Here is a look at Sunday’s Pittsburgh Pirates winter league action, which was a little lighter than usual due to the Dominican League having the day off.
Australia
Jesus Castillo had the big hit in his team’s 3-2 win. He drove in two runs with his first triple of the winter. He finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs. He’s hitting .103 with a .308 OPS in 21 games.
Jase Bowen went 1-for-4 with his second double. His sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the tenth, turned into a game winner when the pitcher threw the ball away. Bowen is hitting .243 with a .636 OPS in 21 games.
Solomon Maguire went 1-for-4 with a run scored. He’s hitting .197 with a .435 OPS in 19 games.
Sammy Siani went 1-for-3 with a walk. He’s batting .247 with a .772 OPS in 25 games.
Dylan Shockley went 0-for-4. He’s hitting .206 with a .628 OPS in 25 games.
Ernny Ordonez went 0-for-4. He’s batting .280 with a .670 OPS in 23 games.
Colombia
Andres Alvarez went 2-for-5 with a double, run scored and two RBIs. He’s hitting .364 with a 1.081 OPS in 27 games. Our weekly Pirates Winter Report focused on the work Alvarez is doing in Colombia.
Rodolfo Nolasco went 0-for-4. He’s hitting .228 with a .759 OPS in 24 games.
Francisco Acuna went 2-for-4 with a double, walk, run scored and two RBIs. He’s hitting .221 with a .709 OPS in 26 games.
Puerto Rico
Tsung-Che Cheng went 0-for-3. He’s hitting .212 with a .619 OPS in ten games.
Shawn Ross went 0-for-3 with a run scored. He’s hitting .120 with a .420 OPS in 28 games.
Josh Palacios went 0-for-3. He’s hitting .250 with a .774 OPS in nine games.
Mexico
Fabricio Macias went 2-for-3 with two singles, a run scored and an outfield assist. He’s hitting .258 with a .671 OPS in 51 games.
Denny Roman tossed a scoreless inning on one hit and one strikeouts. He has allowed one earned run in 13.2 innings, with eight hits and 16 strikeouts.
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.
Maybe you should skip a week of these updates. It seems to show that no pirate player is doing anything positive.
There are going to be days soon with no updates because of the Christmas break but I don’t post these to just give positive info. I have no control over what they do, but I’m going to post every day possible regardless
I swear I read “Dennis Rodman”
Other than Alvarez it sure seems like hitters are struggling throughout the winter leagues. Is that the case for the majority of hitters or just the Pirate’s batters?
The only winter league that has good offense is Colombia, so many of the players who look mediocre are about league average. Siani is above league average, Macias is right at average
Thanks for replying
Thanks for the context.