Winter Baseball Leagues

[Jim Goulart]

8 minutes ago, Mass Haas said:

• Two Brewers relievers faced off and both pitched well. RHP JC Mejia netted the save with a 1-2-3 9th (one K) for Licey in a 4-3 win over 40-man roster RHP Elvis Peguero's Escogido club in the Dominican. Mejia has a 0.83 WHIP in 15.2 IP with 15 K's and only three walks. Peguero allowed only a ground ball single to left field in his scoreless 7th (one K). In 13.2 IP Peguero has a 17-to-1 BB-to-K ratio (!)

 

So, as we learn each winter, trying to make sense of the standings and then the extended round-robin round in the various leagues is always a challenge. At some point, we won't be able to determine winter-to-date stats as they cut off.

But JC Mejia's save proved big last night for his Tigres de Licey as they clinched, well, something ?.

Although no longer on the 40-man roster, it shouldn't surprise us if Mejia sees ample time in the Milwaukee big-league pen in 2023.

 

[Jim Goulart]

Although his game was rained out in Venezuela Friday, infielder Andruw Monasterio (.828 OPS in 103 AB's thus far) has a non-roster invite to Brewers big-league camp. The Brewers have not updated their own NRI page as of yet. Perhaps they are waiting until after the Rule 5 draft.

The other NRI's at this moment: C Alex Jackson, INF Eddy Alvarez, RHP's Tyler Herb, JC Mejia and Lucas Erceg.

[Jim Goulart]

 

[Jim Goulart]

Winter League Action from Friday, December 2

• C Mario Feliciano - 1-for-5, one K, in Carolina's (Puerto Rico) 5-4 win
   
• C Brian Navarreto – Did not play, but no news as it relates to "possibly" being related to the injury post yesterday. Catchers do get days off, after all.
   
• Jesus Chirinos – His home run seen in the prior post was Chirinos' lone hit in four at-bats but he also added a sacrifice fly for two RBI on the day. His club dropped the game 9-7.

• RHP Luis Contreras came on in the 6th inning after his starting pitcher had tossed five scoreless frames and his team had just jumped ahead 2-0. Contreras faced three batters - walk, ground ball single to center, walk, then was pulled. All three runners came around to score and his Lara team (Venezuela) would allow seven runs that inning. Final score 7-2. Ouch.
   
• 2B Andruw Monasterio was 1-for-4 with a walk and sacrifice fly in his Venezuelan team's 8-7 walkoff 11-inning win. The sacrifice fly tied the game in the 11th. 
   
• RHP Matt Hardy entered in the 8th inning with his Puerto Rican team up 2-0. For the first time this winter season, it was a struggle as the game log here will show you. Hardy did record two outs via strikeout, and his teammate had the big assist, retiring old friend Isan Diaz to escape the inning with his team up 2-1 (the final score also).

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Sunday, December 4

Navarreto and Monasterio made key contributions in their teams' victories, while Hardy remained perfect on the winter:

• C/DH Brian Navarreto – 4-for-6, double, walk, RBI. He also had an error and allowed 2 basestealers – in Carolina’s doubleheader split with Mayaguez
• DH Mario Feliciano – 0-for-3 – in Carolina’s 2-1 loss in the opening game against Mayaguez
• RHP Matt Hardy – 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks (ERA still 0.00) – in Caguas’ 4-0 victory over Ponce
• 2B Andruw Monasterio – 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBIs (raising average to .306), although he also committed 2 errors – in Caribes’ 5-4 win over Tigres
• DH Jesus Chirinos – 1-for-3, RBI. His 7th inning single tied the game, but he was left on deck in the 9th inning – in Aguilas del Zulia’s 2-1 defeat to Navegantes
• C Jason Lopez – 0-for-1 as a substitute in Bravos 12-4 loss to Leones del Caracas
• C Jose Sibrian – 1-for-4. He also threw out 2 of 4 basestealers – but his Cardenales team fell to Tiburones 14-2

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Tuesday, December 6

27-year old Brian Navarreto had another big day as he makes his case for increased playing time this year.

• C Brian Navarreto – 4-for-5, HR, double, 4 RBIs (lifting average to .346 and OPS to 1.010) – in Carolina’s 8-0 shellacking of Caguas
• 2B Andruw Monasterio – 1-for-5, triple, RBI (hitting .302) – in Caribes’ 6-5 loss to Leones del Caracas. Old friend RHP Carlos Luna (signed by Twins yesterday) actually made his first appearance for Monasterio’s team, conceding 4 runs in 2 2/3 innings
• DH Jesus Chirinos – 0-for-3, walk (still hitting .333) – in Aguilas del Zulia’s 9-0 win over Navegantes
• RHP Luis Contreras – 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks (but ERA is 6.00) – in Cardenales’ 6-0 win over Tigres

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Wednesday, December 7

Brian Navarreto is probably up for an award in the Puerto Rican League at this point. Elvis Peguero and Arnaldo Hernandez continue to put up solid winter league stats in relief.

