Mon. 6/29: 16-Year-Old's Lighting it Up in the D.R.

[Jim Goulart]

This thread will be utilized for any minor league news Monday.

Organizational Scoreboard 

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Monday's Birthdays:

None

[Jim Goulart]

These two recaps will be part of the Tuesday morning Link Report, which will also then include the overnight Arizona League game. If you have additional DSL tidbits you'd like me to incorporate in the AM, feel free to add to this thread, thanks.

 

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Final: DSL Brewers Blue 9, DSL Red Sox Red 6
Box Score and Game Log

The now 14-7 Blue Crew, in 3rd place within their division, took care of the last-place division rival Boston Red squad, overcoming a 5-3 deficit after four innings with four unanswered runs.

They also overcame five errors, each committed by a different team member, and five wild pitches by starting RHP Jordy Brache, the 16-year-old Dominican native making his 5th pro appearance and second start. Brache somehow only allowed three runs (only two earned) in his three innings. With a 3.80 WHIP, that run count can be considered a small victory.

Following Brache on the mound was 18-year-old Colombian native Carlos Galindo, who will be stateside in 2027, having posted solid numbers for a second year. The zero walks (one HBP) is shiny and represents a second consecutive five-inning, no-walk effort.

3rd year RHP Lukas Gonzalez, 19 years old out of Panama, wants off the island, and his 2026 work is trending towards that.

Still just 16 years old for a few more days, infielder (primarily 3rd baseman thus far) Leanders Matos was a triple shy of a cycle. Eleven of his 21 hits on the season of the extra-base variety, and he hit his 4th home run Monday, and it was a shot to center in the 7th that converted a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead that would not be relinquished.. Matos is also 10-of-11 in SB attempts, though oddly in this contest Blue only attempted one steal (unsuccessfully) despite having 11 hits and drawing a dozen free passes.

Matos' $300,000 price tag is at the bargain level currently, and as advertised. In January, the right-handed hitting Matos was touted as a potential high-contact hitter with great strike-zone discipline and gap power. 

All nine Blue batters reached base at least once. In fact, five reached three times, and the other four reached twice. Haven't tracked that sort of thing, but can't imagine many box scores this Link Report season in which every member of the lineup reached multiple times. Enjoy your box score breakdown clicking on the names of interest to you.

Three hours and 50 minutes of baseball, wow.

[CheeseheadInQC]

The DSL is crazy this year even by DSL standards. It’s insane that Gold at one point today had its entire lineup over an .800 OPS but only ranked 15th in OPS league-wide coming into today.

[Jim Goulart]

Final: DSL Brewers Gold 11, DSL Pirates Gold 10
Box Score and Game Log

No, you're not imagining things. The Golden Crew, now 9-12, also won by an 11-10 score on Friday night. In between those games, they defeated their Blue brethren 6-5 Saturday. Enjoy the ride, guys, five wins in a row!

Through seven innings, this was a perfectly "normal" 4-2 game with the good guys on top. The Pirates scored five in the top of the 8th (7-4 PIT lead), followed by a four-run response (Crew on top 8-7). Each team would score three runs in the 9th, and while the Pittsburgh kids used speed and Crew mound wildness to score their three runs, the G-Crew pumped up the power for their rally. First, a one-out blast by just-turned 18-year-old first baseman Jefer Lista, and a two-out two-run walkoff blast by 16-year-old CF (occasional left field and/or second base) Angeni Fernandez. One of the youngest signings of MLB's international class, Fernandez turns 17 on August 9th, the Brewers signed him for $500,000. Fernandez, a right-handed bat, drove in six runs in all here, as two doubles preceded the winning blast.

Fourteen free passes (ten walks, four HBP's) issued to the Gold boys certainly helped their cause.

Second-year Dominican Republic native RHP Derlin Garcia, has had strong outings and two clunky ones, as his game log shows. 

It's a super-charged DSL offensive environment in 2026 to be sure, but we still have to love that among the Brewers exceeding the most this spring and summer are the youngest, matching their pedigree buzz entering the season.

[CheeseheadInQC]

10 minutes ago, Jim Goulart said:

It's a super-charged DSL offensive environment in 2026 to be sure, but we still have to love that among the Brewers exceeding the most this spring and summer are the youngest, matching their pedigree buzz entering the season.

Agreed, especially when one of the hotter hitters lately for them is a still 16-year-old catcher who has already drawn praise for his defense.