Thanksgiving was a slow day for Pittsburgh Pirates in winter ball, so below you get a recap of the last two days.
THURSDAY
In Venezuela, Diego Castillo struck out in the first and played the inning at shortstop, but he was replaced on defense in the second inning with no explanation. A later report said it was a knee issue, with no other details. It will be interesting to see when/if he returns to the lineup. He has a .339 average and a .945 OPS in 17 games.
Ali Sanchez went 1-for-2 with an RBI.
In Mexico, Jared Oliva went 2-for-4 with two singles. He has a .300 average and a .785 OPS in 35 games.
Fabricio Macias went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. He has a .244 average and a .637 OPS in 35 games.
FRIDAY
In Australia, Sammy Siani went 3-for-3 with his third double and his first home run. He had a run scored and an RBI. He has a .303 average and a .788 OPS in nine games. See video of the homer below.
Jase Bowen went went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases. He actually tried to steal second, third and home, but was thrown out at home. He’s hitting .263 with a .631 OPS in nine games.
Dylan Shockley went 1-for-3 with a single. He’s hitting .167/.268/.208 in eight games.
Ernny Ordonez went 0-for-2 with a walk. He has a .281 average and a .687 OPS in nine games.
Solomon Maguire went 0-for-3. He is 4-for-14 with four singles and a walk in five games.
In the Dominican, Rodolfo Castro went 1-for-4 with a single and his sixth RBI. He’s hitting .184 with a .589 OPS in 16 games.
Miguel Andujar went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer that brought his team within two runs in the ninth, but they lost 6-5. He’s hitting .292 with an .820 OPS in six games. Home run video is below.
In Venezuela, Ali Sanchez went 0-for-2. He’s hitting .220 with a .531 OPS in 22 games.
In Colombia, Adrian Florencio made his third start. He went three innings, allowing three runs on three hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
Andres Alvarez went 1-for-5 with a single and an RBI. He has a .378 average and a 1.131 OPS in ten games.
Francisco Acuna went 1-for-4 with a single and an RBI. He has a .121 average and a .432 OPS.
Rodolfo Nolasco went 0-for-2 with two walks, as his team was on the wrong side of a 24-0 loss. He has a .219 average and an .835 OPS.
Oliver Mateo tossed two shutout innings on one hit, one walk and three strikeouts. He has allowed one run in six innings.
Here’s Siani’s homer
Sammy Siani levels it up in Auckland with a monster home run to right-center. #abl23 #thisisourtime pic.twitter.com/NVN03ht5Tw
— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) November 25, 2022
Andujar’s homer
Pa’ la calle 💥 ¡Así fue el HOMERUN de Miguel Andújar de los @torosdeleste! 🐂🔥#LIDOM #CopaBanreservas ⚾️🏆 pic.twitter.com/U7ggWzmuFT
— LIDOM (@LIDOMRD) November 26, 2022
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 take it Cruz hasn’t worked out the financial dispute with his winter team yet?
Looking like a wasted opportunity for him to improve his SS defense this winter.
Not to spoil tomorrow’s article, but he finally showed up today. He’s playing DH. Definitely agree on the wasted chance to play. Pirates told him he could show up November 1st, 25 days after the regular season ended. If he did some batting practice work during that short break, he should have been able to step into the DH role right away and start playing shortstop in a few days. Considering that he wasn’t injured, that seems reasonable.
It’s a shame it was over money because that’s so short-sighted knowing that improved work could help him make extra money in the majors. His winter pay shouldn’t even matter to him, the minimum there is more than he ever made in the minors (except this year in Indy with MLB experience already)
Sounds like there are still some maturity issues.
Aussie baseball announcers = win.
happy to see the over the fence power from Miggy.
Even the bat boy looks like he could play!
The Dominican is loaded with talent this year. Our weekly winter report article is about to post at noon and I broke down the talent in the league for a comparison to Triple-A. It obviously helps that the league only has six teams, but these Dominican clubs this year are packed with big league players. It’s too bad that Oneil Cruz has chosen not to play so far because these games between the best teams are really no different than a 2022 Pirates-Nationals game type of talent level.
John, could you remind me which team they are playing for, I know Andujar is with Toros, and I believe Castro is too. For some reason whenever I tune into a game I see Eric Gonzalez over and over and over.
Yes, both are on Toros del Este