• DH Brian Navarreto – 1-for-3, HR, walk, HBP, 2 RBIs (.346 average, 1.047 OPS – 5th homer for his club, a clutch 2-run blast to tie the game in the 7th inning) – in Carolina’s 5-4 victory over RA12
• C Mario Feliciano – 0-for-3, walk (.184 average, .443 OPS), he also allowed two stolen bases – in Carolina’s win
• RHP Elvis Peguero – 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks (2.45 ERA in 14 2/3 IP) – in Leones del Escogido’s 3-0 loss to Toros
• 2B Andruw Monasterio – 1-for-3, walk, RBI (hitting .303) – in Caribes’ 8-3 defeat to Bravos
• DH Jesus Chirinos – 1-for-4, RBI (hitting .327) – in Aguilas del Zulia’s 5-2 loss to Navegantes
• RHP Arnaldo Hernandez – 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K (ERA of 0.66 in 13 2/3 IP, bouncing back from a rough 2022 season in Biloxi) – in Tiburones’ 4-2 loss to Cardenales

[Ro Mueller]

Your daily Brian Navarreto highlight: 

 

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Thursday, December 8

Jesus Chirinos and Brian Navaretto continued their solid play, but it was a rough day for the pitchers, including Matt Hardy’s first blemish.

• DH Jesus Chirinos – 3-for-5, double, 3 walks, 2 RBIs (hitting .352 with a .904 OPS) – in Aguilas del Zulia’s doubleheader split with Tiburones. Chirinos played a big role in Aguilas coming back from a 7-2 deficit win the opening game, then also coming back in the second game before it was blown in the final inning
• RHP Arnaldo Hernandez (win) – 2/3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 2 H, 2 BB, 1 K (ERA up to 1.26) – got the win despite being part of blowing the lead, as Tiburones then came back to win the 2nd game of the doubleheader
• RHP Luis Contreras (loss) – 1/3 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K (ERA up to 7.71) – in Cardenales’ 7-5 loss to Navegantes
• C/DH Brian Navarreto – 0-for-1, 2 walks, HBP, RBI (hitting .341 with a 1.053 OPS) – exited in 7th inning for a pinch hitter while leading 12-5 – in Carolina’s 13-6 win over Ponce
• RHP Matt Hardy (loss) – 2/3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 2 H, 1 BB, 0 K (ERA up to 1.10) – in Caguas’ 2-1 loss to Santurce

[Jim Goulart]

Winter League Action from Friday, December 9

• C Brian Navarreto – 2-for-4 (double), BB, R, RBI (hitting .341 with a 1.053 OPS)
• DH Mario Feliciano – 2-for-4 (double), R (.200 average, .483 OPS), Navarreto's teammate batted 8th in a 6-1 win, celebrated sneaking to the Mendoza line

This was from Thursday's game - 

 

[Jim Goulart]

Winter League Action from Saturday, December 10

• RHP Elvis Peguero - The 40-man roster member, acquired from the Angels in the Hunter Renfroe trade, now has 21 K's vs. one walk in 15.2 IP (2.30 ERA) in his native Dominican Republic. He allowed just an infield single with one K (veteran Melky Cabrera) in his scoreless 8th inning Saturday. His Aguilas team would win in walkoff fashion in the 9th.
• RHP Luis Contreras – It's been a rough go of late for the 26-year-old who split 2022 between Biloxi and Nashville. The June 2019 independent league signee inherited two baserunners with one out in the 2nd inning of his Venezuelan team's eventual 8-6 come-from-behind win. Contreras allowed both runners to score (wild pitch, two-run single), then saw a run charged to him when the first two men reached in the 3rd inning (single by the Brewers' Luis Chirinos, walk) before he was lifted. Contreras' ERA is now at 8.10 through 11 relief appearances.
• 1B Jesus Chirinos – 1-for-2 (now hitting .357, 20-for-56) – Chirinos grounded out in the 1st but was immediately lifted for a pinch-runner in the 3rd after the single mentioned above vs. Contreras, no notation of an injury delay.
• RHP J.C. Mejia – One perfect inning (one K) as his strong Dominican season continues

***

Just an observation, but...

