeted by a construction worker in dirty overalls holding a nail gun. This was definitely different than his days with the Mets. He had to accept whoever happened to be available in front of the entrance of the facility to inform him about the arrival of a visitor. Pablo wasn’t sure how many people had shown up and left because no one was in front to greet them. When you looked at this place your first impression was one of abandonment. Fortunately, there was enough construction noise and activity going on to provide evidence it still had a pulse to it. “There are two Asians that have come here for a try out. One of the men is much older, so I think it is the younger one that would like a tryout.”

Pablo almost waved him off, telling him to have them come back tomorrow. The five he was going to look at today was all the torture he wanted to put himself through. But then he thought of the pitching booth with the Asian kid Larvell seemed so obsessed about. This kid had been with an older man with white hair. He stopped himself from waving him off. “Where are they?”

“Sitting in the stands. Over by the first base side near right field.” He pointed with one hand, covering his eyes from the glare of the sun with the other.

Pablo squinted hard at where he was pointing. While his vision was getting bad and he needed glasses but did not wear them out of pride, he could still see their shapes. The glare from the sun and his blindness hampered his vision. The younger one looked to be about 6’5”, the height they were looking for, but he was sitting down, so Pablo could not tell for sure. The older man had hair as white as snow. He was much shorter than the young kid. Standing he was equal in height to the seated younger Asian. It was obvious the older man wasn’t going to be playing any baseball. The two of them fit the description of the Asians at the pitching booth. That would be a strange coincidence to find them here.

“Thanks. I’ll talk to them,” he said to his unshaven, covered in dirt construction worker.

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The attendance in Japan may be down but in Korea they are still baseball crazy, breaking the six million mark in attendance and creeping toward 7 million.  You can see the attendance break down at http://www.mykbo.net/KBO_news

Three teams have broken a million in attendance, the Lotte Giants, Doosan Bears and the LG Twins.  The SK Wyverns just need a couple more home stands to break the one million mark.  The total average attendance at Korean games averages out to just a little over 14,000 with the top team, the Lotte Giants averaging over 21,000.  The Korean stadium with the largest attendance capacity is the Lotte Giants at just over 30,000. The smallest is the Samsung Lions at just over 10,000. You can see a list of the stadiums at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baseball_stadiums_in_South_Korea

The LG Twins have the most faithful fans, finding themselves in next to last place.  The other three attendance leaders stand 2-4 in the standings.  The defending champions and the league leaders Samsung Lions are next to last in attendance but their stadium only holds 10,000 and is the oldest stadium in Korea.

The last place Hanwha Eagles had their manager Dae-Hwa Han resign.  The Eagles have probably the best pitcher in the league in Hyun-jin Ryu and signed two big name free agents in Chan-Ho Park and leading hitter Tae-Kyun Kim (league leading .385 average) but still have failed to produce winning results.  Their last place finish probably meant his three year contract ending this year was not going to be renewed.

Below are the individual awards handed out by the IBAF.  Below that you will see some other players who did quite well who played for teams that did not get a lot of recognition.      

Individual Awards

Leading Hitter: Conrado Díaz (MEX) - .652, 4 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR and 14 runs scored and 12 RBIs
Pitcher Best ERA: Dannel Díaz (CUB) - 0.00 ERA in 12 innings pitched.
Pitcher Best Win-Loss Record: Kevin Reyes (HON) - 3-0, 5.06
Most Runs Batted In: Sergio Cestarelli (ITA) - 15 RBIs
Most Home Runs: Greifer Andrade (VEN) - two homeruns
Most Stolen Bases: Lucas Sakay (BRA) - 11 for 13 in stolen base success
Most Runs Scored: Lucas Sakay (BRA) - 16 runs scored.  He also hit .500 with four triples.
Outstanding Defensive Player: Yu Tang Ming (TPE) - pretty good offense with .458 average and 11 runs scored
Most Valuable Player: Ricardo Sanchez (VEN) - 1.50 ERA in two starts, stats not including the finals

