Minnesota Twins: Winter League Recap
Puckett’s Pond recaps Minnesota Twins players’ time in Winter League this year.
The Australian Baseball League championship and the Caribbean Series finale are in the books. The Winter Leagues of this offseason are officially over. We’ll run you through how Minnesota Twins’ prospects and players fared in their winter stints. The Twins had a total of 38 players in its system who played in Winter Leagues this offseason.
As we said in our Winter League Update piece a month ago, “Players are sent (or choose to go) to offseason ball to gain experience, for instructional purposes or simply to get additional reps in. There are 6 main offseason ball leagues: the Arizona Fall League (AFL), Venezuelan Winter League (LVPB), Australian Baseball League (ABL), Dominican Winter League (LIDOM), Mexican Pacific League (LMP), and the Puerto Rican League (PWL).” We’ll run down all the Winter Leagues here (so all except AFL, it was already recapped in fall).
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LVPB:
Eduardo Escobar, Luis Arraez, Levi Michael, Engelb Vielma, D.J Baxendale, Omar Bencomo, Jorge Parra, Logan Darnell, David Hurlbut, Yorman Landa, Marcus Walden, Wilfredo Tovar and Brett Lee played in Venezuela.
Omar Bencomo had a 2.58 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP over 13 starts for the Bravos de Margarita. He made one start for Venezuela in the Caribbean Series which didn’t go very well. Hurlbut made four starts and had a 0.43 ERA. Boshers threw 40.1 innings and posted a 1.79 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. Walden started 7 games with 2.36 ERA for the Tigres de Aragua and started one game for Venezuela in the Caribbean Series where he allowed one earned in 5.1 innings.
Michael had the best showing of a position player in Venezuela for the Twins with a .277/.404/.340 slash. Tovar and Engelb struggled offensively with .310 OPS and .519 OPS respectively.
Next: Australia and the Dominican Republic
ABL:
Trey Vavra, Tanner Vavra, James Beresford, Michael Quesada, Aaron Whitefield, Lachlan Wells, Sam Gibbons, Logan Wade, Todd Van Steensel and Loek van Mil played down under in Australia.
The Vavra brothers fared well with Tanner posting a .828 OPS and Trey a .796 OPS. Wade was the best of the bunch with .854 OPS in the regular season and he helped the Brisbane Bandits win the Aussie championship. Whitefield was Wade’s teammate and slashed .314/.324/.457.
Thompson had a 2.50 ERA with 22 Ks over 18 innings. Van Mil struck out 19 over 15.1 innings with a a 2.93 ERA. Van Mil’s Adelaide squad lost to Brisbane in the finals and Loek pitched 3.1 innings allowing 2 earned. Wells started 5 games and finished with a 3.65 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP.
LIDOM:
Carlos Paulino, Danny Santana, Fernando Abad, Jorge Polanco, Eduardo Nunez, Buck Britton, Keury de la Cruz and Ryan O’Rourke played in the Dominican. Miguel Sano played 15 games and then dropped out to focus on conditioning.
Catcher Paulino posted a .733 OPS in the regular season and played for the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean Series (CS) where he had 4 hits and one walk in 7 ABs. Top short stop prospect Polanco hit a .630 OPS. Santana slashed .305/.320/.411 in 95 ABs.
Lefty bullpen hopeful Abad was lit up for 10 earned in 9 innings.
Next: Mexico and Puerto Rico
PWL:
Three members of the Twins’ organization played in Puerto Rico: Kennys Vargas (1B) and Dereck Rodriguez (P) and Juan Centeno (C).
Vargas was excellent in the regular season with a .915 OPS but in the Caribbean Series for Puerto Rico, he had just two hits in 22 ABs. Centeno slashed .190/329/.259 over 23 games.
LMP:
Just one Twins’ prospect played in Mexico this winter: Reynaldo Rodriguez (OF). He had an .839 OPS over 46 games.
Brisbane won the ABL title, Santurce the PWL, Venados de Mazatlán the LMP, Tigres de Aragua the LVBP, Leones del Escogido the LIDOM. The Venados de Mazatlán, representing Mexico, won the Caribbean Series.
Now that the Winter Leagues are over, a few Twins will participate in the WBC qualifiers. “Wade and Whitefield will be joined by fellow Twins James Beresford, Sam Gibbons and Todd van Steensel on Australia’s squad. Rowan Ebersohn and Callan Pierce will join South Africa’s team.” Aside from that, the next baseball that Twins players will play will be Spring Training.