Minor League Report...November 30, 2008

by roger13 on Nov 30, 2008 11:40 AM EST Comment 6 comments

Greetings from the Dominican Republic (well, actually a bit northwest of there in a western suburb of Minneapolis)!

Gigantes del Cibao has a half game lead with a 20-14 record. Their leadoff hitter is Alexi Casilla who has been on fire. Prior to yesterday's game in which he went 3 for 4 with a double and walk, Casilla was hitting .395/.500/.579 in 38 at bats. He had scored 10 runs with a double, 2 home runs, 9 rbi, 8 walks and 7 strikeouts. Julio DePaula is another member of Gigantes with a Twins connection. DePaula has appeared in 20 games (24 innings) with a 3-1 record, 4.88ERA and 15K/10BB. Twins farmhand Estarlin De Los Santos has seen limited playing time, hitting .083/.083/.083 in 12 at bats.

Leones del Escogido has a 16-19 record, 4.5 games behing Gigantes. Carlos Gomez has been splitting time in centerfield, appearing in 12 games with 47 at bats. Gomez is hitting .255/.352/.404 with 2 doubles, a triple, 1 home run, 12 runs scored, 4 rbi and 7 stolen bases in 9 attempts. Gomez has struck out 11 times with 5 walks. Former Twin, Tony Batista, is also with Escogido...hitting .282/.352/.460 with 10 doubles, 4 home runs and 28 rbi in 124 at bats.

Armando Gabino has made five early appearances (3.0 innings) with Aguilas, who is 2.0 games out with a 18-16 record. Gabino has a 9.00ERA with 2K/1BB.

After hitting .325/.389/.514 in the Southern League this past summer, former Twin Doug Deeds has appeared in 10 games with Azucareros...hitting .200/.200/.286 in 35 at bats.

2 recs | Comment 6 comments

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I forgot to mention...

…that I have sent my annual Organization All-Star team on to Seth. He will add his comments and photos and publish sometime in the next week. Please watch his site for its release.

by roger13 on Nov 30, 2008 5:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Wow!

What a great performance by Casilla so far, that’s really good to see.

And Tony Fatista is still playing baseball? Who’da thunk it?

by Jesse on Dec 1, 2008 8:46 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Bring Back Batista!

So Carlos Gomez is now getting handily outhit by Tony Batista. Hey, maybe we should try him in center field!

by by jiminy on Dec 1, 2008 10:29 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Good news...

on Casilla.

I still wonder if his decline was because of the hand injury and compensating for it.

I look for him to continue to improve and become one of the best 2b in the game. He’s still very young.

by DJSkillz on Dec 1, 2008 12:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Injury

I think that was the main cause. It’s tough coming back from an injury like that in the middle of the season, especially for a young kid. Just look at Cuddyer: He never really recovered his swing. That’s why I think some of the critiques of Casilla are a bit unfair, especially from Twins Geek. Listening to Seth’s podcast the other night, it seems the Geek is channeling his inner cynic on everything Twins related these days.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Dec 1, 2008 1:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Nice to see Casilla

I always liked him. You have to be so precise hitting a baseball that any little thing can throw you off. When you have a serious hand injury like Casilla had, it is no surprise he tailed off at the end of the season. It is very good to see he his playing and thriving in winter ball. We need him at 2B.

What surprises me most about the Gomez/Batista stats is that they have the same OBP despite Batista having nearly a 30 point advantage in BA. That implies Gomez is walking more than usual. 5 walks in 52 plate appearances (almost 10) is MUCH better than what he did in the majors when he walked only about 4 of the time. Small sample size and winter ball—I know. But that is what winter ball is for, to work on those sorts of things. Hopefully he continues to improve.

by rencito on Dec 6, 2008 10:21 AM EST reply actions 0 recs