Your 2010 Dominican Summer League Brewers -- Latest: Osmel Perez getting noticed

[Mass Haas]

We now know a bit more about some of the kids that will be making up the Brewers' Dominican League entry when the season opens in late May / early June 2010. The Brewers shared a squad with the Orioles in 2009, they'll have their own team this coming season. Longtime Brewer minor leaguer Nestor Corredor debuts as a manager.

 

First, here's a reminder about those who took part last season, some of whom will probably return to the DSL.

 

The seven pitchers, the two lefty's are asterisk'd -- click on their name to view their vitals. Eliezer Montano (Venezuela), who will pitch as an 18-year-old this season, is notable as a 6'7" southpaw, all of 170 pounds.

 

The other lefty, Jose Ramos (D.R.), is also a skyscraper at 6'5", but is a beefy 228. INJURY UPDATE -- Unfortunately, Ramos (2009 stats as a reliever) will miss all of 2010 with arm surgery (we're not aware of the specifics, although obviously serious).

 

The six position players -- disregard Luis Chirinos, he was recently released. 6'6" 1B Hitaniel Arias (D.R.) was a $450,000 bonus baby when he signed in the summer of 2007. C / DH Jhonathan Javier (D.R.) was a statistical stud in 2009 (.971 OPS), as you'll recollect from our Link Reports. He played his first pro season at age 21 last year, so you'd expect him to be stateside this summer. OF Ronny Puello (D.R.) was off to a fine start before he was sidelined with an undisclosed injury.

 

***

 

Here are the signings who have yet to have a professional appearance:

 

18-year-old RHP Joel Dicent, 6'4", 195 lb. (D.R.)

Scouting director Bruce Seid was excited about a newly signed pitcher out of the Dominican Republic, 18-year-old right-hander Joel Dicent. "He's 6-4, 195 and throws 90-95 (mph)," said Seid. "He'll go to our academy in the Dominican. We've brought a lot of big, hard throwers into the system this year."

 

18-year-old RHP Jean Capellan, 6'2", 185 lb. (D.R.)

"He has an aggressive mound presence," Seid said. "I liked what I saw from him. He wasn't considered a top-tier prospect, but to our organization he's got potential to do something from a pitching standpoint." Capellan reaches 92 mph with his fastball and features a hard breaking ball.

 

21-year-old LHP Manuel Ruiz, 6'5", 175 lb. (D.R.)

 

19-year-old RHP Jairo Mejia, 6'5", 180 lb. (D.R.)

 

18-year-old IF Juan De Leon, 6'4", 210 lb. (D.R.), Bats and Throws right -- at that size, you'd think a "corner" infielder

 

19-year-old IF Yonki Hernandez, 5'10", 160 lb. (D.R.), B/T right -- at that size, you'd think a "middle" infielder; Miller Park needs a "Yonki" someday

 

17-year-old RF Jose Pena, 6'3", 185 lb. (D.R.), B/T right

Signed for $400,000, here's the thread link from last July with discussion history. By the way, Pena's confirmed birthday is March 3, 1993, so he just turned 17 years old.

 

Soon-to-be 18-year-old OF Erickson Salaya, 6'2, 175 lb. (Venezuela), B/T right

 

http://profile.pics.ak.sonicocnt.com/photos/7/AE/DE/35177092/bg_profile.jpg?1223458852

 

19-year-old OF Dionis Hinojosa, 6'1", 180 lb. (D.R.), B/T right

 

http://profile.pics.ak.sonicocnt.com/photos/2/CT/DL/16544467/bg_profile.jpg?1206381357

 

Pictures are from Facebook.

[Mass Haas]

The roster limit for DSL teams is 35 players, though it's likely the Brewers' squad will be in the 25-30 range.

Certainly as of this time, it wouldn't appear the Brewers have a full squad ready to go, but they will, and as planned, it won't be a shared squad, in 2010 and beyond.

Several candidates are currently finalizing the vetting process for age / identity verification, and we have another active thread on this forum where we just posted a specific update on that process.

Don't be surprised if some of the Latin players who toiled on the Maryvale squad in 2009 are members of the 2010 DSL squad.

