Welcome to the Dominican Prospect League

Perfect Game coverage of 2012 DPL Spring Training tour

March 15, 2012

by Perfect Game

The question came up a few times today if PG was going to post reports on all the Dominican prospects traveling to Florida and Arizona. The answer is a definite Yes. I'll be writing PG style reports with PG grades at the end of the week as I will have seen most of these players play over a six day period, twice in the Dominican Republic in late January and four times here in Florida.

The 34 players from the Dominican Prospect League held an open workout for scouts today at the Toronto Blue Jays minor league complex in Dunedin, Florida. The workout was attended by about 45-50 scouts, not including myself, Ben Ford and Brad Clement from Perfect Game.The Dominican Prospect League prospects bussed down to Fort Myers Tuesday to play at the Red Sox brand new jetBlue Park (aka "Fenway South" on some signs around the complex).

The Red Sox, of course, are no longer using City of Palms Park and the 5-Plex that have become familiar to so many WWBA/BCS players and parents over the last decade. The moved into their new complex out by the airport this spring and not surprisingly it is nothing short of spectacular.

The stadium dimensions are a replica of Fenway Park, complete with "The Wall" in left field, the left field fence scoreboard, Pesky's Corner in right field, the right centerfield bullpen, etc. The only compromise is that The Wall actually is 310 feet from home plate as is indicated on the fence, whereas the Fenway Park version is somewhere between 280 and 290 feet in reality.
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Perfect Game will be using the minor league fields at the new complex beginning this May for WWBA and BCS events and we've been promised that we will have access to jetBlue Park for select championship games and such. That will be a spectacular experience for some fortunate players/teams, especially if a team from the Northeast happens to qualify for such a game.

The DPL prospects are broken down into two pretty equal teams, Red and Blue. They took a full round of batting practice in the Stadium, followed by a quick In/Out and then played an 8 inning game.

Any time any player regardless of age takes batting practice at Fenway Park or "Fenway South", The Wall is obviously going to be a focal point. My younger brother plays in a over 40 league in the Northeast and they got to play a game at Fenway a few years ago. The first thing he said, before I even asked, was "I hit a ball off The Wall in BP!"

So there was much hooting and hollering by the players and some fist bumps behind the cage when 3B Nathanael Javier hit the first towering shot over The Wall during BP. It was the first of many, with Wendell Rijo, Jose Pujols and Delvy Grullon also hitting notable or multiple bombs.

The Red Sox provided all but two of the pitchers for the game and they were an interesting mix of prospects and likely release candidates. It meant that some of the innings were cut short when pitchers reached a pitch limit but the DPL organizers really appreciated the Red Sox working with them so well in this aspect of the game.
The first pitcher out on the mound, ironically, was 2007 3rd round pick Brock Huntzinger. Huntzinger participated in numerous WWBA events in the mid 2000's with the Indiana Mustangs, including the 2006 WWBA World Championships in Jupiter. Huntzinger, who pitched in AA in 2011, showed almost the exact same stuff as he did as a teenager, topping out at 91 with his fastball with an upper 70's slider and 80 mph change up. Of course, he probably isn't quite up to speed yet with his arm strength this early in spring training.

One Red Sox prospect who definitely was up to speed was RHP Francellis Montas. A Dominican, Montas is listed as turning 19 years old next month and being 6-4/190. The eye ball test said that he was 6-3/230 and looked a bit older. The radar gun test said that all his pitches from the wind up were 97-98 mph. Word was that Montas has touched 101 mph before, which is very believable. SS Felix Suarez doubled off a 98 mph Montas fastball, although it was a opposite field bloop that landed on the right field line. But a double against 98 mph is something no matter where it lands and how softly it's hit!

Some game notes:

-- Along with hitting a monstrous BP home run over the wall way out near where it ends in centerfield, Pujols swung the bat well in games. He jumped on one change up out over the plate and crushed a line drive to centerfield that was caught but registered 97 mph off the bat.
-- Wendall Rijo was outstanding. He took the best BP out of any player and also had the defensive play of the game at shortstop, ranging far up the middle and making a quick release to get a runner at first base. He also provided a scare in the final inning when he twisted his knee trying to avoid a rundown tag between second and third base. It looked bad initially but he walked off under his own power under the watchful eye of the Red Sox trainer and word after the game was that he was fine.
-- 3B Alberto Sanchez swung the bat very well in the games and I will have to up my grade on him. He's a bigger, more physical player than most of the other DPL players and it showed in his game approach. He crushed one ball into the left field corner for a double and singled sharply to left his next time up.
-- Scouts were clearly there to look at Gustavo Cabrera in game action. One thing they got to see was his speed. Cabrera walked twice and was also inserted into the game once as a pinch runner for a player who'd been hit by a pitch. He stole 5 bases, most of the "no contest" variety, and was clearly going to take any opportunity he got.
-- Big left handed hitting 15 year old 1B Leury Vargas (6-3/210) showed a very mature approach at the plate, lining hard line drive singles over the shortstop's head his first two times at the plate. The first was off Brock Huntzinger, the second off former Houston Heat RHP Jacob Dahlstrand, who was 90-92 with his fastball.
-- C Yoel Gonzalez is one of the youngest players on the team and is overshadowed a bit by top prospect catcher Delvy Grullon but he showed very well today for a 15 year old both offensively and defensively. He handled Montas with little problem and had a string of quality at bats. One thing Gonzalez discovered, though, is that catching 90 mph sinkers, courtesy of former TCU right hander Tyler Lockwood, isn't very easy. Gonzalez has probably never caught that type of pitch before and Lockwood's sinker was really exploding downwards at times. Gonzalez snow coned so many balls that he had to go to the dugout for another mitt when the webbing got loose.
-- The DPL staff and I have debated the relative merits and prospect standing of shortstops Yancarlos Baez and Richard Urena both in the Dominican and again here in Florida. Urena had the big edge today with the bat, with three quality plate appearances: a well earned walk that featured multiple foul balls, a hard single off an 88 mph fastball and a hard ground out to first base where he pull his hands in on an inside fastball very well.

