Article: Twins Winter League Updates

[Seth Stohs]

Twins Daily would like to thank Steve Lien for giving us weekly updates of the Arizona Fall League. Today, I wanted to provide Twins Daily readers an update on what is happening in the other winter leagues.Venezuela Winter League

 

Aaron Hicks decided to spend a couple of weeks in Venezuela, even pushing back his wedding. He played in 16 games and went 11-50. He hit .220/.381/.280 (.661) with a home run. He walked 13 times and struck out just 11 times. He stole three bases. He was released from his contract and returned home.

 

Oswaldo Arcia started the season late and has now played in 12 games. He has 15 hits in 45 at-bats and is hitting .333/.392/.689 (1.081). He has hit four doubles and four home runs while driving in nine runs. He has walked five times and struck out nine times.

 

Eduardo Escobar also started late, but he has played in 13 games so far. He is 14-56 with three doubles, two home runs and eight RBI. He’s hitting .250/.283/.411 (.694). He has walked just twice and struck out 14 times. He has stolen five bases.

 

Josmil Pinto has played in just one game and gone 0-3. GCL player Dubal Baez has gone 2-5 in limited playing time.

 

Lefty Ryan O’Rourke has been used as a LOOGY in Venezuela. He has been credited with 6.2 innings of work over 12 games. He has given up five hits, walked three and struck out seven. Opponents are hitting just .208 off of him.

 

Youngster Alexis Tapia has worked 4.1 innings over three games. He allowed six hits, walked two and struck out three.

 

 

Puerto Rico Winter League

 

Kennys Vargas was told he didn’t have to play this winter, but he wanted to. He has played in 14 games and has gone 13-45. He is hitting .289/.414/.533 (.947) with two doubles, three homers and ten RBI. As impressive, he’s walked ten times and struck out eight.

 

Outfielder Danny Ortiz has also played in 14 games. In 61 at bats, he his .246/.246/.426 (.672) with five doubles, two home runs and 11 RBI. He has never been a fan of walking. He has no walks to go with 17 strikeouts.

 

Dereck Rodriguez has pitched in two innings over two appearances. He has given up three runs on four hits. He’s walked none and struck out one.

 

 

Dominican Winter League

 

Chris Parmelee will be playing in the DWL until December 4. In the 16 games he has played, he is 17-63 with three doubles, a homer and six RBI. He is hitting .270/.343/.365 (.708). He has seven walks to go with 19 strikeouts.

 

Jeremias Pineda has 21 plate appearances over 15 games played. He is 5-18, hitting .278/.381/.333 (.714) with a double. He has walked three times and struck out eight.

 

Jorge Polanco just started playing this weekend. I think it’s safe to say he got off to a good start. He went 4-5 in his first game and followed it up by going 4-5 in the second game as well.

 

Lefty Pat Dean has made two starts and gone a combined seven innings. He’s given up nine hits, walked five and struck out six.

 

 

Australian Baseball League

 

Logan Wade had played in 12 games and gone 11-42. He has hit .262/.295/.548 (.843) with three doubles, three homers and eight RBI. He has also walked ten times and struck out eight times.

 

Josh Guyer has pitched just once and it didn’t go well. He gave up three runs on three hits and two walks and recorded just one out.

 

Todd Van Steensel gave up one run on three hits in his one inning. He walked none and struck out three.

 

 

We will post an update on the goings-on in the Winter Leagues every couple of weeks. Please feel free to ask questions.

 

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[beckmt]

Interesting update, thanks

[Willihammer]

"Kennys Vargas was told he didn’t have to play this winter, but he wanted to."

 

Good to hear.

[Dantes929]

Not good stats for Hicks but again his OBP is. .380 which is excellent.    I understand and agree somewhat that  you don't rate players against their spots in the batting order but am I the only one that thinks having a guy that gets on base, even if it is by walk, in the 9 spot has some value.   You can't have a whole lineup of guys that get on base without actually hitting well but its nice to have some of those guys in the lineup as table setters especially when our first two guys have some pop.     I value patience and walks and think it was the main difference between 2014 and 2013.   We scored 100 more runs in 2014 even with 30 fewer homers..