I wish to remind everybody about RH reliever Abner Uribe's last outing as we posted the morning after:

Winter League Action from Monday, November 28th

Oh my, Abner Uribe now through three outings - 1.1 IP, 8 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 1 K, ERA 47.25

On Monday night Uribe came in to begin the 5th inning (game log):

HBP - ground ball single to LF - wild pitch - BB with another wild pitch on ball four, scoring a run

And that was it. Three batters faced. Eight pitches thrown. Lifted.

Hopefully not injury-related and we see Uribe on a mound again later this week.

Uribe has not seen any action since. The fireballer had made his way to the Dominican Winter League after fine work in the Arizona Fall League, and his placement on the Brewers' 40-man roster. As noted above, this was only Uribe's 3rd winter league appearance, however, and normally pitchers would make a longer commitment.

As the game log shows (5th inning), Uribe's final batter was a four-pitch walk.

Sorry to throw up a red flag, but Monday marks two weeks, and the way Uribe was pulled after eight pitches adds to the intrigue even more than his absence since. What do the Brewers know, and what aren't they saying?

And if everyone simply decided it was time for Uribe to head home for the holidays, then bad on me, and good for everyone else. 

[ARobsBrewCrew]

Spoke with Abner Uribe this morning, he said that there are no health concerns for him and he feels great.  Brewers just decided to shut it down for him until spring training.  Very good news!

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Sunday, December 11

There weren't many players in action on Sunday, but Jesus Chirinos and Arnaldo Hernandez continued their strong run of play:

• 1B/DH Jesus Chirinos – 2-for-6, walk, 2 RBIs (lowering average to .355); he also committed an error – in Aguilas del Zulia’s doubleheader sweep at the hands of Cardenales
• RHP Arnaldo Hernandez – 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K (lowering ERA to 1.17) – in Tiburones’ 5-3 victory over Caribes
• PH Jason Lopez – 0-for-1 (dropping average to .382) – in Bravos’ 13-6 loss to Leones del Caracas

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Monday, December 12

Only the Dominican Winter League played yesterday:

• RHP Elvis Peguero (save) – 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K (lowered ERA to 2.16) – in Leones del Escogido’s 4-1 victory over Estrellas
• RHP JC Mejia – 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K (lowered ERA to 2.55) – in Tigres del Licey’s 3-0 loss to Gigantes

 

[Robocaller]

18 hours ago, damuelle said:

Winter League Action from Sunday, December 11

There weren't many players in action on Sunday, but Jesus Chirinos and Arnaldo Hernandez continued their strong run of play:

• 1B/DH Jesus Chirinos – 2-for-6, walk, 2 RBIs (lowering average to .355); he also committed an error – in Aguilas del Zulia’s doubleheader sweep at the hands of Cardenales
• RHP Arnaldo Hernandez – 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K (lowering ERA to 1.17) – in Tiburones’ 5-3 victory over Caribes
• PH Jason Lopez – 0-for-1 (dropping average to .382) – in Bravos’ 13-6 loss to Leones del Caracas

Is Chirinos a legitimate prospect? He's not very big for a 1B.

[Ro Mueller]

8 hours ago, Robocaller said:

Is Chirinos a legitimate prospect? He's not very big for a 1B.

Joseph's probably watched him the most, but here's my limited view:

Entering his 6th year in the system, with apparently limited positional versatility (somewhat surprisingly never tried at third base, despite coming in as a catcher), it seems likely to me that Chirinos will simply run out of time with the Brewers. He probably needs a 2023/24 power surge to have staying power with the organization beyond 2024. Of course, he's just 21 years old, so he has more room to improve, perform, keep advancing...

He obviously figured something out in 2022 after some initial struggles and it's a sign of organizational confidence that they stuck with him as an everyday player: 

• April 8 - July 11, 2022 in Low-A: .551 OPS in 290 PAs despite a .327 BABIP, with HRs in 1.0% of PAs and Ks in 35.9% of PAs
• July 12 - September 11, 2022 in Low-A: .944 OPS in 190 PAs with a .361 BABIP, with HRs in 4.7% of PAs and Ks in 25.3% of PAs

[SF70]

Elvis Peguero—

16.2 IP 11H 1BB 23K 

His command seems to be quite good right now. Brewers have to be super happy with his performance.

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Tuesday, December 13

It was a combined 0-for-10 day with two losses, as Navaretto and Feliciano were notably stifled by old friend RHP Braden Webb.

• DH Jesus Chirinos – 0-for-3, walk (average dips to .338) – in Aguilas del Zulia’s 10-2 loss to Tigres
• C Brian Navarreto – 0-for-4, though he threw out the only basestealer (.333 average, 1.022 OPS) – in Carolina’s 3-0 defeat to Santurce
• DH Mario Feliciano – 0-for-3 (.193 average, .466 OPS) – also in Carolina’s defeat

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Wednesday, December 14

RHPs Matt Hardy and JC Mejia had good days at the office, making up for a down day by others.