-- RHP Novas Winder was impressive on the mound for the Dominicans. The 6-1/165 Winder just turned 16 last week (i.e. he would be a 2014 player in the US) and was 85-88 with his fastball, with his best bolts coming from the stretch. He also showed some pitchability, mixing in a curveball, a slider and a pretty good change up.

The Dominican Prospect League players matched off against each other early this afternoon at the Yankees minor league complex.

The pitchers the Yankees choose to have throw against the young Dominicans were of a markedly more impressive talent level than those the Red Sox choose to throw yesterday (another victory for the Yankees in the endless battle against the Red Sox). Specifically, most could throw either a change up or curveball for a strike and didn't hesitate to do so once they figured out they were facing 15 and 16 year old hitters who weren't used to seeing that level of stuff.

So the game went along very briskly, with plenty of strike outs.

A couple of hitters really stood out, though. SS Richard Urena had two hits, including driving a double over the left fielder's head to score a run. Urena has had five or six quality at bats over the last two days and been really impressive as a hitter. He also made a nice far ranging play up the middle today to get an out at first base.
The DPL guys have been telling me that left handed hitting OF/1B Luis Barrera is one of the top hitters in this class since late January and I'm finally starting to buy into it. Barrera hits the ball hard a couple of times a game regardless of the quality of pitching and regardless of whether it is right or left handed pitching. He's not very toolsy but he has that left handed bat tool, which could take him far.

A couple of hitters showed mature two-strike approaches, which stood out. C Deivy Gullon drove in a runner from third base with a ground ball on an 0-2 pitch after being completely overmatched the first two pitches and shortened up his swing impressively. 3B Alberto Sanchez did the same thing and was rewarded with a run scoring double down the right field line.



A general rule, you will rarely see a Dominican pitcher with any real polish to his breaking ball or change up. This is, again, a function of lack of game experience and coaching. So when you are evaluating a Dominican pitcher you are looking at body and arm action and athleticism/projection and the rawest ability to spin the ball and maintain some semblance of a consistent release point and arm speed.

As the pitcher's will be throwing in games over the next 10 days, seven threw bullpens today, while tomorrow's pitchers didn't throw at all. It was very surprising to me that I was the only scout in the whole group who had a radar gun out. There's no harm in at least seeing what someone throws in a bullpen!

The big pitching prospect from the DPL group is in the unique and enviable position of being eligible to sign right now (all but two other of the group aren't eligible to sign until July 2, under the new draft rules). Kelyn Jose is a 6-4/190 left hander who touched 94 (96 on one gun) six weeks ago but was so raw with his off speed stuff that he was better off not trying to throw them in public. He's improved tremendously after having coaching for the first time in his life since. He sat 91-92 in his bullpen and while his curveball wasn't exciting, the progress he had made with it was. Velocity comes very easy for him and he can throw his fastball for strikes. If he was in the United States he'd be a high school junior southpaw topping out in the mid 90's. Easy to figure out where that type gets drafted.

Another LHP, 6-2/170 Beinvenido Morales, worked in the 87-89 mph range with a quick, compact arm action. Morales is 15 years old and won't turn 16 until late June.

RHP Bryan Munoz has a very solid and mature 6-0/187 body and is more polished and physically mature than the rest of the Dominican pitchers. He was 88-90 with his fastball and showed occasional tight downer bite on an upper 70's slider.nd write about those games and workouts as well.


The DPL players have another game tomorrow at the Phillies complex, then are taking the red eye out to Arizona tomorrow night. We'll pick up the coverage from there.

When the DPL prospects move on to Arizona later in the week, Perfect Game will have Jeff Dahn and Todd Gold on hand to scout a From what I saw in the Dominican Republic six weeks ago, the position players are well ahead of the pitchers in terms of development. That's only to be expected with 15 and 16 year olds, especially when the pitchers have significantly less access to game experience and coaching than they have in the United States.

RHP Bryan Munoz has a very solid and mature 6-0/187 body and is more polished and physically mature than the rest of the Dominican pitchers. He was 88-90 with his fastball and showed occasional tight downer bite on an upper 70's slider.nd write about those games and workouts as well.

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Another LHP, 6-2/170 Beinvenido Morales, worked in the 87-89 mph range with a quick, compact arm action. Morales is 15 years old and won't turn 16 until late June.

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A couple of hitters showed mature two-strike approaches, which stood out. C Deivy Gullon drove in a runner from third base with a ground ball on an 0-2 pitch after being completely overmatched the first two pitches and shortened up his swing impressively.

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The DPL guys have been telling me that left handed hitting OF/1B Luis Barrera is one of the top hitters in this class since late January and I'm finally starting to buy into it. Barrera hits the ball hard a couple of times a game regardless of the quality of pitching and regardless of whether it is right or left handed pitching. He's not very toolsy but he has that left handed bat tool, which could take him far.

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Richard Urena had the big edge today with the bat, with three quality plate appearances: a well earned walk that featured multiple foul balls, a hard single off an 88 mph fastball and a hard ground out to first base where he pull his hands in on an inside fastball very well.

