39 F
Pittsburgh

Winter Leagues: Flame-Throwing Prospect Debuts in Puerto Rico

Published:

Pittsburgh Pirates winter league action from Thursday and Friday night. Thursday was a slow day in winter ball, with just one game in the Dominican, which didn’t involve any current Pirates.

Thursday

In Puerto Rico, Ethan Paul went 2-for-4 with his second double and his first RBI.

In Mexico, Randy Romero went 2-for-5 with his 11th stolen base and an outfield assist.

Brayan Roman made his first scoreless appearance to start the season, throwing a shutout inning on Thursday night. He has pitched 4.2 shutout innings this winter.

In the Dominican, free agent Enyel De Los Santos pitched two perfect innings with five strikeouts. Pirates let him become a minor league free agent earlier this month.

Friday

In the Dominican, Rodolfo Castro went 1-for-5 with his fourth RBI. He’s hitting .220 with a .763 OPS.

Free agent Christian Bethancourt went 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. He’s hitting .189 with a .543 OPS.

In Puerto Rico, newly DFA’d catcher Michael Perez went 1-for-4. He’s hitting .185 with a .668 OPS.

Ethan Paul went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He’s now hitting .185 with a .572 OPS.

Oliver Mateo debuted with a scoreless inning that included one walk and two strikeouts. He had a 4.78 ERA and 40 walks in 37.2 innings with Bradenton this year, BUT that came with…wait for it…82 strikeouts. If math isn’t a strong subject for you, I can help. That season strikeout total means that his performance tonight with two strikeouts in one inning was a lower strikeout rate than his season total. Yes, he is interesting, just not a legit prospect yet.

In Mexico, Randy Romero went 3-for-6 with three runs scored, his first home run, and an RBI. He’s now hitting .316 with a .757 OPS in 39 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.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles