Wednesday, December 2nd
Steven Moya, RF, Detroit Tigers (Toros del Este) 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
I get the attraction with Moya. He's not exactly your traditional one-dimensional minor-league slugger type. He's a pretty good athlete for his size, and both the Tigers and the Toros still run him out in the outfield. I saw him absolutely clobber a ball off Mets prospect Gabriel Ynoa. He then looked absolutely hopeless against offspeed stuff in the subsequent at-bats. Ay, there's the rub. He may not be your traditional one-dimensional minor league slugger type, but the outcome may not be all that different.
Jeremy Hefner, RHP (Gigantes de Cibao) 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Hefner is putting himself in the shop window after missing the last two seasons with two Tommy John surgeries. The second one came as a result of a forearm fracture on the mound while he was rehabbing from the first one. Hefner's stuff was always rather pedestrian, but he was a serviceable swingman for a second-division Mets team for a while and has kicked off his Dominican Winter League campaign with 5 2/3 scoreless innings. At best he is looking at a minor-league deal and an invitation to spring training, but it is rather amazing that he has made it back on the mound at all.
Japhet Amador, 1B (Charros de Jalisco) 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, RBI
Amador's brief cameo in the Pacific Coast League did not go well, but standard service has resumed back in the Mexican League. Amador has knocked 13 home runs in 47 games for Jalisco after posting 41 bombs in 103 games for the Red Devils this Summer. The rotund 28-year-old will probably not get another shot in an MLB organization, but it is good to know this weird, wonderful baseball player is still mashing somewhere.
Thursday, December 3rd
Orlando Arcia, SS, Milwaukee Brewers (Caribes de Anzoategui) 3-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
At this point in the Winter League season, playing time becomes scarcer for “prospects,” but a good way to keep your name in the lineup is to rake, and Arcia has hit .358 so far in Venezuela. Arcia's defensive tools were the main reason he topped our Brewers top 10, but the potential in the bat is tantalizing at shortstop.
Wilmer Flores, 3B, New York Mets (Bravos de Margarita) 2-4, 2 2B, 3 R, RBI, BB, K
The Venezuelan Winter League is not a developmental league. Teams are trying to win and craft their lineups and defensive alignments accordingly. There is a reason Miguel Sano is not getting outfield reps at the moment. Flores has been active for a few days now and has yet to play shortstop for the Bravos, playing second and third instead. This is a month after being the everyday shortstop for the National League champs. Hmm, wonder what the Bravos are thinking?
Adalberto Mejia, LHP, San Francisco Giants (Gigantes de Cibao) 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
No one on the prospect team was particularly enthusiastic about Mejia in our Giants list discussion. He is very large now—sorry, I meant bad-bodied—though he is still left-handed. Mejia came into the year as the best prospect in a mediocre Giants system, and a top-100 prospect overall despite some struggles in his first taste of Double-A in 2014. He pitched better the second time around (after serving a suspension for using a banned stimulant), but the stuff is far from overwhelming, and he is not looking at a repeat engagement at the top of the list.
Miguel Sano, DH, Minnesota Twins (Estrellas de Oriente) 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
Miguel Sano did this last night.
Miguel Sano hit a ball into the Presidente sign tonight. The call is fantastic. pic.twitter.com/7WhEowKg35
— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) December 4, 2015
I don't love moving him to the outfield, and the contact issues may never completely go away. But Sano has the kind of game power that has at times moved me to wild fits of hysterical laughter. It is that absurd to witness.
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24-year old SS in the Phillies org. Never been mentioned on BP or Fangraphs. But I suppose it's possible that he's a good glove, no hit guy. Which would make him a better defensive SS than Flores.