(Urena = 16, Barerra = 16, Munoz = 16, Rijo = 16, Grullon = 17, Pujos = 16, Morales = 16)

........speaking of exciting connections in the sport, it can't be ignored that Alfredo Despaigne dispatched homer number 31 this weekend, just two shy of the Cuban record for a season. Despaigne will also become one of the five fastest players to reach 200 in less than eight seasons.
The current mark of 33 homers is held by Yoenis Cespedes and José Dariel Abreu during the 2011 season both breaking Despaigne's record from the 2010 season. Despaigne homered for the 11th time since the all-star break three weeks ago. With 74 of the 90 games been played, Despaigne has just 16 games left to break the record.

Baseball: Unsigned free agent Guerrero sees Japan as option

TOKYO -

Free agent slugger Vladimir Guerrero will consider
playing in Japan, if there are no offers from major league teams by
the end of spring training, CBS Sports reported Monday.

The U.S. sports channel quoted the 2004 American League MVP's
agent Fern Cuza in its online edition as saying, ''He still wants to
play,'' and it could be in Japan.

USA Baseball Announces Renewal of Collegiate Series with Team Cuba

by Peter C. Bjarkman

March 20, 2012
Tony Castro greets visiting USA Baseball officials during today’s historic meetings at Latin American Stadium.

In a surprise announcement released this afternoon in Havana, USA Baseball has reported the renewal of a long suspended “international friendship series” between the American national collegiate all-stars and a similar squad composed of top-level Cuban collegiate all-stars. The much-anticipated series will commence with a full five-game set in Havana’s Latin American Stadium in early July of this year (July 5-9, 2012) and later be continued with the visit of the Cuban National team to American soil sometime during the summer of 2013 (no dates yet announced). This event will mark an exciting renewal of a home and away series that was popular during the 1980s and early 1990s but has remained dormant over the past decade and a half. The countries last met for such encounters in 1996 when Team Cuba captured a five-game exhibition set (three games to two) staged in various North American minor league parks. The last “friendly” visit of an American national collegiate squad to Cuba came way back in 1993, when the Cubans took two of three matches played in Sancti Spíritus.

The renewed series was announced during today’s press conference at venerable Latin American Stadium, during a meeting that featured IBAF Vice President Antonio “Tony” Castro, Cuban Baseball Federation President Higinio Vélez, USA Baseball CEO Paul Seiler, and USA Baseball national team general manager Eric Campbell. A formal letter of agreement was signed at the meeting by both Vélez and Seiler (also a member of the current IBAF executive committee). Tony Castro was quoted by the official USA Baseball Press Release as saying “This is a dream come true. We have been thinking of this for a long time. It will be positive for the players and fans in Cuba, and we look forward to going to the United States next year.”
Higino Vélez and USA Baseball CEO Paul Seiler exchange formalities during the Havana press conference

Cuba and the USA stand as the world’s number one and number two baseball countries in the most recent IBAF international baseball rankings and the two have enjoyed a rich rivalry over the years, including a celebrated clash in the 2000 Sydney Olympics Gold Medal match, a pair of dramatic showdowns last fall during the Panama World Cup and Guadalajara Pan American Games, and memorable extra-inning tie-breaker clashes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Tokyo World University Championships. Perhaps the most dramatic USA-Cuba clash ever witnessed came in the latter Tokyo event and was punctuated by Alfredo Despaigne heart-stopping walk-off three-run homer capping a rare “Schiller Rule” extra-inning shootout.

One most intriguing aspect of today’s press release was the announcement that the American and Cuban “collegiate” all-star squads meeting in Havana in early July would then both travel on to The Netherlands for the Haarlem Honkbal Week festivities two weeks later (July 13-22). Cuba had earlier announced its comment to return to Haarlem this summer, where it has made regular appearances over the last several decades.

There has already been some speculation concerning what kind of a team Cuba might send to Haarlem this time around since no other major international events are on the docket for this coming summer. Earlier it was believed that a first-level and veteran Cuban national team might play in Haarlem (as in 2008, when the Cubans used that event as a tune-up for upcoming Beijing Olympics matches). But today’s news release seems to suggest that a Cuban “university national team” will take part – one including players under 26 years of age. Such a team would still likely be a powerhouse squad of National Series stars similar to the one winning the 2010 World University Games. The earlier Tokyo university squad featured Despaigne, Céspedes, Abreu and Miguel Alfredo González and other regular national team stalwarts. But a younger team of this type would obviously not involve older national team regulars such as Cepeda, Pestano, Yadier Pedroso, Héctor Olivera, Yulieski Gourriel, Alexei Bell (or now even Despaigne). The upcoming USA-Cuba collegiate series has thus already had its impact on the planning for this summer’s international baseball calendar.

Tony Castro greets visiting USA Baseball officials during today’s historic meetings at Latin American Stadium.

Latin American Stadium, also known as Cerro Stadium, could use an overhaul but has a lot of history behind her:
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Anyone who claims to be from Havana has visited, at least once in their life, the old baseball stadium in the majority-black marginal neighborhood of Carraguao, in Cerro.

One Sunday in 1946 it opened with a game between the Almendares and Cienfuegos clubs. At that time the stadium had a capacity of 30,000 fans.

Built at a cost of 2 million pesos, and headed up by the shareholder Bobby Maduro, the brand new headquarters for winter ball in Cuba started with four teams: Almendares, Havana, Marianao and Cienfuegos. Through the gates of the old place have passed the great stars of the national past-time.

From the immortal Martin Dihigo, the first Cuban to enter the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, to Orestes Minoso, Roberto Ortiz — who hit the first home run in the new stadium — Camilo Pascual, Luis Tiant, Pedro Fomental Agapito Mayor, Hector Rodriguez and the spectacular shortstop Willy Miranda, among many others.

