The only action on Sunday in winter ball was in Australia and we had those results in Sunday’s Winter Leagues article. Playoffs continue in the Dominican tonight, while they started in Mexico last night and they begin in both Colombia and Venezuela tonight. Puerto Rico will have a playoff series starting this week to determine their representative in the Caribbean World Series. Their regular season was canceled due to the hurricane damage. As of right now, no rosters have been released, so we don’t know if any Pittsburgh Pirates will be in the league.
From Colombia on Friday and Saturday night, 17-year-old shortstop Francisco Acuna went 0-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt on Friday, and then went 1-for-3 with a single on Saturday. He finished the regular season with a .243/.374/.322 slash line in 38 games (he started 37 of his team’s 42 games). Acuna had five doubles, two triples, 19 walks and five HBP, while going 3-for-4 in steals. His .696 OPS was five points above the league average in Colombia this winter, which is impressive considering both his age and the fact he hasn’t played above the DSL yet. His team finished in first place and will play seven playoff games between now and next Saturday as part of a first round, round robin tournament.
In game one of the playoffs in Mexico, Jerrick Suiter went 0-for-3 with a walk in his team’s 2-1 loss. Suiter played seven regular season games in Mexico, posting a .200/.273/.233 slash line in 33 plate appearances.
Carlos Munoz went 1-for-4 with a single. He’s still looking to sign as a minor league free agent this off-season.
