Dominican Review
Escogido (15-9)
Carlos Gomez was the player that was part of a trade for J.J. Hardy. He made his season debut this week getting two hits in three at bats. He was also caught stealing once. Conor Jackson continues to recover from the vally fever that sidelined him for most of last season. Conor went 10-22 last week, with a hammer and two doubles. He’s also stolen nine bases in nine attempts.
Tobi Stoner pitched seven innings of shutout ball and shut down Gigantos 9-0. He improved his record to 4-1 and dropped his ERA to 3.96. In five of his six starts he’s given up one run or less. Zach Segovia got a couple saves, tossing four shutout innings in four appearances. His save total is now at 6 and his ERA is 0.71.
Toros Este (14-9)
Ricardo Nanita was at one point a top prospect with the White Sox. Things haven’t worked out well for him and he is hoping the Dominican Republic will jump start his career. He is hitting .333 with an impressive 13/10 walk to K ratio. He will turn 29 next year. Ricardo is leading Toros in RBIs with 14. Angel Berroa has a nice seven game hitting streak where he is 11 for 26. He’s hit a double in his last five straight games.
Luis Valdez blew a save, giving up two runs but still managed to get win number three when the Toros came back and won. Luis ERA is 1.50 and he also has two saves. Julio Manon is their closer. In 11 appearances he has 9 saves and one victory. He got save number 9 today and lowered his ERA to 1.38. Wesley Wright had an impressive 10 K performance in just five innings of work. He didn’t get any decision and is 0-1 in five starts with a 1.73 ERA.
Licey tigers(14-10)
Elijah Dukes made his Licey debut memorable. He homered in one of his two at bats. His next game he struck out three times in three at bats. Must have been a pitcher who threw the slow stuff with a lot of bend. Cuban refugee Juan Miranda has also added some spark to the Tigres lineup with a 4 for 4 day and 10 for 21 start. Ian Desmond had a nice three hit game but is still hitting only .213 with a 2/17 walk to K ratio.
Another Cuban refugee Yadel Marti got his third win and second straight from the bullpen, going four innings and only giving up one run. He has a 2.75 ERA but only five strikeouts in 19 innings of work. Ramon Ortiz threw seven innings of 2-hit shutout ball in his second start of the winter league. He struck out only one but lowered his ERA to 1.50. Oneli Perez now has saves in four straight appearances. He has a total of nine saves.
Aguilas Cibaenas (11 - 12)
Kevin Barker had a 2 homerun game in an 8 for 19 week. He drove in nine runs during the five game hitting streak. Hector Luna has an RBI in four consecutive games, giving him six for the week.
John Halama may be 39 but he continues to put up impressive numbers. He’s won his last three starts going 20 innings and only giving up three runs. He hasn’t walked a batter in his last 27 innings. Ben Jukich got his first win last week, giving up two solo shots for his only two runs he gave up in seven innings of work.
Gigantes Cibao (9-14)
Luis Durango has a valilla 6-game hitting streak with no extra base hit among the joys. He leads Gigantes with a nice .339 average. Juan Francisco went deep three times in two games, driving in five runs. He is the team’s big RBI man with 19, though he’s only hitting .239.
Dario Veras got his fourth save and now has four for the year. His ERA is only 2.00.
Estrellas Oriente(7-16)
Estrellas 4-game losing streak has put them firmly on the bottom. Michael Martinez has been getting more playing time as his production has increased. He had five two hits games in seven starts to up his average to .288.
Evan MacLane threw seven innings of shutout ball, giving up only two hits. Evan is 4-0, with a 1.50 ERA. Radhames Liz is sometimes the forgotten Oriole. He’s a used toy in the playbox that kids have lost interest in. They have other prospects to admire. Liz is still only 25. He threw his second start, giving up his first run on five hits in a little less than four innings.