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Winter Leagues: Sebastian Valle Hits a Grand Slam in Season Finale

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In Mexico on Monday night, Sebastian Valle hit a first inning grand slam that helped his team to an 8-3 victory. The homer was his sixth of the winter, the most among Pittsburgh Pirates players. This was the last game of the regular season in Mexico. Valle finished with a .313/.378/.516 slash line in 44 games. The playoffs begin on Thursday.

After not playing for 22 days, Felipe Gonzalez pitched for the third straight day. He struck out the only batter he faced. In 24 appearances, he had a 2.77 ERA in 26 innings, posting a 15:22 BB/SO ratio, a 1.35 GO/AO ratio and a .226 BAA.

In the Dominican, Alen Hanson went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his second playoff game. He had two hits in the first game on Sunday.

Mel Rojas Jr. went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and a walk. He is 1-for-9 so far in the playoffs.

Gustavo Nunez went 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. He didn’t have the best game though, committing an error, striking out and he was caught stealing.

Rafael Perez threw five shutout innings,  helping his team to a 2-1 win. He allowed five hits, two walks and struck out three batters. During the regular season(winter), he had a 2.31 ERA in 35 innings.

Josh Wall retired both batters he faced, stranding two inherited runners. Both Wall and Perez are still free agents.

In Venezuela, Gorkys Hernandez went 2-for-5 with a double and drove in two runs. He also threw out a runner at home plate in the sixth inning. Tuesday is the last day of the regular season in Venezuela.

Julio Vivas threw a perfect inning, retiring all three batters he faced. It was a nice rebound from his worst outing of the season, which happened Saturday night. In 16 appearances, the 21-year-old righty has a 1.80 ERA and a .176 BAA.

In Colombia, two Pirates helped their team to victory. Harold Ramirez reached on an error, then stole second base. Tito Polo then drove Ramirez home. Polo has gone 1-for-6 in his last two games and he has a .643 OPS in 74 at-bats. Ramirez has a .191/.356/.234 slash line in 47 at-bats.

Andy Vasquez is doing well in Colombia since moving over from the Dominican League. He has a .333/.378/.522 line in 69 at-bats.

In Panama, Edgar Munoz went 1-for-3 with a walk, run scored and two strikeouts.

Ashley Ponce went 0-for-4 with a walk and strikeout.

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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