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Winter Leagues: Three Hits For Gonzalez

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In Puerto Rico from Thursday night, Benji Gonzalez had a big night in his team’s 8-1 win. He went 3-for-5 with three singles, two runs scored and two RBIs. Gonzalez came into the game with just one RBI in his first 16 games. He is now hitting .308, though he has drawn just one walk. He has a .763 OPS and has not made an error all season.

From Friday in Australia, Sam Kennelly was the only Pittsburgh Pirates player in action. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Kennelly began the game at first base, then moved over to third base for the last two innings. It was the first time he played third base this season. Kennelly has only been playing either second base or first base this Winter, but he noted that he has been taking ground balls all over the infield.

It’s been a slow time for Winter League news, as most leagues have had a light schedule the last three days due to Christmas. If you missed it from Tuesday, here is the schedule for this week and rosters for the Dominican League playoffs, which start today.  Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte get their playoffs started at 7:30 tonight. Their team will play a total of 18 games over the next 22 days. Graham Godfrey, who spent most of the 2013 season with the Indianapolis Indians, will pitch game three for Escogido. He is still a free agent.

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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