November 19, 2013

Minor League Update

International Winter League Games of November 18

by Jeff Moore

Printer-friendly

With the AFL season over, the lone Dominican Winter League game postponed, and just one game each in the Puerto Rican and Venezuelan Winter Leagues, the bar wasn’t set real high to get on today’s update. There are no fancy categories—good, bad, or indifferent. Basically, just be a prospect and you got mentioned below.

• Michael Taylor, CF, Nationals (Indios de Mayaguez, PRWL): 0-3, 2 BB, 2 K. Much was expected from the talented Taylor this season, and in some ways he delivered while in other ways he did not. Repeating the Carolina League, it was hoped that he would not have to return there for a full season. He needed all of it, and still hit just .263/.340/.426 with 131 strikeouts in 133 games. Still, 41 doubles and 51 steals are impressive totals in any league. He’s hitting .429/.474/.686 through nine games in Puerto Rico this winter.
• Eddie Rosario, 2B, Twins (Indios de Mayaguez, PRWL): 0-4, 2 K. Rosario, of course, is only listed here as a 2B because that’s the position he played for the Indios on Monday night. As discussed in our Twins Top-10 prospect list, Rosario is destined for the outfield. Rosario comes to Puerto Rico straight from the AFL, where he hit just .238/.262/.275 in 80 at-bats while also playing second base, a project on which the Twins clearly have yet to give up.
• Christian Colon, SS, Royals (Leones de Ponce, PRWL): 1-4. For the first time in his career, Colon played more 2B than SS in 2013, but he’s back on the other side of the keystone this winter. He’s hitting just .204 through 13 games this winter.
• Reymond Fuentes, CF, Padres (Leones de Ponce, PRWL): 0-4, BB, K. Coming off of a strong regular season, Fuentes is struggling this winter, hitting .143/.236/.224 in 13 games.
• Luis Sardinas, SS, Rangers (Tiburones de La Guaira, VWL): 0-3. Sardinas went hitless on Monday but he’s been even better this winter than he was during the season, with nine doubles in 31 games and strong plate discipline.
• Chris Reed, LHP, Dodgers (Tiburones de La Guaira, VWL): 4 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 7 K. Since worrying about ERAs in winter ball is a pointless task, Dodgers fans can ignore the fact that this outing brought his down to 7.11 for the winter and take solace in some solid strikeout numbers, something that was expected out of Reed when he was drafted in the first round but has yet to materialize.