Many players from the United States and the Caribbean, which were then stars in the Major Leagues, also played in the sacred precinct of Cuban baseball. The formidable American black pitcher Leroy “Satchel” Paige, and the man who was later a famous manager in the majors, Tommy Lasorda, drew applause in the stadium of the capital before 1959. Gringo sluggers Barry Bonds and Frank Thomas also stepped on this lawn when they were amateur players.

But not only baseball has been played in the big stadium. In the 1940s club matches were held for Spanish soccer league, such as Atletico Madrid and Celta Vigo, in the early 1960′s, the Brazilian Botafogo. Joe Louis, the “Detroit Bomber” and professional heavyweight champion of the world, fought there against the Cuban Omelio Agramonte.

The Mexicans Armillita Perez and Silverio staged a bullfight there. And an unprecedented event was when Sonja Heine, a famous Norwegian figure skater, performed her show on the ground turned into ice.

In 1957 the stadium hosted the Festival of 50 Years of Cuban Music, with the participation of Cuban artists living in other countries — Antonio Machin was one of them — and foreign guests such as the Puerto Rican Tito Puente and the Chilean Lucho Gatica.

In 1960, Fidel Castro changed its name to the Latin American Stadium. Then, in 1971, following the celebration in Havana of a world championship of amateur baseball, it expanded its capacity to 55 thousand spectators.

The terrain is natural grass, and it is 325 feet (99 meters) down the sides, 380 (106 meters) at the corners and 400 feet (121 meters) across at the center. It is the home of the Industriales, current national champions.

The best players from the island over the past 50 years have played on the grass at Cerro. Players who have hit home runs there include Luis Giraldo Casanova from Pinar del Rio and his compatriot Omar Linares, the most prominent baseball player since the revolution. Also making it theirs were the Santiagan Orestes Kindelan, who hit the longest national home run; Antonio Pacheco and on the mound Braudilio Vinent. Two superb players like as Pedro Antonio Muñoz and José Rodríguez, from the province formerly Las Villas, staged colossal duels with first class pitchers from the Industriales, the ninth Creole baseball logo.

More than 300 Cuban players who have defected played in the “Latino.” Some shone brightly: Kendry Morales, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez and Jose Contreras. Others shook their legs to leave the ring. The All-Star lefty Aroldis Pichert Chapman, who now earns millions with the Cincinnati Reds, batted freely on the capital grounds.

The stadium has also been used for political purposes. In 1956 it was the location of a student demonstration headed by José Antonio Echeverría, against the Government of Fulgencio Batista.

In 1999, it also hosted an exhibition series between the Cuban National Team and the Baltimore Orioles.

Granma’s Alfredo Despaigne Again Nears Cuban League Home Run Mark

by Peter C. Bjarkman

March 21, 2012
The past four seasons have produced a noteworthy explosion of home run bashing on the baseball-mad island of Cuba, and the current campaign has witnessed little falloff from the recent trend. In view of such a seemingly unparalleled string of new long-ball records (and also in light of the fact that while Alfredo Despaigne was outpaced by Abreu and Céspedes a year ago, the Granma slugger only actually played two-thirds of a full season), my colleague Ray Otero and I (even as early as last December) have been actively discussing possibilities that a healthy Alfredo Despaigne might accomplish the once-unthinkable feat of topping the 40-homer mark during National Series #51. Despaigne’s recent ten-day and seven-game long-ball drought has now posed some serious obstacles to such phenomenal production. Nonetheless, our bold prediction is still not entire outside the realm of possibility.

On Saturday afternoon in Bayamo, in the seventy-third game of National Series #51, Alfredo Despaigne crossed the 30-homer plateau for the third time in his still young career. Four other Cuban sluggers own 30-plus homer seasons in the National Series play: José Dariel Abreu twice (33 in 2011, 30 in 2010), Alexei Bell (the first, with 31 in 2008), Yulieski Gourriel (30 in 2010), and Yoennis Céspedes (33 in 2011) have also accomplished the prodigious feat. Despaigne’s most recent landmark blast came at slugger-friendly Mártires de Barbados Stadium in the form of a second-inning grand slam clout served up by Guantánamo Indios ace hurler and fellow national team regular Dalier Hinojosa. One day later number 31 was struck in the fifth frame off a delivery from another veteran national teamer, Ciro Silvino Licea.

With 22 games still remaining in this year’s newly elongated 96-game campaign, Despaigne still seems a virtual lock to pass last season’s high-water mark of 33 dingers shared by Abreu and Céspedes. His seven-game slump (filled with numerous walks by wary enemy pitchers) over the past ten-day road swing (to Santiago and Ciego de Avila) has now admittedly lowered previous expectations for reaching the coveted 40 figure. With perhaps 75-95 Abs remaining and with Despaigne currently averaging a circuit blast for every 8.68 Abs, a slim chance nonetheless does remain that the heralded number might fall during the last few games of the campaign. (While post-season homers oddly contribute to the lifetime Cuban League stats, they do not figure into single-season totals. Single-season records must he achieved outside of playoff action.) If we assume only 75 more at-bats and merely one circuit blast in every ten Abs then the final total would represent a slight shortfall – with perhaps 37 or 38 round trippers.

