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Winter League Recap: The Dominican League Starts Tonight

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The Winter League season is almost in full gear as the Dominican Winter League begins tonight. Also, the Veracruz League begins play as well. The Venezuelan League was in full gear last night, with four Pirates players getting into action.

Gregory Polanco begins his Winter League season tonight
Gregory Polanco begins his Winter League season tonight

Jose Osuna came in as a defensive replacement at first base in the eighth inning and didn’t get a chance to bat. In three games, all off the bench, he has batted once.

Elias Diaz got his second start behind the plate for the Bravos de Margarita. He went 1-for-2 with a single before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.

Jhonathan Ramos made his third relief appearance for the Bravos. He ended up with his second loss after giving up a solo homer in the seventh inning. Ramos pitched 2/3 of an inning, allowing the one run on two hits and he picked up one strikeout. He has allowed two runs over three innings, both runs scoring on solo homers.

Jhondaniel Medina pitched to one batter last night, getting a fly ball that allowed a run to score. The play had a lot of Pirates connections involved. The batter was Jose Castillo, the second baseman from the 2004-07 Pirates and the runner scoring from third base was Gorkys Hernandez. Medina has pitched three times and hasn’t given up a hit in 1.2 innings. He has three strikeouts.

In Mexico, Ali Solis went 0-for-2 in his third start. He was pinch-hit for in the seventh inning. Solis is 1-for-10 so far this season.

From Wednesday night, Luis Sanz was the only Pirates player to get into action. He gave up a solo homer in one inning of work. It was his season debut for Leones del Caracas.

Opening Day In The Dominican

The Dominican Winter League starts Friday night. Rosters will be updated throughout the day. So far, the following Pirates players are confirmed for the league:

Toros del Este: Emmanuel De Leon, Joan Montero, Matt Hague, Andy Vasquez

Estrellas de Oriente: Stolmy Pimentel, Felix Pie

Leones del Escogido: Gregory Polanco

The Veracruz League mentioned above is a second league in Mexico, where the level of competition is slightly less than the Mexican Winter League. The rosters have yet to be updated, but there will likely be some Pirates players taking part in the league. Just two of the eight teams in the league play tonight, the other six open their season tomorrow.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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