All Star Team

Starting Pitcher: Dannel Diaz (CUB) - He struck out 16 and only gave up one hit for a .028 average.
Relief Pitcher: Jose Garcia (HON) - 1-0, 0.73 in 12 bullpen innings
Catcher: Jose Herrera (VEN) - .455 but had a big final game
First Baseman: Yordan Alvarez (CUB) - .545 with 11 RBIs.  Also 9 walks and a .687 OBA
Second Baseman: Hector Chapa (MEX) - .500 with 10 RBIs
Third Baseman: Hector Guerrero (MEX) - .355 with 9 walks and 15 runs scored
Shortstop: Rangel Ramos (CUB) - .444 with 9 RBIs.
Outfielder: Nestor Tejada (VEN) - .520 also with two homeruns, 4 triples and 13 RBIs.  1.080 slugging and 5 HBP
Outfielder: Conrado Diaz (MEX) - see best hitter numbers
Outfielder: Camil Quintero (CUB) - .600 but he only started four games.  Four of his 9 hits triples.

Other players Receiving Consideration

Cristian Yamawaki (ARG) - .478 with one homerun and 10 RBIs. He also was 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in two relief appearances.

Dijendrick Croes (Aruba) - He hit .375 with three triples and nine RBIs.  He also walked four times for a .483 OBA

Alejandro Rivero (Cuba) - He hit .370 with one homeruns and led Cuba with 14 RBIs.

Jose Norona (Cuba) - Hit .433 and his 15 runs scored was one behind the league leader.

Sascha Roch (Germ) - Led the German team in hitting at .346.  Hit 2 doubles and 3 triples.

Julius Reitemeier (Germ) - 2.35 ERA but 23 whiffs in 15 innings.  He was also a little wild with 13 walks.

Ho Fung Wong (HK) - He hit .357 with three stolen bases.

Ho Hin Wen (HK) - Hit only .200 but walked 10 times to up that OBA to .600.

Yu Hei Lau (HK) - Hong Kong ace started three games.  His 0-2, 6.14 ERA not good but his 24 whiffs in 14 innings deserve mention.  He also gave up 24 runs to match his strikeout number.

Kevin Reyes (Hon) - In addition to his 3-0 pitching exploits he hit .458 with five triples, most in the tournament.  He also scored 12 runs and coaxed 9 walks.

Ryanto Sudjana (Ind) - He only hit .273 but led the team in RBIs with 5 and was 6 for 6 in stolen bases.

Muhammad Fauzan (Ind) - The rubber arm pitched 31 innings, leading the tournament by 15.  His 29 strikeouts also led the tournament.

Marten Gasparini (Italy) - He hit .419 with 4 triples and 6 for 6 in stolen bases.

Jonas Aleksandravi (Lith) - He hit .500 with four doubles, 2 triples a homerun and 10 RBIs.  Tied for the tournament lead in hits with 15.

Luis Urias (Mex) - He hit .406 with a team leading 15 RBIs and a team leading 16 runs scored.  The 15 RBIs and 16 runs scored also tied him for the tournament lead in both categories.  I’d make room for him on the All Star team.

Carlos Perez (Nic) - He hit .423 with 11 runs scored, both tops on the team

Wei Shen Chang (Tai) - He hit .423 with 10 RBIs and 6 for 6 in stolen bases

Ting Chin Chueh (Tai) - He was also 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA.

Kyrylo Romack (Ukraine) - He hit .478 to lead all Ukraine hitters by almost .200 points

The last time these two teams played Cuba beat them in pool play 11-5.  Yesterday was a different team for Venezuela.  They thrashed Cuba in the game that counted 10-2, getting three hits, three RBIs and three runs scored from catcher Jose Herrera.  The Cubans showed a few jitters in the game committing five errors, two in the opening frame that led to three unearned runs.  The tournament MVP Ricardo Sanchez started the game and got the victory despite walking six hitters.  He also gave up six hits and struck out six in his seven innings of work.

Taiwan beat the host team Mexico 6-1 in the battle for the bronze while Brazil defeated Nicaragua 9-7 for fifth place.  Myworld will put together the All tournament team tonight based on the stats of the game, unless the IBAF puts together an all tournament team.