Given this reality that Despaigne has now already pushed his long-ball total above 30 with a full month of the campaign yet remaining, it would appear that he is slugging the light Mizuno ball at a rate previously unprecedented in league annals. Closer examinations of the historical home run records surprisingly do not bear this out, however. Last season, for example, Despaigne socked only 27, but it must be remembered that he suited up for a mere 67contests; he had spent the first month of the campaign visiting South Africa as part of a Cuban delegation to the World Youth Congress. Abreu, for his part, set the current record last winter in even fewer appearances still. Abreu played in only 66 contests as a result of nagging minor injuries and was limited to only 212 Abs – a result of both his frequent spells of the disabled list and numerous walks (58, nearly one per game) from timid pitchers when he did play. In brief, Despaigne is now slugging at a frequency only slightly ahead of last year’s rampage, and he is actually behind last winter’s record pace by set by Abreu. Abreu’s 1/6.42 home run ratio of 2010-11 is itself only the second best ever posted in National Series action, having been bested more than two decades back by Orestes Kindelán.

Despaigne’s own pace so far this season (if maintained across the next month) leaves him only twelfth-best on the all-time chart for single-season frequency. A ratio of better than one home run in every ten official hacks at the plate has actually been achieved on twenty different occasions in National Series play, and by eight different sluggers. The huge disclaimer here, however, is that only four (Abreu, Despaigne, Juan Carlos Pedroso and Antonio Muñoz) have achieved their stellar productions with wooden bats, a very significant difference to be sure. And it also has to be pointed out that only Abreu and Despaigne have maintained such a pace in seasons in which they have enjoyed well above 250 at-bats. Orestes Kindelán achieved his own unparalleled 6.36 ratio in the exceptionally brief 48-game National Series #27 (1987-88), doing so with a rather miniscule AB total of only 140. If Abreu also improves his current 2012 10.62 ratio (21 homers with 223 Abs on March 18) he could be the 21st player to enter what has now become a not-so-rare club for Cuban sluggers. All this is to suggest that current Cuban batsmen like Despaigne and Abreu are not actually breaking new ground but rather only continuing a long-standing Cuban League pattern. Despaigne may soon outstrip the current league record for one-year dingers by a hefty margin, but he won’t come close to equaling the frequency marks of either Abreu or half-a-dozen other Cuban stalwarts from the aluminum-bat epoch (1976-2000).

Parallel home run slugging frequency is not entirely unprecedented in major league seasons (for all the MLB claims to better pitching), but it is far less common. For sake of comparison here it might be noted that Barry Bonds checked in with a 1/6.52 ration when he hit his MLB-record 73 dingers in 2001, while Mark McGwire was not far behind at 7.27 in 1998 (70 homers). Earlier pre-steroid-era record holders Babe Ruth and Roger Maris also banged homers at a rate better than one in every ten Abs: Ruth at 9.00 (60 HRs in 1927) and Maris at 9.67 (61 HRs in 1961). None of the big leaguers have matched Kindelán or Abreu, but of course Abreu played a much shorter season (only 40% of a normal big league campaign) and Kindelán benefitted from those aluminum rocket launchers that probably added a bigger assist that any human growth hormones.

Such highly productive home run hitting of course rarely holds up over a full multi-season career and thus when it comes to longevity none of the top Cuban sluggers have yet matched the true reigning king – big leaguer Babe Ruth. Romelio Martínez is the unsurpassed overall career leader in Cuba, followed by another aluminum bat king, Kindelán. But Despaigne trails only a shade behind these past-era heroes with his own productivity now progressing by leaps and bounds in the middle segment of his celebrated career. And Despaigne remains the only Cuban Leaguer with a ratio under 1/14.00 to emerge from the wooden-bat era of the past decade. If Abreu has been slightly more productive in the past couple of winters (perhaps largely because he receives more free passes from intimidated hurlers), he trails not only Despaigne but also still-active Joan Carlos Pedroso when it comes to modern-era rivals. Abreu got off to a rather slow start as a still-developing teenager in his first several seasons – it took him until the early part of his fifth reason before he amassed his first 30 career dingers. Despaigne also started modestly (44 homers in his first three campaigns), although not as slowly as Abreu. Such slow starts result directly from the fact that promising young Cuban ballplayers enter the top league much earlier than major leaguers who usually undergo several mandatory season of minor league training. Despaigne entered National Series action at age 18; Abreu was only 16 when he made is first handful of rookie appearances; Omar Linares entered the league at the remarkable age of fifteen.

The unprecedented Cuban slugging explosion began with Alexei Bell back in 2008, a campaign when the Santiago “Toy Cannon” became the first to cross the 30 plateau in a single National Series winter season. Injuries have since short-circuited Bell, but others paced by Abreu and Despaigne have kept the new record onslaught alive during each subsequent season. A year after Bell, Despaigne went one better at 32. Then in 2010 three musclemen battled to the wire, Despaigne, Abreu and Yulieski Gourriel all reaching 30 on the final weekend of NS#49. Last year Abreu and Céspedes erased Despaigne’s mark by a pair, but did so perhaps only because Despaigne remained on the sidelines for the first full month. Of course it must also be noted that Abreu actually played even less last winter than Despaigne (due to injury) and thus also logged twenty fewer plate appearances (due not only to the periodic stints on the sidelines but also to a substantial number of free passes). Abreu didn’t establish a new league standard for total bases on balls, but none have ever walked more in the Cuban League with fewer trips to the plate.

