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Winter Leagues: Arribas Breaks Out of Slump, Sands Stays Cold

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In Puerto Rico from Wednesday night, Jerry Sands went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Sands has been in a slump lately, hitting .152 in his last ten games, with 12 strikeouts in 33 at-bats.

Danny Arribas had two doubles on Thursday
Danny Arribas had two doubles on Thursday

Benji Gonzalez got his first start of the season after collecting three hits and scoring three runs off the bench on Tuesday. Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with a double and two strikeouts. He is 4-for-10 this season in four games.

Ivan De Jesus Jr. went 2-for-4 with two singles and a strikeout. He is hitting .316 this season and leading the league in both walks and runs scored.

In Australia from Thursday, Danny Arribas had his first multi-hit game of the season and collected his first extra-base hits. He went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored in his team’s 13-5 loss. Arribas was 7-for-44 coming into the game. He raised his average to .188 through 13 games. The ABL is a step up from the competition in the GCL, where Arribas hit .307 this season. In 2012, he hit .308 in the Dominican Summer League.

Gregory Polanco missed his third straight game with a stomach virus. With his team off tomorrow, Polanco won’t return until at least Friday.

In Dominican League action, Carlos Paulino went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his team’s 6-1 loss. Paulino is hitting .222 through 45 at-bats, with a double and two RBIs.

Felix Pie went 1-for-4 with a single, stolen base and two strikeouts. He is hitting .313 in 14 games.

In Venezuela, David Bromberg threw five shutout innings in his first start in three weeks. He gave up one hit, hit a batter, issued a walk and picked up five strikeouts. In his second start in Venezuela, he threw six shutout innings, giving up just one hit. Bromberg hasn’t been strong in his other four starts, giving up 24 hits and ten walks in 18 innings. Wednesday’s outing was big for Bromberg, who is still a free agent and he was coming off a start in which he only recorded one out before being chased from the game.

From Tuesday in Colombia, three Pirates players got into action. Harold Ramirez had the best game, going 1-for-4 with a triple, RBI, two runs scored and two walks. Tito Polo went 0-for-2 in his team’s 18-7 win.

On the losing side of that same game, Yhonathan Barrios got hit hard again. He had a strong game his first time out this year, but he has struggled in each of his five outings since. Barrios got one out on Tuesday while giving up three runs on two hits, two walks and a wild pitch. He pitched well in the GCL this year after switching over from the infield to the mound mid-season. Playing against the better competition of the Colombian League though, Barrios has given up eight runs on ten hits and seven walks in just four innings.

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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