37.3 F
Pittsburgh

Winter Leagues: Munoz Homers, Dodson and Lambo Struggle

Published:

In the Dominican on Tuesday, Andrew Lambo went 0-for-4 with an RBI. He played left field, his third different position this winter, previously starting games in right field and at first base(plus starts at DH). Lambo is hitting just .088(3-for-34) through ten games, with a home run, two singles and two walks.

Alen Hanson pinch-hit with two runners on in the eighth inning and his team trailing 4-0 at the time. He couldn’t come through in the big spot, popping out to shortstop in his only at-bat.

In Venezuela, Zack Dodson made his fifth start and he’s going to have trouble sticking around in the league if he doesn’t turn things around quick. He started off great, allowing one run over 13 innings in his first two starts. Since then, it’s been a disaster. In his last three starts combined, including Tuesday night, Dodson has given up 16 earned runs on 16 hits and seven walks in seven innings.

Julio Vivas pitched one inning, though that was just because he couldn’t get any outs in the seventh inning. After retiring the side in order in the sixth, Vivas gave up four straight hits to start the seventh inning. Three of the runs scored before he was removed and the other scored afterwards. One of the hits he allowed was a triple to Gorkys Hernandez.

Speaking of Gorkys Hernandez, he was the only player of note from Monday night, which is why there was no winter article on Tuesday morning. He went 1-for-5 on Monday, then followed it up with a double, triple and two RBIs in five at-bats on Tuesday night.

In Mexico, Carlos Munoz went 1-for-3 with a three-run homer and a hit-by-pitch. The homer(see video below) is his third of the winter and helped his team to a 7-2 victory. He is batting .320 through 19 games, which is the fifth best average on his team.

Early rosters are out for Colombia and both Tito Polo and Luis Escobar are on the Tigres roster. This will be the first year for Escobar and he’s young for the league, where the level of play is about what you would see in High-A ball. Polo has played each of the last two seasons, seeing slightly more playing time last year. He was young for the league in 2013-14, but he should see a lot of time this year, assuming he plays. I talked to him last week and he still wasn’t sure if/when he was reporting. The league begins next Friday.

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.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles