Perth won game one yesterday 4-1, then broke open the second game early, only to have to hold off a late comeback by the Sydney Blue Sox, finally winning by an 8-6 score. Kennelly started at third base in game two and contributed an RBI single, but had a tough game otherwise. He went 1-for-5, with three strikeouts and a ninth inning fielding error, that led to three runs being scored.

The Caribbean Series started yesterday, with the best teams from the Winter Leagues in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic squaring off in a round-robin tournament to decide a championship. The rosters have been announced and their are no Pirates players on any of the four teams.

The Colombian League Finals wrapped up earlier this week, with the Caimanes defeating the Tigres 3-2 Tuesday night to take the series in six games. While the winning team didn’t have any Pirates players on their roster, the Tigres had two Pirates prospects, Harold Ramirez and Tito Polo. Both saw time off the bench in the series, with Ramirez getting into three games and Polo playing twice. Ramirez had the only AB between the two, going 0-for-1, being used twice as a defensive replacement. Polo was used twice as a pinch-runner, scoring one run.

There is also another version of the Caribbean Series going on with teams from four of the lesser Winter leagues in Latin America. The winners from Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua and the Veracruz League in Mexico are also playing a round-robin series. The series is especially big for the leagues in Panama and Colombia, as they have petitioned to enter the Caribbean Series in the future. Through the first day of games, no Pirates players have played yet. The full rosters haven’t been posted yet, so it is unknown at this time, whether or not any Pirates are taking part in this tournament.

For future Winter League updates, and Pirates coverage throughout the season, follow me on Twitter @JohnDreker

Starling Marte put up impressive numbers in winter league ball.

Ben Badler of Baseball America has a list of ten players who boosted their stock in Winter Ball this year. Coming in at number eight on the list was Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Starling Marte. Marte hit for a .304/.381/.464 line in 112 at-bats in the Dominican Winter League, then hit for a .422/.481/.756 line with four homers in the postseason.

Badler noted that Marte has the speed and arm strength to play center field, but doesn’t have the spot due to Andrew McCutchen. He also pointed out that if the Pirates have any hope of contending in 2013, Marte will be the key reason. I agree with that last point. The Pirates didn’t do much to upgrade their offense this off-season, and the trade deadline additions of Gaby Sanchez and Travis Snider don’t provide any guaranteed upgrades. The bulk of the offensive performance is always going to have to come from internal players like McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, and Neil Walker. Marte is another candidate to bring above-average or better hitting, and the Pirates could definitely use him as another core bat in the lineup.

Seeing such strong results in the Dominican Winter League is a good sign. That’s the most talented winter league, with a lot of major league players, 4A guys, or top prospects in the upper levels. It doesn’t guarantee Marte success for the 2013 season, but it does show that he’s looking good against upper level talent heading into Spring Training.

Welch was named to the 2013 WBC Team Australia roster

For the Perth Heat, who made the playoffs with their win today, Sam Kennelly flew out to right field in a seventh inning pinch-hit appearance. It was his only AB of the weekend series.

In the Colombian League finals, the Tigres won 3-2 last night to tie the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. Harold Ramirez came in during the ninth inning as a defensive replacement in left field. The series continues of with game five tonight.

ABL Season Wrap-Up

The regular season portion of the ABL wrapped up today. In total, nine Pirates players took part in the league, ten if you count the brief time Quincy Latimore was in the league before he was traded to the Cleveland Indians. Another player, pitcher Jackson Lodge, spent the whole season on the reserve roster of the Adelaide Heat.

Starting with the only player whose season will continue, Sam Kennelly hit .156 in 13 games for Perth. He went 5-for-32 at the plate, with three runs scored and two RBI’s. Kennelly played all around the infield(3B/2B/SS) as one of the youngest players in ABL history.

While Kennelly is extremely young for the league, he wasn’t the youngest player in the league this season. That honor went to Nick Hutchings of the Adelaide Heat, who was signed by the Pirates shortly after the season started. Still two weeks shy of his seventeenth birthday, Hutchings pitched five times in relief, allowing just one run and two hits over six innings, with ten strikeouts.

As for the guys who have already been in the states with the Pirates, Zac Fuesser was one of the most consistent pitchers all season in the ABL. He made 11 starts, going 4-4, 3.61 in 57.1 innings, with 57 strikeouts. He had some control issues during the year, walking 29 batters and allowing nine homers, but he held batters to a .259 BAA and had a strong 1.44 GO/AO ratio. Fuesser was selected to the ABL All-Star game.

Rinku Singh pitched ten times in relief, posting a 4.82 ERA, with 12 hits and four walks allowed in 9.1 innings. The numbers are a bit skewed by one very poor outing. On December 9th, he gave up four runs on three hits and two walks in one inning.

