Article: Minnesota Twins Winter League Report

[Seth Stohs]

Several Minnesota Twins minor leaguers are playing in a Winter League abroad. We have been posting weekly updates from the Arizona Fall League, and Steve Lien will post this week's later today. But there are also players playing in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Australia. Check out how they've done in the early stages of the Winter Leagues.Venezuela Winter League

 

The Venezuelan baseball league began about two weeks ago. Several Twins minor leaguers are playing. Here is a quick update of how they have done to this point.

• Shortstop Argenis Diaz is playing for Aragua. He is hitting .500/.571/1.000 (1.571). Sounds great, but he has just six at bats so far. He is 3-6 with a double and a triple. One walk.
• Infielder Jose Martinez is also playing for Aragua. He is 6-34, hitting .176/.222/.176 with two walks.
• Heiker Meneses plays for LaGuiara. He is hitting .208/.345/.250 (.595) with a double and two walks. He is 5-24.
• Engelb Vielma is also playing for Aragua. He is 9-47, hitting .191/.255/.234 (.489). He has two doubles, two walks and two stolen bases.
• Omar Bencomo was signed in early August by the Twins out of independent baseball. He is pitching for Margarita. He has made four starts and is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. In 20 innings, he has given up 23 hits, walked four and struck out nine.
• Brett Lee has pitched twice for Caracas. The lefty is 0-0 with a 5.68 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. In 6.1 innings, he has given up eight hits, walked two and struck out two.
• Logan Darnell has pitched twice, making one start. In 9.1 innings, he has given up four hits, two walks and struck out eight. He is 0-0 with a 0.96 ERA and a 0.64 WHIP. Opponents are hitting just .121.

Dominican Winter League

 

Game has been played in the Dominican for the last two weeks as well.

• Carlos Paulino is playing for Gigantes. He has gone 9-28. He’s hitting .321/.457/.357 (.814) with a double. He has also walked seven times already.
• Jorge Polanco plays for Escogito. He is hitting .293/.396/.463 (.859). He is 12-41 with two triples and a home run. He has seven walks to go with just six strikeouts.
• Righty Adrian Salcedo pitched just once and went two innings. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out three. He also got the Win in that game.

Mexican Winter League

 

The Mexican Winter League gets started pretty quickly following the major league regular season. To this point, two Twins minor leaguers have played.

• Reynaldo Rodriguez plays for Obregon. The first baseman is hitting .236/.313/.472 (.785). He has gone 17-72. He has three doubles, a triple and four home runs. He has also walked eight times.
• Mark Hamburger is also playing for Obregon. The reliever has pitched 10.1 innings in 13 appearances. He is 1-2 with a 6.97 ERA and a 1.94 WHIP. He’s given up 16 hits, walked four and struck out seven.

Puerto Rico Winter League

 

This is a short report. Games started in Puerto Rico this weekend and just one Twins player played so far. Danny Ortiz played for Mayaguez and went 0-5 on opening night.

 

 

Australian Baseball League

 

Teams is the ABL typically play Friday through Sunday. Often they play doubleheaders on Saturdays. The stats below are through Sunday afternoon’s games (even though it’s posted Sunday morning). Geography and time zone knowledge reminds us that they are 15-19 hours ahead of us in the United States. Here are the Twins minor leaguers who have played so far. There are several former Twins players who are also in the league including Luke Hughes who plays for Perth.

• Allan de San Miguel is the catcher and cleanup hitter for the Perth Heat. Through two weekends, he has hit .240/.296/.320 (.616). He has gone 6-25 with a walk and two doubles.
• Catcher Michael Quesada is playing for Sydney. He is hitting .235/.458/.294 (752) with a double. He is 4-17 with five walks. He has also been hit twice.
• Logan Wade played the first weekend, but not the second weekend, for Brisbane. He went 3-10 with a home run.
• Also playing for Brisbane is outfielder/second baseman Aaron Whitefield. He has not yet played in the States. He has started the season by going 8-26. He’s hitting .308/.308/.308 (.616).
• Tanner Vavra played for Melbourne. He has primarily played second base but also seen time at shortstop. He had a big game on Sunday afternoon. He is 5-18, hitting .278/.409/.500 (.909) with three walks, a double and a homer. He hit a home run on Sunday afternoon to tie the game at one. In his next at bat, with runners on second and third and two outs, he doubled in both runs.
• Trey Vavra also plays for Melbourne. He is playing first base and batting third. He is hitting .393/.414/.536 (.950) with a walk, a double and a home run. He is 11-28.
• As you recall, Joe Vavra – Tanner and Trey’s dad – became the first active MLB coach to also be a manager in the Australian Baseball League when he agreed to manage Melbourne. He had previously managed in the ABL back in the early 90s when he was a coach in the Dodgers farm system.

Major League Baseball provides a lot of dollars for the ABL. The league is full of players from Australia, but it also includes players from minor league teams in the States and teams in Japan.

 

 

We will post an update on the goings-on in the Winter Leagues from time to time. Please feel free to ask quest

 

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[Guest]

Nice to see Jorge Polanco off to a good start in the Domincan.

[Hrbowski]

Will we get updates on minor league free agents that we sign this offseason?

[Seth Stohs]

 

Will we get updates on minor league free agents that we sign this offseason?

 

Certainly... Most of those will just be in the Forums, but if there's a decent name or something, we'll cover it more.

[lmfellman]

Are Vargas or Arcia playing anywhere? It seems like it would behoove them the to get some at bats.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Are Vargas or Arcia playing anywhere? It seems like it would behoove them the to get some at bats.

 

Vargas has played in Puerto Rico the last couple of seasons. I'm guessing he will again later in the offseason.

 

Arcia has played in Venezuela. Some have said he's staying in the States this offseason, but he could do what a lot of players do and play after the holidays.

[Seth Stohs]

Tanner Vavra's home run from Sunday afternoon (or Saturday night in the States). I'm impressed with how quickly he got around the bases.

 

Click here for video. 

[Seth Stohs]

And here's Trey Vavra's three-run homer from earlier in the weekend...

 

[clutterheart]

Nice to see Jorge Polanco off to a good start in the Domincan.

The bad news is he is playing 2B and not SS.

[Seth Stohs]

 

The bad news is he is playing 2B and not SS.

 

Yeah, those Caribbean Leagues aren't about development. They're all about winning. 

[James]

 

And here's Trey Vavra's three-run homer from earlier in the weekend...

That was a nice looking HR.  I thought the announcer was mistaken at first when he listed the score though.  A three-run homer to bring the Aces within twelve.   Ouch.  Good hit though.