There has been considerable speculation about the reasons for this renewed home run explosion in Cuban stadiums. Of course, as already noted, it is not at all the sharp departure that some might assume simply because of the plus-30 totals now being posted. Slightly longer seasons (than those of a couple decades back) and a fresh crop of especially talented athletes might be enough to explain the slight elevation in total numbers. Certainly there has been no hint here of performance-enhancing chemicals. This doesn’t happen anywhere in the communist nation (in any sport, including track and field) since Cuba is noted for its strict drug aversions on all levels of society. The baseball itself might be largely to blame, especially in light of the fact that the lively Mizuno 150 sphere in use over the past several years was so controversial it was finally replaced for the current campaign with a less rabbit-like Mizuno 200 version. And there is the even more plausible factor of the league’s severe imbalance in pitching. While a dozen or more top pitching prospects still grace the talented national team roster, players and fans alike bemoan the recent overall dip in Cuban League pitching talent. I have mentioned in earlier articles my discussions in 2011 with Frederich Cepeda, where the national team captain complained about a negative impact on Cuban batters in top national tournaments resulting from their facing so many inept league hurlers at home – unseasoned and less talented prospects whose fastballs top out at 85 mph and whose control problems (an inability to cut outside corners when they want to) leave better island hitters salivating.

Last season Céspedes was the first to reach the new standard of thirty-three, beating Abreu to the mark by a single day. However, league officials would ultimately recognize Abreu as the official record book title holder, due to a long-standing Federation policy of breaking ties in offensive categories on the basis of fewest official at-bats. “Piti” (Pea-Tea) Abreu also matched a league standard for home run productivity with better than one round tripper in every seven official batting chances, a feat earlier accomplished twice by Orestes Kindelán alone (but with aluminum weapons). Despaigne himself was not nearly as productive as Abreu but did produce at a better HR/AB ratio than his teammate Céspedes (9.67 to 10.72). Yoennis Céspedes, for his own part, enjoyed several distinct advantages over both Abreu and Despaigne when it came to long-ball slugging. Since he batted ahead of both Despaigne and also the muscular Yordanis Samon (21 HR, 76 RBI, .657 SLG) in the potent Granma lineup, Céspedes saw plenty of hittable pitches. Only five of his 49 free passes were intentional while Abreu was handicapped with a whopping 21 intentional free passes.


With the current season Despaigne has roared back in a gallant effort to reclaim his previous spot in the record books and also to leave little doubt about who is the league’s true home run “king of the hill.” Buy arriving at 31 dingers with 22 games still remaining Despaigne has now reached the coveted plateau faster than anyone (outside Kindelán) by a wide margin. (That is, if the measure is games remaining and not the number of game appearances; Abreu last year already had 33 by the time he reached Game 67 in his own campaign, but his thirtieth round tripper actually came in his team’s 85th contest, only five games before the end of the season. Céspedes also slugged number 30 in Granma’s game number 85.) For his part Abreu is not lagging that far behind this winter either; if he trails by 10 homers, the HR/AB ratio compared with Despaigne’s is not that different (Despaigne 8.68 to Abreu’s 10.62). Given more hittable pitches down the stretch and Abreu might still make a horse race out of the current home run title chase.

Numerous observations can be made about this season’s Despaigne home run onslaught. To follow such observations one can peruse the complete Despaigne home run log at the end of this article. The Granma “stallion” has so far produced his titanic blasts against every league team minus three – Oriente League rivals Las Tunas (with one three-game set remaining), Ciego de Avila and Santiago de Cuba (season series now complete with the latter two). He has been just as productive on the road (15) as in his admittedly tiny home park (16 home field homers, but only 15 in the bandbox Bayamo stadium). He has certainly not feasted off southpaws (only five), but then he doesn’t see many lefties in a league where “zurdos” are in admittedly short supply. His most productive months were January (10) and February (11) but he has had few dry spells all winter long (outside of one in late December and the one recently experienced in mid-March). The longest stretch between homers was the 13-game dry spell over the second half of December and the first week of January. His most productive inning has been the first (with 8 total round-trippers) and his longest consecutive-game homer streak has been five.

Regarding this season’s consecutive-game streak that stretched from Game 38 through Game 42, the first and second matches of that string were actually separated by six days as a result of two open dates plus a three-day stretch in which Granma was the unscheduled league team (this year’s unbalanced schedule requires one team to be idle for each series). Despaigne himself earlier homered in six straight matches during NS#48 (in six games between February 7 and March 31 of 2009 he belted 8 homers, at least one in each game). This was indeed a weird streak itself, since the first two games were separated from the last four by a six-week league hiatus due to the suspension of play for the second MLB “Clasico” tournament. The existing MLB record for homers in consecutive games remains 8 contests (and is shared by Dale Long in 1956, Don Mattingly in 1987, and Ken Griffey Jr. in 1993). MLB professional scouts working international tournaments have frequently told this writer that they prefer Despaigne by a narrow margin over Abreu and by a much wider margin over the now-departed Yoennis Céspedes. All three are seen as true professional league prospects and Céspedes upon his exit from the island quickly became subject of still another insane top-dollar bidding war before finally being inked by the Oakland A’s. But it is Despaigne who seems to have all the important intangibles and also most of the definable tangibles in the eyes of most experienced international baseball birddogs. As one top international scouting director (here unnamed) has told me on several occasions, Despaigne owns the more compact swing and the more explosive raw power. His swing is in fact near “picture perfect” and it advances more directly to the ball. And in the big-pressure tournament games he has always seemed to rise to the occasion when the big clutch hit is demanded (as demonstrated in the 2009 European World Cup and the dramatic confrontations with Team USA at the 2010 Tokyo World University Championships and again last October in Panama). But such professional opinions aside, when it comes down to comparison between Cuba’s” big three” home run producers of the past several years, it is Despaigne himself (with his renewed current on-the-field production) who seems to be making the loudest statement.

