Article: Twins Winter League Report (through 11/26)

[Seth Stohs]

Hopefully everyone had a happy Thanksgiving, and maybe even a long weekend from work. We are back here with our weekly Twins Winter League Report. We waited until Sunday this week so that we would have the complete weekend of games in Australia, including Sunday afternoon games (Saturday evening in the States).

 

In some other Winter League and International news, Mike Berardino wrote that Miguel Sano would not be playing in the Dominican Winter League. Instead, he will be working out in the hopes of playing in the WBC.

 

While not Winter League news "Dan KBO" tweeted that lefty Pat Dean has signed with the KIA Tigers in the KBO for 2017. The deal is believed to be for $900,000.Here is the update on how Twins players performed during the past week in the Winter Leagues.

 

Several US players have returned home after their predetermined stint in the Winter Leagues. Niko Goodrum and Ryan O'Rourke returned to the United States from Venezuela. Daniel Palka played a couple of games last week before returning home from the Dominican Republic.

 

AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE

 

Aaron Whitefield and his Brisbane Bandits played four games in Perth. In six total games since our last report, he has gone 11-25 (.440) with three doubles and five stolen bases. In eight total games this season, he is hitting .433/.469/.567 (1.035). At Perth over the weekend, he had a 3-5 game with two doubles and two stolen bases. And in his final game of the weekend, he went 5-6 with a double and three stolen bases.

 

PUERTO RICAN WINTER LEAGUE

 

No longer a Twins pitcher (and he hasn't been for a decade), JC Romero threw a scoreless inning on Saturday night. He has yet to give up a run in 11 outings so far.

 

Juan Centeno played in four games during the week. He went 3-9 (.333) with two doubles, two walks and a hit by pitch. He is now hitting .200/.308/.267 (.576) with three doubles.

 

Kennys Vargas is now hitting .180/.305/.300 (.605) with three doubles and a homer. In three games this past week, he went 2-10 (.200) with a double and three walks.

 

JJ Fernandez played in four games last week. He went 2-7 with two walks and a double. In 17 total games, he is now hitting .229/.315/.396 (.711).

 

Lean Marrero and Nelson Molina did not play. Dereck Rodriguez did not pitch.

 

DOMINICAN WINTER LEAGUE

 

Daniel Palka played his final two games in the Dominican last week. He went 0-7 with five strikeouts before returning to the States. Overall in 22 games, he hit .188/.258/.338 (.596) with three doubles and three home runs. He walked eight times and struck out 30 times.

 

Leonardo Reginnato went a combined 0-7 in his three games played this week. That puts his overall numbers at .150/.209/.150 (.359) in 14 games.

 

Confesor Lara threw four innings in four games this past week. He did not allow a run despite giving up six hits in the week. He struck out one. In 13 total games, he has given up just two earned runs (1.38 ERA, 0.92 WHIP). Opponents have hit just .152 off of him.

 

Jorge Polanco made his season debut in the Dominican. He played in three games this week and went 3-11 (.283) with a triple. He walked twice and struck out twice.

 

The Twins signed Nik Turley last month to a minor league contract. He has spent time with several major league organizations, including being on the Yankees 40-man roster a couple of years ago. He last pitched for Somerset in the independent Atlantic League. He made his first start in the Dominican this week. He went 2.1 innings. He gave up three runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk. He struck out one.

 

VENEZUELAN WINTER LEAGUE

 

With free agents and players heading home, Luis Arraez is the only Twins player currently playing in Venezuela.

 

He played in five games this week and went 7-22 (.318) with two walks. He had just one three-hit game.

 

In 35 games, he is now hitting .376/.408/.511 (.919) with seven doubles and six triples. In about 155 plate appearances, he has just nine walks, and seven strikeouts.

 

 

Please feel free to discuss any information on these players in the comments below.

 

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[big dog]

It's interesting that a team would send someone to play winter ball for a month, especially when they don't even play every day.  I wonder if it's really worth it to the player, the host team, and the MLB team.  I'm sure the host team loves it when a local player returns, or a big-name player, but the rest of the time it might just be a pain.

[clutterheart]

Luis Arraez is 19 years old....19!!!!

Yes his BABIP is unsustainable...but...holy cow.  What a 2016 for the kid...

 

[Bob Sacamento]

So GCL pitching coach Virgil Vasquez is playing in the Aussie League, looks like it's his fifth consecutive season there.  I guess he's gotta keep that pitching arm fresh to throw the kids BP all spring/summer.