Thank goodness there's baseball going on somewhere. Sorry folks, absolutely no other sport perks my interest, so, during the MLB offseason, I like to keep track of Yankees prospects and see what our Bluefish are up to in the Caribbean Leagues. Since a million and one folks professional writers cover all the MLB prospects I'll just stick to my little Park City niche. I must warn you, I am sure I'm missing a few players since there was no scientific method in gathering the info. I simply went to MLB's Winter League's page and scanned the rosters for recognizable names. Here's a quick run down:
Dominican Baseball League
The Dominican claims 6 of our guys--the most important to me being Rommie Lewis. He's the only one that seems to be playing a significant role for any team.
Already appearing in 10 games for Estrellas de Oriente, I'm guessing Lewis' a key part of the bullpen. This comes as no surprise for the Bluefish fan. Also on Estrellas are Julio DePaula and Eddie Rogers. In 8 relief innings pitched DePaula's managed to accumulate a 1.63 WHIP--9 walks may have had something to do with that. Yikes. Eddie Rogers is platooning at shortstop. After appearing in 16 games, he has a .385 batting average and .429 OBP. Whether he gets more playing time is questionable since their two other shortstops are currently on their respective MLB 40-man rosters.
Here are the other three players that spent some time with the Bluefish, currently playing in the Dominican:
Victor Mercedes, Gigantes del Cibao, 3 for 16, 5 games
Pedro Lopez, Leones del Escogido, 1 for 2, 5 games
Willis Otonez, Toros del Este, 2 for 12, 7 games, 1 Home Run
Mexican Pacific League
This league carries two former Fish making the most noise in the Winter Leagues. Steve Moss and Wes Bankston are on the Mayos de Navojoa and are making it hard for GM's to ignore them come spring time. They lead their team in most offensive categories. Both lead the team in HR's with 5 each. Moss leads the team in RBI's with 20, while Bankston is in 2nd with 13. Moss also leads the team in runs scored. The duo makes up two thirds of the team's top three OBP leaders. League wide, Steve Moss is in the top 5 or 10 for many of the same offensive categories.
On a side note, Gilbert De La Vara participated in preseason ball with the Venados de Mazatlan, but hasn't been posted on any winter rosters.
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
So far, the Navegantes del Magallanes are playing Juan Rincon, but no sign of Paul Oseguera yet. Luis Lopez and a writer following the Navegantes, as well as a team article, said Osequera was headed to the Navegantes for November. I'll have to keep you posted. In the mean time, here's Rincon's line: 1-0, 3.00 ERA, 8 G, 9 IP, 1.22 WHIP.
Esteban Yan, who was always impressive with the Bluefish is pitching for the Tigres de Aragua. I'll just give one stat: 12.91 ERA. Yeah. Moving on.
The Puerto Rican Baseball League just got under way this past Thursday, so not much to say there except that Eddie Ramos has pitched just 1 inning for the Criollos de Caguas and gave up 2 earned runs.
**Know of any others? Drop me a comment here or email me at [email protected]
