The playoffs began in Venezuela on Tuesday night and two Pittsburgh Pirates saw action. Engelb Vielma had a decent day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI in his team’s 11-8 loss. He hit .240/.311/.302 in 34 games during the regular season in Venezuela this winter.
Elvis Escobar went 0-for-4 with two walks, two runs scored and a stolen base in his team’s 4-3 win in 13 innings. Escobar hit .272/.328/.342 in 61 games during the regular season this winter. For comparison sake, the 23-year-old outfielder hit .265/.280/.388 in 48 games last winter. So he did a much better job of getting on base and he saw more playing time, but didn’t show any signs of power like he did last winter.
In Mexico, Jerrick Suiter went 0-for-2 with two walks, before leaving for a pinch-runner in the ninth inning. His team ended up losing 3-2 in 11 innings on a walk-off homer. Suiter was serving as the DH and his spot in the order didn’t come up again, so he didn’t miss out on any plate appearances. His team also lost their playoff opener on a walk-off hit in extra innings on Monday night. Suiter went 0-for-4 with a walk in that game.
Carlos Munoz went 0-for-3 with a walk and he was hit by a pitch. He went 1-for-4 in the playoff opener on Monday.
In the Dominican, Anderson Feliz went 1-for-4 with a single. He is 4-for-18 through four playoff games. Feliz is still looking to sign a minor league contract this off-season.
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.
John: I may be taking too negative of an approach, but I see very little OF talent between GCL and AA. I have mentioned that the Angels would probably be thrilled to have a chance to get Cole, and they have 2 excellent young OF prospects in Jahmai Jones and Brandon Marsh. That deal could also include a strong young RHSP in Chris Rodriguez.
What about Sanchez, uselton and Mitchell. They should be at W. Virginia this year?
I think he literally means between those two levels he mentioned, meaning from Bristol to Bradenton. There isn’t much there, but they drafted players like Chris Sharpe, Jared Oliva and Bligh Madris, who all have potential, plus Edison Lantigua at Bristol has tools, so it’s not completely void of talent. The GCL Pirates are loaded with talent and then you have Jean Eusebio from the DSL, plus the top two international signings this year are outfielders, so they are fairly strong in the low levels.