Dominican Republic Update
Toros Este (12-6)
They are clinging to a one game lead over the Tigres. Andy Marte is trying to convince some major league team that he can still play. The Toros 7-3 hot streak was helped by Marte’s 10 for 23 week in which he hit two homeruns and drove in six. Hitting two homeruns in the large parks of the Domincan is like blasting 6 in a week in the Mexican League. With the hot streak Andy upped his average to .327. Angel Berroa has a six game hitting streak, also going 10 for 23 but without the homeruns. Angel did drive in four and is hitting .308. Chris Petit would like to think his bat is heating up getting a hit in each of his last three games as well as driving in a run. His average is still below the Mendoza line at .182. The bright spot is he avoided striking out in those three games, something Chris has been struggling with in the Dominican.
Wesley Wright took a tough loss last week, giving up only one run in five innings of work, an unearned run at that. He struck out seven and gave up only four hits to lower his season ERA to 1.15 after three starts. He has struck out 20 in a little over 15 innings of work. Fernando Abad has not been quite so dominating as Wesley in his starts, but he did get his first win last week, giving up two runs in five innings of work. He has a 2.25 ERA for the year. Julio Manon has picked up a save in each of his last five appearances and has eight for the season. His ERA stands at 0.82. Opponents are only hitting .182 off him. He had a good year last year in the winter league but no major league team picked him up. He’s 36 years old so he is beyond that prospect status.
Licey (11-7)
Despite being last in runs scored they are second in wins. A four game winning streak can be credited for that rise. Emilio Bonafacio is back with Licey. He saw a lot of bench time once the Marlins acquired Nick Johnson. He could be one of the beneficiaries of a Dan Uggla trade if he can show he can hit. In his first three games for Licey he went 6 for 14 all singles, but a run scored in each ball game. Licey has not lost with him in the lead off spot. Timo Perez is one of three players tied for the league leadership in homeruns with three and Timo is leading the Domincan League early in this season with 16 RBIs. Timo was smoking last week, going 13 for 23 with a double, triple and homerun with 10 runs batted in. Timo is number two in hitting at .368.
Licey is just ahead of the Toros in pitching ERA. Daniel Cabrera can not be given credit for the low ERA. He continues to struggle to get hitters out giving up five runs on eight hits in a little over one inning of work in his last start. He has a 6.97 ERA and six walks and five strikeouts in 10 innings of work. Oneli Perez is just one back of Julio for the save lead.
Escogido Leones (10-8)
Escogido is at the bottom in hitting, but at least they have scored more runs than Licey. Conor Jackson is the big stick at .352. What is impressive about Conor is his .507 OBA, the result of 15 walks in just 17 games. Conor is also second in the Dominican League in stolen bases with six. Yes, a perfect 6 for 6 in steals. He was 7 for 18 for the week driving in five. Eric Young has joined the Leones roster and got hits in his first three games for a .273 average. Not as torrid a start as Bonafacio, but long term he may be the better player. Juan Brito took over the catching chores from the slumping Alex Avila, going 3 for 11 with a homerun and three RBIs. Alex is only hitting .159 in 13 games.
Ivan Novoa and Tobi Stoner make a pretty powerful 1-2 punch on the mound for the Leones. In four starts Novoa has a 1.05 ERA. He had not given up a run his first three appearances, but Escogido extended him to two seven inning games where he gave up three runs in 14 innings. He only has one win to show for those excellent outings. Tobi meanwhile has two wins, but lost his last start, a seven inning outing in which he only gave up two runs, one earned. His ERA is at 1.13. Novoa and Stoner are 1-2 in ERA in the Domincan League. Zack Segovia picked up his fourth save and second win last week, seeing his ERA drop down to 1.04 after 8 bullpen outings.
Gigantes (8-10)
Gigantes is an interesting 8-2 at home and 0-8 on the road. Wilson Betemit struggled with Escogido, hitting .154. Since his acquistion by the Gigantes he is ripping the ball at a .423 pace. He is 9 for his last 17 with three RBIs, including a homerun. Padres prospect Luis Durango has slowed down a bit, but is still up at .349. He only has one hit in his last 14 at bats, but he did manage three steals last week and has seven for the season, leading the league. Juan Francisco has a modest four game hitting streak to raise his average to .220. He was 5 for 14 with four runs driven in during that four game stretch.
Jose Capellan (Astros) got his first win with six shutout innings. He gave up five hits and struck out three without allowing a walk. This was a big improvement over his last start when he gave up 11 hits in four innings of work.
Aguilas Cibaenas (7-11)
Dionys Cesar is not getting a lot of playing time, but he went deep twice in the three games he played and is tied for the league lead with three. He went 3 for 10 last week, extending his current hitting streak to five. Tony Abreu has been playing second and went 4 for 21 last week. He struck out five times and is now 2/14 in the walk to K ratio. Dionys may start seeing a little more playing time. Kory Casto made his debut last week going 4 for 15.
Aguilas is led by the veteran presence of John Halama and Jose Lima, two cast of characters whose combined ages of 74 may exceed the velocity on their fastballs. Halama tantalized the first place Toros with six shutout innings in his one start last week, getting his first victory. His ERA for the year stands at 1.50 in four starts. Lima lost his first start to Licey, going six innings and giving up two runs. His ERA is 2.84 after four starts. The young whippersnapper Ben Jukich faced Gigantes twice last week and got ripped in his first start, giving up five runs and 10 hits in a little over two innings. He must have learned something from that first start. His second start he didn’t allow a Gigantes to cross home in his five innings of work, giving up only three hits.
Estrellas (6-12)
Estrellas leads the Domincan in average, but it hasn’t helped them in the win column. Their 82 runs scored is also tops in the league. Pablo Ozuna, despite his vanilla bat, is the top RBI man on the team with 12. He had seven last week with timely hits, going 8 for 24 with two doubles. He’s only slugging .324. Cuban Yasser Gomez is also hitting a vanilla like .250, but he is second on the team in RBIs with 10. He only went 3 for 22 for the week. Eugenio Velez has hit in all nine games he’s played for a .375 average. He also has an impressive .600 slugging percentage and scored four runs and drove in three in his last three games.
Evan MacLane got win number three last week, going seven innings and allowing only one run against Licey. He is now 3-0 for the season with a 1.96 ERA. He has 19 whiffs in 23 innings pitched. Radhames Liz has been lost among all the Oriole kid prospects, but at one time he was the top pitching prospect on the team. He is trying to get back in the good graces with the Orioles management and got off to a good start with three innings of shutout ball in his debut. He is only 26 so watch for him in the spring.