Around the Farm: December 17

Paolo Espino

Around the Farm (ATF) takes a quick look at some of the daily performances by Indians prospects. This is a special winter ball version of ATF that recaps all the offseason action by Indians players in the Caribbean Leagues.  The positions listed below are where the player was playing in the game.

Here is the rundown of what Indians players in winter ball did yesterday.

Colombia Winter League

• Giovanny Urshela (3B, Cartagena Tigres): 1-for-5, RBI. After two rain outs and three off days, Urshela and his Cartagena teammates were back in action. Urshela is now 11-for-54 (.204) at the plate in 14 games this offseason.

Dominican Republic Winter League

• Felix Pie (CF, Estrelles de Oriente): 1-for-5, K. Pie has hits in 8 of his last 10 games but is hitting just 10-for-41 (.244) over those 10 games.  During that time he has also struck out 9 times and has not walked once.

Venezuela Winter League

• Paolo Espino (SP, Tiburones de la Guaira): 2.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R/ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR. One has to wonder how much longer Espino’s team will keep him around. This was his first appearance in 9 days, but in 7 total appearances this offseason he has pitched 20.1 innings and allowed 31 hits, 20 runs, 4 home runs and 5 walks. He has made 6 starts and in 4 of them he has allowed 4 runs or more in 4.0 innings or less.
• Jose Lopez (3B, Cardenales de Lara): 5-for-6, 2 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI. Wow, what a night for Lopes who looks like he is still celebrating his contract signing with the Indians. The Indians and their fans can only dream he has a few nights like this for them next season.
• Ezequiel Carrera (CF, Navegantes de Magallanes): 1-for-1, SB. Not a good sign when a player is removed in the 3^rd inning, which is what happened last night for Carrera. It appears he suffered some sort of injury, either when he stole second base or was thrown out at home plate (both in the 1^st inning). It will be interesting to see if Carrera is back in the lineup on Sunday.
• Asdrubal Cabrera (DH, Leones de Caracas): 0-for-4, RBI.  After a hot start where Cabrera rapped 3 hits in his winter ball opener he has now gone just 2-for-25 (.080) at the plate in the 9 games since.
• Rob Bryson (RP, Bravos de Margarita): 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. Something different for Bryson as he pitched on back-to-back nights, which is something he is not used to or may never have done before considering Indians’ pitchers in Double-A or below rarely if ever pitch on no rest.

Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI. Also, his latest book the 2011 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is available for purchase for $20.95 to customers in the US (shipping and handling extra).

Posted in: Around the Farm,Winter Ball 2011