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Winter Leagues: Alen Hanson Starts at Second Base Again

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From the Dominican on Saturday night, Gregory Polanco went 0-for-4 with a walk, RBI and run scored in his team’s 6-5 loss in ten innings. He is hitting .319 with 27 walks and 26 RBIs in 38 games.

Alen Hanson played second base during the 2010-11 seasons
Alen Hanson played second base during the 2010-11 seasons

Alen Hanson went 0-for-4 on Saturday night, his second straight game playing second base. He handled all his chances in the field cleanly. While he has played second base before, he has not played the position in two years. As a rookie in the Dominican Summer League in 2010, Hanson played more games at second base than any other position. In the GCL the next season, he saw less time there and more time at shortstop. After coming off the bench for his first two Winter games, Hanson started twice at shortstop, before moving over to second base. It isn’t known at this time if the move is anything more than one to help his Winter team, which has one of the better fielding/throwing minor league shortstops in baseball, Hector Gomez.

Mel Rojas Jr. went 1-for-4 with an RBI. He was making his second straight start, playing center field. Rojas had just seven at-bats through the first six weeks of the DWL season, but he’s gone 4-for-8 in three games this week.

In Venezuela, Andrew Lambo went 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored in his team’s 8-7 loss. The Cardenales took a 7-0 lead in the fourth, but couldn’t hold the lead, allowing the last three runs in the ninth inning. Lambo is hitting .235 through 20 games, with five doubles, a triple, 15 RBIs and nine walks.

Junior Sosa batted lead-off for the first time and went 2-for-2 with two walks, a triple, a run scored and a stolen base. He is now hitting .393 through 11 games and he has reached base in nine straight games.

In the Colombian League All-Star game, Harold Ramirez went 2-for-3 with a triple and run scored. He is hitting .372 through 21 games, with seven stolen bases in eight attempts and a .974 OPS.

In Australia on Sunday, Danny Arribas went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. In 18 games, he has a .182/.267/.227 slash line.

Sam Kennelly went 0-for-3 as his team swept the weekend series with a 3-2 victory. The 17-year-old Kennelly came into the game with a .152 average through 16 games, with all seven hits being singles and he has drawn six walks. He has been perfect in the field, splitting his time between first and second base, though the last two weeks have only been at second base.

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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