Wilson Lee had a tough season, seeing limited playing time due to poor performance. He pitched just five times, allowing ten runs on 11 hits and seven walks in 7.1 innings. The 21-year-old lefty also had a tough time last year in the ABL, posting an 8.44 ERA in eight appearances, with 13 walks in 10.2 innings.

Aaron Pribanic had a forgettable ABL season and it lasted just one game. During the second game of the season, he came on in relief and allowed five runs in his only inning of work. He left the team shortly after that game.

On offense, Stefan Welch was the big bat for Adelaide, driving in a team-leading 32 runs. He finished tied for second in the league in RBI’s. Welch was also selected to the All-Star game. He hit .247 in 41 games, with seven homers, eight doubles, 18 walks and a .785 OPS.

Justin Howard started real slow, then caught fire, winning the Player of the Week award, before an elbow injury shutdown his season in mid-December. In his last nine games, Howard hit .429, with five doubles and five RBI’s. He finished the season batting .266 in 22 games, with 14 walks and one homer.

Just like Howard, Dylan Child played his last game on December 15th. The 21-year-old catcher hit .211 in 12 games, with his only extra-base-hit being a home run in his first game.

Quincy Latimore started his ABL season in late-December as a roster replacement for Justin Howard. At the time he was still on the Pirates, though he was dealt to the Indians shortly thereafter. Latimore hit .286, with 13 RBI’s and an impressive ten walks, in just 16 games.

Welch went 2-for-7 over the last two games

Also from today’s Adelaide game, Nick Hutchings came in to relieve during the seventh inning and ended up pitching 1.2 innings. The 16-year-old right-hander, signed by the Pirates in November, gave up one run on one hit and two walks. Hutchings threw 37 pitches, 23 for strikes. He also struck out two batters. Hutchings pitched poorly last week during the U18 National Youth Championships in Australia, but has pitched well during his brief time in the ABL against the much tougher competition. In six innings over five appearances, he has allowed one run on two hits, while striking out ten hitters.

The Australian League wraps up their regular season schedule tomorrow afternoon. Sam Kennelly is still with the Perth team as they try to clinch a playoff spot on the last day of the season. Tomorrow, we will recap the Pirates players who participated in the ABL.

In Colombia last night, the Caimanes defeated the Tigres 5-3. Tito Polo played his first playoff game last night, getting into the game as a pinch-runner. He ended up scoring his team’s third run. Harold Ramirez did not play. Their Tigres team trails 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, with game four scheduled for tonight.

The Caribbean Series starts next weekend, featuring the winning teams from Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in a round-robin tournament. Due to the fact that teams regularly add reinforcements for the Caribbean Series, the rosters may be different than they were during the regular season and playoffs. The only news on Pirates players for the Caribbean Series so far, is word that Starling Marte won’t play and Ivan DeJesus Jr is suspended from postseason play.

There is also word from yesterday, that the leagues in Colombia and Panama will hold a tournament of their own during the same time, similar to the Caribbean Series. Also in that tournament will be teams representing the Nicaraguan League and the Veracruz Winter League out of Mexico. The latter two leagues haven’t been mentioned here at all this off-season, but a quick look at the rosters and stats turned up just one Pirates player, pitcher Jovany Lopez. He pitched to just three batters in the Veracruz League, allowing two walks. Lopez spent most of the off-season in the Mexican League, where he was used as a situational lefty out of the pen, throwing a total of 6.1 innings over 14 appearances.

Welch leads Adelaide in homers and RBI’s

Zac Fuesser isn’t on the weekend roster this week, ending his ABL season. It was a successful campaign for the lefty, who spent the 2012 season with the West Virginia Power. Fuesser made 11 starts, going 4-4, 3.61 in 57.1 innings, with 57 strikeouts. Along with Welch, he represented the Pirates in the ABL all-star game played last month.

Sam Kennelly rejoined the active roster of the Perth Heat for this weekend’s series after hitting .538 in the U18 National Youth Championship. Besides Welch, he is the only Pirates farmhand on the active ABL roster this weekend. Kennelly did not play today in his team’s victory.

If you missed it from yesterday, Starling Marte was named MVP of the Dominican finals. It was also announced that he won’t participate in the Caribbean World Series next month.

The Colombian League Championship series is tied up at one win apiece after the Tigres 9-2 victory last night. Harold Ramirez pinch-ran in the second game with the score already out of hand and scored a run. Neither Ramirez, nor Tito Polo played in the first game for Tigres. The series continues with game three on Friday night.

Last week, Johnson pitched the clinching game of the round-robin series that got his team to the finals and almost four weeks ago, he also won the game that sent his team to the playoffs. Tonight, he allowed four hits on the night, all singles and walked one batter while striking out five. Between the regular season and post-season, Johnson allowed just 37 hits over 59.1 innings, posting a 1.06 ERA.