Venues, pools set for 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers

Press Release (MLB)

March 22, 2012

World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI) today announced the venues and pools of the new Qualifiers for the 2013 World Baseball Classic. The winners of each Qualifying Pool will advance to compete in the 2013 World Baseball Classic tournament next March. The four venues that have been selected to host a Qualifying Pool are:

•Armin-Wolf-Baseball-Arena in Regensburg, Germany;

•Rod Carew Stadium in Panama City, Panama;

•XinZuang Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan; and

•Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida

Initial opening round match-ups (including home and visitor designations) as well as ticket information will be announced at a later date by the host venues. The pools for each Qualifier are:

QUALIFIER 1

( Sept. 20th-24th in Regensburg, Germany)

CANADA

CZECH REPUBLIC

GERMANY

GREAT BRITAIN

QUALIFIER 2

( Nov. Dates TBD in Jupiter, Florida, USA)

FRANCE

ISRAEL

SOUTH AFRICA

SPAIN

QUALIFIER 3

( Nov. Dates TBD in Taipei, Taiwan)

CHINESE TAIPEI

NEW ZEALAND

PHILIPPINES

THAILAND

QUALIFIER 4

( Nov. 14th-18th in Panama City, Panama)

BRAZIL

COLOMBIA

NICARAGUA

PANAMA

“We are excited to expand the scope of the World Baseball Classic and maintain our commitment to global baseball development, starting with four excellent venues hosting the new Qualifiers this fall,” said Paul Archey, Senior Vice President, International Business Operations for Major League Baseball. “We are very pleased with the level of interest from venues and organizers around the world who share our enthusiasm for the World Baseball Classic and its mission of celebrating the global nature of our game.”

“We are pleased to have 12 new countries participating in the World Baseball Classic,” said Major League Baseball Players Association Assistant General Counsel Ian Penny. “Sports fans around the world will witness one of the greatest events on the international sports calendar when the 2013 World Baseball Classic launches its new Qualifiers with games in Regensburg, Germany. We’re confident the Qualifiers will further expand the international popularity of the game we all love. We thank all participating nations for their commitment to the World Baseball Classic and the Qualifier host locations and organizers for their passion and interest in the game of baseball.”

The Qualifiers will feature a six-game modified double-elimination format. The composition of the pools was determined after venues were selected, with consideration given to competitive balance, existing rivalries and each national team’s geographical location.

“The implementation of this qualification system into the World Baseball Classic framework is a true sign of the strong collaboration between the IBAF and our colleagues at Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association,” said Riccardo Fraccari, President of the International Baseball Federation. “We are very encouraged about the inclusion of emerging baseball territories and the continual growth of the international baseball landscape that this represents.”

The Qualifiers will expand the competitive field from 16 to 28 countries. The teams invited to participate in the Qualifying Pools will include the four World Baseball Classic teams from 2009 that did not win a game – Canada, Chinese Taipei, Panama and South Africa.

The winners from each Qualifying Pool will advance to the World Baseball Classic tournament, scheduled for March 2013. Those four teams will join the 12 countries – Australia, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, United States and Venezuela – that receive automatic invitations based on their performance in the 2009 tournament.

The 2013 World Baseball Classic will mark the third edition of the tournament. The inaugural event was held in 2006, and the second World Baseball Classic was held in 2009.

Seattle, A's land in Japan ahead of MLB opener


NARITA, Japan, March 23 (20:06) Kyodo

The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics arrived in Japan on
Friday ahead of the opening two-game series of the 2012 major league
season.

Sporting a black trilby and wearing pink glasses, 10-time
All-Star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma and
shortstop Munenori Kawasaki were greeted by around 150 fans as they
arrived with the Seattle team at Narita airport.

Suzuki hit his second home run of the spring against the Chicago
White Sox on Wednesday in the Mariners' last game before heading to
Tokyo.

Kawasaki took a big step toward making the Mariners major league
roster when he was named to the 30-man traveling squad. Kawasaki, the
Softbank Hawks' star shortstop in Japan until last year, signed to a
minor league contract but is making a strong push to join the major
league roster, hitting .387 with 10 RBIs in 12 spring training games.

The Mariners and A's have a workout in the Tokyo Dome on Saturday, then will each play exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants on Sunday and Monday, followed by the two regular-season contests on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Opening Day game will be at 3:04 a.m. PT, with Seattle's Felix Hernandez facing Oakland right-hander Brandon McCarthy. Then it'll be Mariners lefty Jason Vargas against A's right-hander Bartolo Colon on Thursday at 2:04 a.m. PT.

MLB announces new league for D.R. prospects

By Jesse Sanchez / MLB.com | 03/22/12 8:44 PM ET

As part of its effort to develop the game in Latin America, Major League Baseball announced the launching of a new league on Thursday designed to provide a neutral ground for big league organizations to evaluate the top unsigned amateur players in the Dominican Republic.

"Major League Baseball is excited to begin its new prospect league in the Dominican Republic," Kim Ng, senior vice president of baseball operations for Major League Baseball, said. "We believe that this new league will provide amateur players with an opportunity to showcase their talent, and we hope that by including educational and community-outreach components in their participation, we will also prepare these players for opportunities that go beyond the playing field."

In addition to featuring players that will become eligible to sign professional contracts at the age of 16 when the international signing period begins on July 2, the new league will include older players who are already eligible to sign.
The league aims to provide a neutral ground for top unsigned amateur players in the Dominican Republic to be evaluated.(MLB.com)

"We are looking to the future and beyond just the July 2 players," said Rafael Perez, director of Dominican Republic operations for Major League Baseball. "The reality is that the July 2 players represent only 25 percent of the players that sign, and close to 65 percent that sign are 17 or 18 [years old]. We look to provide and get more exposure for them, too. In the end, it translates to more opportunities for everyone."