[Seth Stohs]

Not good stats for Hicks but again his OBP is. .380 which is excellent.    I understand and agree somewhat that  you don't rate players against their spots in the batting order but am I the only one that thinks having a guy that gets on base, even if it is by walk, in the 9 spot has some value.   You can't have a whole lineup of guys that get on base without actually hitting well but its nice to have some of those guys in the lineup as table setters especially when our first two guys have some pop.     I value patience and walks and think it was the main difference between 2014 and 2013.   We scored 100 more runs in 2014 even with 30 fewer homers..

 

 

In the nine spot, an OBP like he did last year, even without hitting much, would be nice!

[James Richter]

In the nine spot, an OBP like he did last year, even without hitting much, would be nice!

He's also a plus baserunner and a plus arm. Will the pop show up? It's been there in the minors. Frustrating, slow progress... but even with his present shortcomings, he's not really a liability at the bottom of the order.

[ashbury]

but even with his present shortcomings, he's not really a liability at the bottom of the order.

The OBP would be acceptable on the surface, but I don't see him as having reached a stable equilibrium yet.  If he doesn't bring that BA up some, the walks are going to melt away as pitchers opt to let the man get himself out.  If the BA becomes good, you can expect the walks to continue, and then he's a major leaguer - and if the power ever arrives then he's a plus. 

 

But I don't see the current hitting status continuing, so to me it's not productive to speculate on his role in the lineup yet.  He's not a #9 hitter in the long run - either he's up higher, or he's selling insurance.

[jokin]

Dominican Winter League

 

 

 

Jorge Polanco just started playing this weekend. I think it’s safe to say he got off to a good start. He went 4-5 in his first game and followed it up by going 4-5 in the second game as well.

 

 

 

Australian Baseball League

 

 

 

 

Nice to see Polanco hit the ground running.  He was 2-4 last night, which brings his slash line after 4 games to .611/.667/.611/(1.278) on 11-18, with 3 walks, 2 SB, 2 Ks, hitting safely in all 4 games.  Interesting to note, he has played 2nd base in all 4 games.

 

And a question for Seth.... Is Thorpe going to throw any innings in the ABL? 

[Steve Lein]

Even if he could, I don't think I'd want Thorpe to throw any innings in the ABL this year...

[Sam Morley]

zero walks in fourteen games is amazing. please keep us updated on this streak.

[ericchri]

The OBP would be acceptable on the surface, but I don't see him as having reached a stable equilibrium yet.  If he doesn't bring that BA up some, the walks are going to melt away as pitchers opt to let the man get himself out.  If the BA becomes good, you can expect the walks to continue, and then he's a major leaguer - and if the power ever arrives then he's a plus.

 

I used to think the same thing about Nick Punto, though.  I ranted with the guy in the cube next to me about why any pitcher would ever worry about Nick Punto enough to throw him anything but strikes, but year after year Punto drew large numbers of walks.  I don't know why this is, but the lesson I learned from Punto was that pitchers are stubborn imbeciles who refuse to change their pitching approach for obviously inferior hitters...  Not that I'm generalizing.

 

Hicks has always stuck me as a similar hitter to Punto in that oftentimes you can see they're up there looking to walk, not to hit.  He's got more tools to work with than Punto did, so you want Hicks to be a better hitter, but when your hitting philosophy often regresses to staring at pitches til you strike out or walk, the results will oftentimes end up similar.

[ashbury]

year after year Punto drew large numbers of walks. 

If that turns out to be Hicks's comp at bat, just flush him now.

[Seth Stohs]

Nice to see Polanco hit the ground running.  He was 2-4 last night, which brings his slash line after 4 games to .611/.667/.611/(1.278) on 11-18, with 3 walks, 2 SB, 2 Ks, hitting safely in all 4 games.  Interesting to note, he has played 2nd base in all 4 games.

 

And a question for Seth.... Is Thorpe going to throw any innings in the ABL? 

 

In the DWL, they play to win. They don't care about development (as much) there. So, that's probably why he's at 2B. We'd also have to see who the team's SS is.

 

As for Thorpe, he's still rehabbing in Ft. Myers, though separate sources tell me that he's feeling really good. I highly doubt he'll pitch in the ABL.