Dodgers Winter League Update

The 2010 winter leagues are in full swing.  In addition to the popular Arizona Fall League, there is baseball being played in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic.  Many players in the Dodgers organization are participating in these leagues, so I figured it was time for quick update. 

A few of years ago, I had a tough time following all the Dodgers players in the Winter Leagues.  I literally had to click on each team and see if I recognized any Dodger minor leaguers.  For the past couple of years, however, MLB.com has provided organizational statistics for each team, which makes it very easy to keep up with winter league stats.  Click here for a summary Dodgers team page winter stats summary.

I’m obviously not going to write about every Dodger participating a winter league, especially since many of the players are older and non prospects.  However, there are several prospects playing who are worth noting, and quite a few of them are playing in leagues other than the AFL. 

Puerto Rican League:

Dee Gordon – Gordon has been on fire since arriving in Puerto Rico, hitting .654 by getting 17 hits in 26 at bats.  He has at least 2 hits in each of his 6 games, including back to back 4 hit games, and has an OPS of 1.474.  He continues to work on his running game, as he has stolen 4 bases and been caught 3 times.  He also has 2 errors in his 6 games played at shortstop.

Jonathan Garcia – Garcia has only played in 1 game so far, so he hasn’t had enough at bats to analyze his stats.  However, the fact that he is getting some extra work in this winter is good news.  He is from Puerto Rico, so it makes sense that he is playing there.

Jaime Ortiz – At one time a decent Dodger prospect, Ortiz has struggled over the past few years.  He is still relatively young, however, so it’s too early to give up on him.  He is another guy who is from Puerto Rico, although he has only seen limited playing time so far.

Dominican Winter League:

Brian Cavazos-Galvez – BCG only has 5 at bats in the DWL, but I’m writing about him because I wanted to make everyone aware that he is playing in a winter league.  After a great 2010 season, he is going to try and get experience against older players in the Dominican Rupublic.

Alfredo Silverio – Silverio has played in just one game, but he ended the regular season on fire so it is worth keeping an eye on him this winter.

Mexican Pacific League:

Justin Sellers – Sellers will try to prove that his performance in AAA was not a fluke in the Mexico this winter.  So far, he has struggled with just 2 hits in 13 at bats, but the sample size right now is very small.  He hasn’t played since Oct 19^th, so I’m not sure if he got injured in some way or if he already went home.

Javier Solano – Solano had a breakout season in 2010, and is trying to continue his success down his native country of Mexico this winter.  So far Solano has only pitched in two games, and has allowed only 2 hits.  However, both of those hits were homers.

Venezuelan Winter League:

Ronald Belisario – Belisario continues his tradition of playing winter ball in Venezuela, and has thrown 2 perfect innings thus far.  I’m glad he’s getting some extra work in since he didn’t quite pitch a full season last year.

Jamie Hoffmann – Hoffmann has struggled thus far in Venezuela, hitting just .121 in 10 games.  Hopefully he’ll turn things around soon.

Arizona Fall League:

Scott Elbert – Elbert has made 6 appearances thus far in Arizona, and he’s had mixed results.  He was wild in his first couple of games, walking 4 in 2 innings, but hasn’t walked a batter in his last 5 innings.  Also, he’s allowed runs in 2 of his appearances, which has resulted in a 5.14 ERA, and has 8 strikeouts in his 7 total innings of work.

Javy Guerra – Guerra has allowed way too many base runners in his 6 innings, but has been able to limit the damage against him and has an ERA of 3.00.  He has also averaged a strikeout per inning.

Justin Miller – Miller has had a terrible time so far in the AFL, allowing 10 earned runs in 5 innings of work.  I have no idea why he’s been so bad after having such a good 2010 season, but batters are hitting him hard to the tune of a .467 batting average.

Jon Link – Link has been used as a starter in the AFL, and I’m not sure if that is a sign of things to come or if it’s a simply a way to get him a little more work.  Whatever the reasoning, Link has performed relatively well with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP in his 3 starts, which have spanned 13 innings.

Steven Ames – Ames was a late addition to the Desert Dogs roster, and he has made two terrible appearances.  His AFL debut was in the blowout game in which the team ran out of pitchers.  He was awful in that game, giving up 7 runs without recording an out.  He also allowed 4 runs in two-thirds of an inning in his 2^nd appearance, and currently has an ERA of 148.50 for the season.  Since his highest professional level has been LoA, hopefully he was just nervous since he has never faced such tough completion.

Ivan De Jesus – De Jesus has created some buzz in the AFL with his solid hitting thus far.  In 9 games, Ivan has a .333 average to go along with a .900 OPS.  His goal is to play well enough to be in the conversation for the Dodgers 2^nd base job in 2011.

Trayvon Robinson – Robinson has had an interesting 13 games in the AFL thus far, walking 11 times but also striking out 14 times.  He has a .292 average with 1 homer and 3 stolen bases in 42 at bats.

Jerry Sands – TBLA’s #1 prospect is continuing his incredible 2010 season in the AFL.  While he doesn’t have a homer in 36 at bats, he is hitting .333 with a .467 OBP and a .883 OPS.  He hasn’t spent any time at 3^rd base, but instead continues to play both 1^st and the outfield. 

Matt Wallach – Wallach is the only Dodger hitting prospect struggling in the AFL.  He has just 3 hits in 22 at bats, all singles.  The good news is that Wallach ahs only struck out twice, and continues to provide solid defense behind the plate.

Finally, if you haven't already, don't forget to vote for the TBLA #3 Prospect.