Puerto Rico Update; Michael Hernandez Hitting .900 versus LHers
Things don’t ever seem to look rosy for the Puerto Rican Winter League. Baseball America reported that the league almost did not start this year after league President Jose Andreu stepped down in early October. Sadi Antomattei, the former owner of the Arecibo Lobos stepped in to take his place and get the league started. The league is down to five teams when Jose Valentin was unsuccessful in reaching a deal with the San Juan municipal government for the use of Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Without any funding the Santurce Cangrejeros could not field a team.
What has been odd about this start of the Puerto Rico season is that no team has a winning record at home yet. Teams seem to prefer to play on the road in Puerto Rico.
Arecibo Lobos (7-4)
They are not one of the better hitting teams in the league, sitting next to last in average at .257, but they are second in team scoring. Miguel Negron is leading the charge with a average of .419 that puts him second in the league. He also has an OBA sitting at a stratospheric .519. He had a nice hitting streak end Sunday, but was 8 for 13 the previous three days. He scored six runs during that three game streak, putting him one behind the league leaders for most runs scored with 11. Michel Abreu roped seven doubles in eight games and leads the Puerto Rican League in doubles. He hit two homeruns and drove in six for the week to tie him for first in homeruns and put him at the top spot in RBIs. At 30, Michel played last year for the Mets AAA team. Seems like they could use a first baseman if Dan Murphy doesn’t work out. Jorge Padilla is tied for the lead in runs scored with 12, matching teammate Jesus Feliciano. Padilla scored six runs during the week, roping one double and two triples. Feliciano could score only five runs for the week.
Like all good teams, Arecibo is at the top of the list in ERA at 3.24. The bullpen troika of Levale Speigner, Jesus Carnevale and Eddie Camacho have each appeared in six games, going 3-0, with Camacho the only pitcher giving up runs. That equates to a 0.67 ERA. Jayson Kershner was banged around for 11 hits in his last start, giving up four runs in six innings to raise his ERA to 2.81. Bill Pulsipher is back for more and got off to a slow start, losing two of his three starts. He hasn’t gone more than four innings in any of his starts and his last appearance he gave up 10 hits in less than four innings. He was fortunate enough that he only gave up two runs in the loss.
Carolina Gigantes (6-5)
Orlando Mercado has gone 9 for 17 in his last four games hitting three doubles and driving in four. His average stands at .478 after seven games. This can’t be expected to last. Armando Rios had a nine game hitting streak end Sunday. He is hitting .393. Nine of Nate Schierholtz 12 hits have gone for extra bases, with six of them being doubles. Pedro Valdes drove in five runs and leads the team in RBIs with ten. His .343 average is not too shabby either.
Willie Collazo (2.12), Rick Vandenhurk (2.50) and Brian Lawrence (3.09) make a pretty formidable rotation for the Gigantes. Each has three starts. Rick’s 13 strikeouts is second in the league. Brian and Willie took losses last week, but they were let down by their defenses who allowed nine unearned runs to score against them. Jerome Williams has moved to the bullpen and has been almost unhittable, appearing in a league leading nine games with a 0.75 ERA. Opponents are hitting him at a .200 clip and he has only given up one run in his 12 innings of work.
Ponce Leones(5-7)
Ponce leads the league in hitting and has scored more runs than any team, but that hasn’t resulted in too many victories. Reggie Abercrombie is the man leading the Leones offense with a .346 average, three homeruns and 10 RBIs. He was 13 for 28 in a six game hitting streak, driving in nine runs with homeruns in three consecutive games during that streak. He still has a poor 1/11 walk to K ratio, a weakness that has plagued him throughout his career. He can get away with that in the Puerto Rican league, but major league pitchers eat him alive. Prentice Redman had a three game streak of 8 for 13 to raise his average to .375. Raul Casanova has gone deep once, and he’s driven in eight but his .194 average is a disappointment in this early start to the season.
Philip Humber is tops in the league in strikeouts with 18 but that comes with a 4.50 ERA. Philip has been a workhorse, already appearing in four games, three of them starts and getting his fourth start tonight. So he has pitched in five of the Leones first 13 games. He was pitching on adequate rest and didn’t go more than six innings a start, so there were either a lot of byes in the schedule or rain outs. Giancarlo Alvarado is having a hard time finding the plate walking 15 hitters in less than 15 innings. This has left him with a 5.52 ERA. He has walked at least three hitters in each of his four appearances that have often lasted less than five innings. Hopefully he can find Hiroshima when he goes over there in February to play for the Carp. Jake Westbrook should help the starting rotation. He made his debut Sunday and threw for just one out shy of two innings, giving up a run on two hits.
Caguas Criollos (4-6)
The Criollos are last in hitting, but they do have some sticks. Edgardo Baez (.389) and Luis Figueroa (.366) have been their biggest bats. Edgardo has got a hit in his last 10 games and Luis had four straight two hit games. Dragging that team average down is Matt Tuiasosopo who is hitting only .184. He’s gone deep twice, including a blast Saturday in a two hit game, so his bat could be heating up. Luis Matos also needs to hit better than .200 for the Criollos to do well. He did have a three game hitting streak going into Monday night.
Casey Mulligan hasn’t had to take one yet, a mulligan that is, pitching four innings without giving up a run and picking up two saves in the process. Andrew Baldwin has been the only effective starter keeping his ERA under 4. He has yet to hit five innings in any of his starts, but his ERA is at 3.97 after three starts.
Mayaguez Indios (4-7)
Michael Hernandez has had a nice start to the season. He’s putting up Nintendo like numbers hitting .667 with an OBA of .714 in twenty at bats. Any major league team need an outfielder? He was born in Brooklyn too. His last start he ripped three hits in three at bats, including his first homerun. His batting average against lefthanders sits at .900 and he is raking at 1.000 at home, that is an 8 for 8 streak. Michael is seeing the ball real well. Chris Johnson is the Indios big RBI man with 10. He drove in four last week and is hitting .353.
Hiram Burgos and Francisley Bueno have identical 3.38 ERAs. Burgos gives up a lot of hits with a .309 opponent average but he leaves a lot of men on base. Righthanders (.382) are particularly blistering him right now. Bill Simas has one win, one loss and two saves in five appearances. His last two appearances he gave up a run in each, but in his one loss he gave up five hits and one walk. It’s amazing he only gave up one run.