In the Dominican on Sunday night, Jung-Ho Kang went 0-for-4, driving in a run with a sacrifice fly. He struck out twice, giving him 15 strikeouts and a .128 average through 11 games. It will be interesting to see how often he plays if he continues to struggle. Winter leagues are notorious for giving up on foreign-born players quickly if they don’t immediately perform. We have seen players dropped after just 3-4 bad games. The Dominican League has a 50-game regular season, so when a team loses four straight like Kang’s team did tonight, they tend to make changes. He hasn’t been dropped in the order yet, plus he has recent Major League success, so he probably has time to try to get his bat on track.
Edwin Espinal went 0-for-4, ending his season-long on base streak at seven games. He is 9-for-25 (.360) with five walks so far this winter. If you missed it for yesterday, we mentioned why every game is big at this point for Espinal.
Pablo Reyes went 1-for-4 with a single, giving him a .231/.323/.231 slash line through nine games.
Montana DuRapau pitched a scoreless inning of relief, allowing two hits while striking out two batters. In four appearances this winter, he has allowed five runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks, with two strikeouts in three innings.
In Venezuela, Elvis Escobar went 1-for-5 with a single and a run scored. He struck out in each of his first three plate appearances.
In Mexico, Yoandy Fernandez made his fourth start. After posting two quality outings in a row, he got roughed up on Sunday. His team still ended up winning the game, but Fernandez allowed seven runs on six hits and two walks, with one strikeout in 2.1 innings. He served up three homers. He now has an 8.66 ERA in 17.2 innings.
Carlos Munoz went 1-for-4 with a single and an RBI on a sacrifice fly. He is hitting .302/.397/.396 in 16 games.
Christian Navarro played his fifth game on Sunday, and for the fourth time, all he did was pinch-run. He struck out as a pinch-hitter in his only other game. Navarro has yet to attempt a steal or score a run, so it’s been a rather uneventful winter so far, though any playing time for someone who hasn’t played their first pro game yet is still impressive.
