Winter Ball Thread

[battlekow]

Burgos Named Puerto Rican Winter League Rookie of the Year
Mark Johnson/Bethune-Cookman University

With the B-CU 2010 opening day less than a month away, former Wildcat star pitcher Hiram Burgos was making big news being named the Puerto Rican Winter League Rookie of the Year this week.

Burgos, a sixth round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the June 2009 MLB Draft, was excited about his recent honor and will report to the Milwaukee Brewers training camp in Arizona March 9.

"Before the (Puerto Rican) Winter Season, I set my mind and challenged myself to have a great season," said Burgos. "I am pitching with a lot of confidence and the command of my pitches is good and I am working hard and executing my pitches."

Burgos is pitching for the Mayaguez team who is competing in the Puerto Rican League playoffs - but Hiram has been "shut down" by the MLB Brewers franchise to have Burgos' pitching arm rested and at full strength for the start of spring training. "I'm getting more experience and pitching at any level you always need to pitch with a plan and execute. This is a great honor (Rookie of the Year) as the Mayaguez team does not use a lot of rookies on their team," said Burgos.

Following the 2009 NCAA season and after the June MLB Draft, Hiram pitched last Summer in the MLB Rookie League for the Brewers team in Helena, Montana. Burgos expects to pitch in one of the Brewers Class A leagues in 2010.

[Mass Haas]

We had mentioned previously that the folks over at BrewCrewBall were doing a fine job of posting daily updates on the winter leagues, which in this particular case spared us from duplicating their efforts (thanks http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif), but here's an injury update on 40-man roster SS Luis Cruz, which may or may not prove serious.

The Brewers are really counting on Cruz to be the every-day, every-inning, defensive whiz at AAA Nashville this season, and while some may question his 40-man roster spot worthiness, the organization really has no one else capable of coming close to filling that spot at this time. Cruz turns 26 on Wednesday the 10th, and given what his defensive stability could give the AAA staff, it's at least something to keep an eye on.

 

 

[Mass Haas]

Timber Rattler lefty Efrain Nieves, pitching for Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Series, helped keep his country's hopes alive with 2.2 scoreless innings, picking up the win Saturday night.

The game story must have been chopped up by MLB, because this blurb appears without prior reference to Efrain:

"The truth is that I didn't prepare myself for such a long season," Nieves, 19 (actually now 20, last November), said. "And as result, I didn't up the numbers that I should have. This year is totally different. I've been working hard every day, running on the beach and working out all winter time. I'm going to be ready this time."

Box Score

SS Luis Cruz did not play for Mexico Saturday after leaving Friday's game.

Things wrap up as follows:

With the victory, Puerto Rico improves to 3-2 with one regulation game remaining. If Puerto Rico defeats Mexico (2-3) in Sunday's matinee and the tournament-leading Dominican Republic (4-1) falls to Venezuela (1-4) in the final regulation game of the tournament, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will face each other in a tiebreaker for the title Monday.

If Mexico defeats Puerto Rico, the tournament is over and the Dominican Republic's Escogido squad will win its first title since 1990. A Dominican team has won the Caribbean Series title 17 times since 1970, while a Puerto Rican team has not won the championship since Santurce in 2000.

[Mass Haas]

SS Luis Cruz is fine, 2-for-4 in the Caribbean series finale for Mexico. The Dominican Republic took the championship by defeating host Venezuela Sunday night, thus avoiding a tiebreaker game with Mexico.

[battlekow]

Sounds like Lorenzo Cain might play winter ball in Venezuela this year.