Overshadowed in this game by his teammate, but not in the series, Starling Marte went 2-for-4, with a double. He finished the five game series, going 11-for-21, and he collected at least two hits in every single game. Marte batted .422 in 11 post-season games, after hitting .304 in 29 games during the DWL regular season. During the round-robin playoffs, Marte homered in four of the six games he played.

Marte was named the MVP of the playoffs adding to the awards he already won this off-season. During the regular season, he was named player of the week twice, then he won the same award again in the round-robin portion of the playoffs. It was also announced afterwards that he will not accompany the team to the Caribbean World Series next month.

Update from Colombia

While posting stats from the Colombian Baseball League last week, I missed one Pirates player. Gustavo Barrios, a 19-year-old second baseman, played six games for the Leones club. He went 0-for-6 at the plate, with two walks, a HBP and a sacrifice fly. Barrios also pinch-hit once during the playoffs. During the regular season, Barrios split the year between the Pirates two teams in the DSL, hitting .327 in 42 games, though just four of his 35 hits went for extra bases. He finished second to Maximo Rivera in batting among all Pirates players in the league.

The championship series in Colombia began last night. The Tigres team, featuring Harold Ramirez and Tito Polo of the Pirates, lost 3-2 in the opener. The boxscore hasn’t been posted yet(I’ll update this post when it posts).

Starling Marte has nine hits in his last four games.

During the off-season, a big question has been about the quality of pitching that these batters face, and vice-versa with any Pirates pitchers. Marte has now gone 9-for-17 in the first four games of the playoffs. While I have mentioned that during the regular season, the quality of play in the DWL is approximately that of a AAA game. In the playoffs, the teams pick up reinforcements, either from other teams that didn’t make the playoffs, or just major league players coming down to start getting ready for the season. For example, from yesterday’s starting lineup, every player on Marte’s team has major league experience, most are current major leaguers. These playoff games are high energy games, loud crowds and players trying to win a league title for their city. So in the playoffs, you will see a better overall quality of play than during the regular season.

In the comments section from yesterday’s Winter League Recap, I broke down the pitchers that Marte faced in the first three games. It was filled with former major league players and All-Star pitchers from the Mexican League, which is considered AAA equivalent. Adding on to that, here are the pitchers he faced in last night’s game:

1st AB: Ground out to shortstop off Dustin Richardson. Played this last season in Independent Ball after failing a minor league drug test in January. He has pitched two years in majors with Red Sox. Richardson had a 2.57 ERA in 21 innings during the DWL regular season and a 1.07 playoff ERA.

2nd AB: Another ground out to shortstop off Richardson.

3rd AB: RBI single up the middle off Richardson.

4th AB: Strikeout against Angel Castro, a pitcher that topped out at AA for two seasons, before moving on the the Mexican League for two years, then Japan this past season. He had a 2.90 ERA in 40.1 innings during the DWL regular season.

5th AB: Infield single off Johan Yan, a 24-year-old AAA pitcher from the Rangers. Yan had a 1.53 ERA in 21 relief appearances during the DWL season, picking up 24 K’s in 17.2 innings. Extreme groundball pitcher.

6th AB: Intentional walk from Juan Sandoval. Third time he faced Marte in this series. Sandoval is a ten-year minor league vet, with two stints in AAA and two years in the Mexican League.

News From Around the World

In other news from Winter ball from last night down in Venezuela, Darren Ford got the start and went 0-for-4, with three strikeouts. He is now 0-for-18 in the playoffs.

The Adelaide Bite play their final series of the season this Thursday through Sunday and they need a miracle to make the playoffs. The league has three teams make the playoffs, with the second and third place teams squaring off in the first round to try to advance to the finals. Adelaide is in fifth place, two games out of third place and one game behind fourth place. They need to win all four games this weekend to have a shot at the last playoff spot. While no starting pitchers have been listed as of yet, Zac Fuesser has been getting the start in the opening game each week.

The Colombian Baseball League will begin it’s finals tonight. Harold Ramirez and Tito Polo are the only two Pirates players involved in the best-of-seven series.

Marte has his team within two wins of the DWL title

The first round of the playoffs in Colombia wrapped up last night. Tigres won 5-4 over Leones, advancing to the best-of-seven series that begins tomorrow. Harold Ramirez(Tigres) was the only Pirates player to get into last night’s game. He was used as a defensive replacement late in the game and did not get a plate appearance. Dilson Herrera, who plays for Leones, did not play in the last two games of the series. Tigres will play Caimanes in the finals.

While there are no Pirates players on Caimanes, Tigres also has Tito Polo on their bench. Polo is an 18-year-old outfielder, who hit .280, with 17 stolen bases and a .798 OPS in 55 games this year, splitting the season between the two Pirates Dominican Summer League teams.