The league, which began Thursday with games for eligible players at the Tampa Bay complex, will play games at various Major League Baseball club academies every week, alternating weekly between current eligible players and unsigned players.

Games for players eligible to sign on July 2 are scheduled for March 29 at Toronto's academy and April 19 at Washington's academy. The second round of games for players already eligible to sign are scheduled for April 12 at the Cincinnati complex.

The teams are primarily made up of players from the Dominican Republic, but other players from Latin America can also participate in the league.

Additionally, the newly formed league includes an educational component for its players, as well as an outreach program that will feature instructional clinics for the younger players in the country.

"Historically, and for a bunch of different reasons, everyone has focused on the 16-year-old player, and other groups were passed over, but we want to have an impact across the board with older and young players," said Joel Araujo, manager of Latin American game development for Major League Baseball. "There is a young group that we reach that may never sign, but it's still a group we can touch and have positive impact on their lives. The young people will hear what it takes to be a professional and not just a professional ball player."

It is clear that tryouts are no longer the only way for scouts to evaluate talent in Latin America. Other leagues, such as the Dominican Prospect League (DPL) and International Prospect League (IPL), have previously organized showcases and provided opportunities for Major League organizations to watch prospects play in games.

"What the DPL started doing marked the beginning of what is happening now," Perez said. "We've created a full schedule, and we want prospects in more systematic programs. We believe this is part of what we were missing. We'll have players anywhere from 16 to 19 [years old], and they'll be in a sound system where they develop with Major League instruction."

Major League Baseball's efforts on the island gained traction last summer with the creation of a tournament, known as El Torneo Supremo (The Supreme Tournament), for prospects on the island.

In February, MLB held the two-day Venezuela-Dominican Republic Showcase at the Mets academy in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic. Twenty-five prospects from each country displayed their skills in front of more than 200 big league scouts in a series of drills that included the 60-yard dash, infield, outfield and batting practice. The teams played a six-inning game on the first day of the event and a doubleheader on the second day.

Major League Baseball previously held similar showcases in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic last year, but February's showcase was the first to combine players from the two countries on the same field.

"The goal is for the leagues, agents, buscons and MLB to work together," Perez said. "Everyone benefits. We will have a very prominent league and it will be the league to play in. I am not taking anything away from other leagues, but we have the know-how and the resources. We work for the clubs and the players will benefit."

I can't find a link to this new league, but the DPL can't be too happy about it. To me, it sounds like a conflict between the "MLB" Prospect League and the Dominican Prospect League. I'll try to keep a heads up for those who are interested.

Bryan Munoz agrees with the Dodgers

DPL/March 23, 2012

RHP Bryan Munoz

has a very solid and mature 6-0/187 body and is more polished and physically mature than the rest of the Dominican pitchers. He was 88-90 with his fastball and showed occasional tight downer bite on an upper 70's slider.

It is difficult to convey Munoz's true talent, which will likely allow a club to get him at a better value than they ought to be able to. He's a physically mature 6-foot right hander, who again topped out at 90 mph. But he not only knows how to pitch, he executes extremely well for a 16 year old. His fastball shows hard tailing action with plus sink and he locates it to either side of the plate. He mixes his pitches well and has a power breaking ball in the upper 70s that occasionally sneaks north of 80 mph. His changeup is not as polished as his fastball-breaking ball combo but is advanced for his age. He may lack the high ceiling of some of the other pitchers in the group, but if you were to pick one pitcher from the group the Dominican Prospect League sent to Arizona as the safest bet to someday reach the Major Leagues, Munoz is the obvious choice.

Bryan Munoz is currently in the desert playing with the Red Team from the Dominican. The Red and Blue teams are among the top 16 year old prospects traveling throughout the Grapefruit and the Cactus Leagues showing off their skills before the major league teams and their scouts. Munoz is the 8th member of the Dominican Prospect League to be signed by a major league team so far this year. The Indians were not one of them.

A's arrive in Japan for Opening Series

Will play two exhibitions before facing Mariners Wednesday

By Jane Lee / MLB.com | 03/23/12 6:43 PM ET

TOKYO, Japan --

Fresh off a 12-hour flight from Phoenix, a large contingent of blurry-eyed A's players and front-office personnel were awakened by a crowd of hundreds of photographers and fans awaiting their arrival at Narita International Airport around 5 p.m., local time, on Friday evening.

That was 1 a.m. PST, following the 16-hour time change, and traffic to The New Otani -- the A's home for the next week -- stalled their arrival at the hotel until after 3 a.m. PST. More fans greeted them there, before they were led away for a meal and advised to get to bed around 11 p.m. or midnight local time -- just as they would in the States, to help their internal clock adjust.

First up on the schedule is a workout planned for Saturday, which will be followed by a pair of exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants Sunday and Monday.

The Mariners arrived at The New Otani two hours later than the A's, who are enjoying their second trip to Japan in the past five years. However, Kurt Suzuki and Coco Crisp, who played for the opposing Red Sox in 2008, are the only players on the current trip who took part in the last one, making for quite the new experience for the rest of their teammates.

A total of 30 A's players are on the trip, with several of their wives and girlfriends also on board.

Well, it looks like the DPL homepage has a different look since today's announcement concerning the MLB Prospect League. The DPL dumped all their scouting reports on the players posted above as well as all others. Hard to tell whether its a coincidence or not. This is only the second season for the DPL. I hope its not their last. The DPL was attempting to do things the right way. I wonder how Manny Acta is taking this news!?!?!? He's on the board of Directors for the DPL.