• RHP JC Mejia – 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K (lowers ERA to 2.41) – in Tigres’ 3-1 win over Gigantes
• 1B Jesus Chirinos – 0-for-3, walk (drops average to .324) – in Aguilas del Zulia’s 3-2 loss to Leones del Caracas
• RHP Arnaldo Hernandez – 0 IP, 3 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 K (raising ERA to 2.93) – in Tiburones’ 6-4 loss to Cardenales when they blew a 3-0 lead by yielding 6 runs in the 7th inning
• PH/2B Andruw Monasterio – 0-for-1 (lowering average to .300) – in Caribes’ 7-5 loss to Navegantes
• C Brian Navarreto – 0-for-2, walk (average dips to .326); exited after 5 innings of play – in Carolina’s 9-4 defeat to Caguas
• DH Mario Feliciano (in DFA limbo but still a Brewer) – 0-for-4, RBI (average falls to .184) – in Carolina’s loss
• RHP Matt Hardy – 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 Ks (lowers ERA to 1.02) - in Caguas' victory

[Jim Goulart]

Newcomer Owen Miller added to the top of our tracking post here.

With Ponce in the Puerto Rico League, the infielder is at .346/.379/.385 (.764 OPS) after 29 plate appearances. He doubled, singled, and added a sacrifice fly in his most recent game Wednesday, in which he played both third base and second base.

[Jim Goulart]

New minor league free agent signee RHP Christian Mejias is a teammate of RHP Arnaldo Hernandez in Venezuela. He has struggled in seven games (five starts) as seen in his Baseball Reference line here.

Looks like I'll need to update the links on our tracking page to all B-Ref, in order to get the most complete season-to-date figures.

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Thursday, December 15

RHPs Arnaldo Hernandez and Luis Contreras bounced back with decent games, while Andruw Monasterio keeps hitting well.

• 2B Owen Miller – 1-for-5 (.323 AVG, .708 OPS); one error – in Ponce’s 7-3 win over RA12
• DH Brian Navarreto – 1-for-4 (.323 AVG, .987 OPS) – in Carolina’s 2-1 loss to Santurce
• C Mario Feliciano – 1-for-3, SF, RBI (.189 AVG, .450 OPS) – in Carolina’s loss
• C Jose Sibrian – 1-for-4 (.333 AVG in limited playing time); allowed 2 stolen bases – in Cardenales’ 10-5 defeat to Bravos
• RHP Luis Contreras – 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks (7.36 ERA) – in Cardenales’ loss
• PH Jesus Chirinos – 0-for-0, walk (.324 AVG, .842 OPS) – in Aguilas del Zulia’s 2-1 loss to Caribes
• 2B Andruw Monasterio – 2-for-4, RBI (.306 AVG, .848 OPS) – in Caribes’ victory
• RHP Arnaldo Hernandez – 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K (2.76 ERA) – in Tiburones’ 4-0 win over Navegantes

[edfunderburk]

When will we know if Feliciano is claimed or if he is eligible to return to Milwaukee’s farm system or be traded later?

[Ro Mueller]

15 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

When will we know if Feliciano is claimed or if he is eligible to return to Milwaukee’s farm system or be traded later?

Mr. Goulart suspects that Mario Feliciano can reject any outright assignment, since he's been in the system for seven years already. I'd consider him 90% gone (though sometimes players surprise us), either by rejecting the assignment, straight waiver claim or trade. DFA limbo is 7 days, so we should know his final status by December 21st: 

 

[Ro Mueller]

Winter League Action from Friday, December 16

Great days for Monasterio, Hardy and Feliciano (finally) contributed to their teams’ wins. 

• 2B/3B Andruw Monasterio – 4-for-5, RBI, SB, 4 runs scored (.326 AVG, .801 OPS) – in Caribes’ 13-3 win over Aguilas del Zulia
• 1B Jesus Chirinos – 0-for-4 (.306 AVG, .876 OPS) – in Aguilas’ loss
• C Brian Navarreto – 1-for-5, RBI (.317 AVG, .960 OPS); threw out 2 of 3 attempted basestealers – in Carolina’s 2-1 victory over RA12
• DH Mario Feliciano – 2-for-4, RBI (.202 AVG, .473 OPS) – his RBI single in the top of the 8th inning gave Carolina the lead
• RHP Matt Hardy – 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks (0.93 ERA) – in Caguas’ come-from-behind 3-2 win over Ponce
• 2B/3B Owen Miller – 1-for-4 (.314 AVG, .685 OPS) – in Ponce’s loss