In the U18 National Youth Championship out of Australia that wrapped up yesterday, Sam Kennelly finished the tournament with a .538 batting average, tops among all players. The next highest average among regulars was 83 points lower. Kennelly finished with 15 RBI’s, second highest total in the tournament.

On Saturday, we announced the signing of pitcher Dario Agrazal Jr out of Panama. He played in the Panama Winter League this off-season. Finally getting a chance to see stats from the league, there were other Pirates players in that league as well. The league played a twenty game schedule, plus playoffs.

Ulises Montilla went 13-for-46(.283) in 13 games, with two doubles.

Ashley Ponce hit .253 in 19 games, with four doubles and a .620 OPS.

Eliecer Navarro had a 4.55 ERA in seven appearances, pitching a total of 27.2 innings, with a .286 BAA.

Edgardo Munoz hit .145 in 20 games, going 8-for-55, with nine runs scored.

Marte has four playoff homers

In action out of Venezuela, Luis Sanz threw a scoreless inning of relief during his team’s 4-1 loss. Sanz needed 13 pitches(eight for strikes) to retire the side in order. He struck out one batter.

In Australian Baseball League action from today, Stefan Welch collected three hits in Adelaide’s 9-0 win. He hit a triple and drove in his team-leading 27th run. Former Pirates minor leaguer Quincy Latimore, playing in his 12th game of the ABL season, drove in his 12th run.

Also in Australia, in the U18 National Youth Championships, Sam Kennelly went 2-for-3, with three RBI’s, as his team rolled to an 8-0 victory in the bronze medal game. Kennelly finished the tournament with 19 hits and 15 RBI’s in ten games played. His team won the bronze medal despite going 11-1 in the entire tournament. The gold medal winning team went 8-5 in the tournament, while the silver medal team went 9-3.

Nick Hutchings, who was recently signed as a pitcher, batted lead-off for his team and went 0-for-2, with two strikeouts, before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth. He began the game at shortstop, then moved to left field in the top of the fifth inning.

The playoffs in Colombia continued last night, with five players from the Pirates farm system involved between the two teams, among them Dilson Herrera and Harold Ramirez. Only Ramirez played last night and his was just a pinch-hitting appearance.  He singled in his only AB. The series is a best-of-three between the second and third place teams, with the winner going on to play the first place team in a best-of-seven series to decide the league title. Friday night, Harold Ramirez helped his team to a 12-6 victory in game one. Last night, Herrera’s team won 6-0. The final game will be played tonight.

Kennelly is hitting .538 in the U18 NYC tournament

In Australian Baseball League action from today, Stefan Welch went 1-for-4, with two walks and two RBI’s. He now has a team-leading 26 RBI’s, good for the fourth highest total in the league. Adelaide ran away with a 12-6 victory, with two RBI’s coming from Quincy Latimore, who has driven in 11 runs in 11 games.

Also out of Australia in the U18 National Youth Championships, Sam Kennelly went 3-for-4, with two runs scored and a HBP. His team took their first loss of the tournament. In nine games, Kennelly has 17 hits, 12 RBI’s and a 1.287 OPS.

In another U18 NYC game, pitcher Nick Hutchings picked up the last out of his team’s 13-2 win. He struck out the only batter he faced, needing five pitches to record the out.

In playoff action out of the Colombian League, Dilson Herrera went 1-for-4, with a run scored and two RBI’s in his team’s 12-6 loss. With the score out of hand, Angelo del Castillo got some rare playing time, walking in his two plate appearances. He scored a run and picked up an RBI on a bases-loaded walk. He had just 17 AB’s all season. On the other side of the field, Harold Ramirez went 2-for-3, with a walk, while Tito Polo went 0-for-2. It was also rare playing time for Polo, who batted 24 times in the season.

The Pirates have resigned veteran minor league catcher Miguel Perez. He played Winter ball this off-season, hitting .179 in 16 games for Tigres de Aragua. Perez went 5-for-28 at the plate, with no walks and nine strikeouts in the VWL.

Pirates Sign Panamanian Pitcher

In the better late than never department, in April the Pirates signed pitcher Dario Agrazal Jr as an amateur free agent. At the time, the 17-year-old right-hander threw 88-89 MPH in a tryout for Pirates scouts, among them was Rene Gayo. Agrazal never played for the DSL Pirates this season, so until now, the only news on him was the fact he signed, which was never formally announced.

Agrazal has been recently pitching in the Panama Winter League, which wrapped up it’s season last night. He made four appearances, giving up ten earned runs in 7.1 innings. He is now 18-years-old(born 12/28/94), stands 6’3″ and weighs in at 188 pounds. He comes from a strong baseball background. His father was a top pitcher in Panama and is currently a well-respected coach. The younger Agrazal should be with one of the Pirates Dominican Summer League teams this year. He has already spent time at the Pirates Dominican facility.