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Winter Leagues: Eric Wood Continues to Work on Versatility While in the Dominican

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Action from around winter ball over the last two days for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rain has canceled/postponed a lot of games over the last week, so the amount of players listed below is light for this time of the winter season.

Saturday

In Venezuela, Elias Diaz went 2-for-4 with two singles and an RBI. He is 5-for-18 with a double and a walk, posting a .633 OPS through five games. Diaz is 1-for-3 in throwing out base runners. If you missed it from Saturday, the Pirates have put restrictions on his playing time this winter.

In the Dominican, Eric Wood played his third game and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. He played first base in this game after playing third base in his first two games.

Edwin Espinal went 0-for-3 before leaving for a pinch-runner in the seventh. He reached base on a fielding error. He is hitting .154/.283/.359 in 15 games.

Kelvin Marte continued his strong winter, throwing six shutout innings on two hits and one walk. In six starts, he has an 0.81 ERA over 33.1 innings. He is still a free agent.

In Mexico, Carlos Munoz came in on defense in the tenth inning at first base. He hit a two-run single in the 11th inning. Through 27 games, he is hitting .156/.260/.172 and surprisingly, he hasn’t scored a single run yet.

In Saturday’s winter league article, I mentioned that  DSL Pirates pitcher Eumir Sepulveda was leading the the minor leagues in Mexico (Liga Peninsular) with a 1.38 ERA. He pitched that night and after allowing three first inning runs, he completed six more innings in his team’s 10-4 victory. The 20-year-old righty has missed time due to injury, but Sepulveda has a low-90s fastball and a nice curve/change combo to go with it, giving him a solid three-pitch mix.

Sunday

In Venezuela, Elvis Escobar went 2-for-3 with two singles and a stolen base in the first game of a doubleheader. He is hitting .286/.298/.429 in 39 games.

Jhondaniel Medina threw two shutout innings, retiring all six batters he faced. He has a 3.94 ERA in 16 innings over 13 appearances. Medina is still a free agent.

In the Dominican, Eric Wood started at first base again and went 0-for-2 in a game shortened by rain. He had four putouts in the field, while grounding out to third base and lining out to left field in his two at-bats. He is now 1-for-10 with a single, two walks, three strikeouts and two errors (both at third base). While his team in the Dominican has the final say where he plays on defense, it’s good to see Wood continue to get reps at first base to add versatility. I’m sure the outfield will also be an option depending on his team’s needs.

One thing to watch is how unforgiving winter ball can be for players foreign to the country. These leagues won’t continue to play someone who is struggling, so Wood will need to quickly pick things up. The crowds in winter ball tend to get on foreign-born players if they don’t perform right away. Last year, we saw Dan Gamache last just four (really bad) games in Mexico. Andrew Lambo, Stetson Allie and Harold Ramirez all saw quick hooks in the last few years. I’m not sure if Wood is in trouble of being released just yet, but I know he doesn’t have a long leash.

Cesilio Pimentel made his second appearance and recorded two outs, while allowing one walk. He inherited two runners and stranded both.

In Puerto Rico, Danny Ortiz went 1-for-4 with a solo homer, a walk and two runs scored. He is hitting .368 through 17 games.

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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