***

Finally, another injury update for you among these kids -- soon-to-be 20-year-old RHP Luis Guerrero will also miss the 2010 season with an arm injury. Guerrero has actually pitched for the Maryvale Brewers in each of the past three summers (stats), and had us most excited as a 17-year-old in 2007, despite a high walk total. One wonders how difficult things have been for him off the field, and how different it may have been for him had the Dominican Academy been in place previously.

[juancastillo3]

The DSL season starts up today with the Brewers taking on the Mariners at 9:30 CST. Here is the Brewers roster from domincansummerleague.com I'm assuming, as in the past, there won't be much coverage and the box scores probably won't update until the games are over but at least it's another team for us to follow.

[HiAndTight]

Could anyone here offer any insight on what to watch for out of the Brewers Dominican Summer League team?

 

What legitimate "prospects" do we have down there...who projects to perhaps move up and see Helena this year, or even be assigned to one of the full season teams next year? Obviously it's very early to start thinking about that, but I'm sure there are some who have a pretty good idea.

 

Hitaniel Arias is a guy I've followed the last couple years, and obviously it's so difficult to project these kids when they're 18, 19 years old, but I know he's one we've put a lot of money into.

 

Jose Garcia is a guy we signed just this past year I believe....

 

Are there any high ceiling arms on these teams that could make their mark on the lower minors in the near future?

[battlekow]

Could anyone here offer any insight on what to watch for out of the Brewers Dominican Summer League team?

As Jim quoted above, Bruce Seid seemed particularly enthused about RHPs Joel Dicent and Jean Capellan.

 

Jose Pena was the Brewers' highest-profile signing in awhile; though he "only" received a $400K bonus, he was expected to get much more than that in the weeks leading up to the signing period and seems to be at least a notch or two higher than the usual talent level of Brewers international signees.

 

Shortstop Andres Martinez received the highest bonus two years ago, at $225K. He's got some promise, though his numbers last year were terrible.

 

Hitaniel Arias and Jose R. Garcia, both outfielders, were the two big signings three years ago, at $450K and $550K, respectively. They've both seen action stateside the last two years and haven't really done much, and to still be stuck in the DSL doesn't bode particularly well for their futures.

 

Finally, OF Ronny Puello, though he was 19--too old to really be considered a prospect in the DSL--put up a 921 OPS last year.

[HiAndTight]

Could anyone here offer any insight on what to watch for out of the Brewers Dominican Summer League team?

As Jim quoted above, Bruce Seid seemed particularly enthused about RHPs Joel Dicent and Jean Capellan.

 

Jose Pena was the Brewers' highest-profile signing in awhile; though he "only" received a $400K bonus, he was expected to get much more than that in the weeks leading up to the signing period and seems to be at least a notch or two higher than the usual talent level of Brewers international signees.

 

Shortstop Andres Martinez received the highest bonus two years ago, at $225K. He's got some promise, though his numbers last year were terrible.

 

Hitaniel Arias and Jose R. Garcia, both outfielders, were the two big signings three years ago, at $450K and $550K, respectively. They've both seen action stateside the last two years and haven't really done much, and to still be stuck in the DSL doesn't bode particularly well for their futures.

 

Finally, OF Ronny Puello, though he was 19--too old to really be considered a prospect in the DSL--put up a 921 OPS last year.

I was excited about Pena this year and as I said have tried to follow some of the high profile signings such as Arias and Garcia(I flipped Garcia and Pean in my post), but all I really know about them is they were our higher profile signings, and their sizes, not much in the way of scouting reports.

 

I was also disappointed to see the issues with Santo Aybar this past year.

 

Martinez had a nice debut today, so hopefully he can start off on the right track this year, though again, I know nothing about him beyond his signing bonus.

 

 

Anyway, this is the first year in about 10 I haven't purchased the BA Prospect handbook. Any of the DSL guys in our top 30 there? Pena make the list like Pascual did a few years ago?

 

 

Also, is there ANY hope for Rolondo at this point? What happened to him? Did his velocity dip, did he just never develop....I know he couldn't find the strike zone at all, but it looked as though he was at least getting some swings and misses.

 

Is he back on the DSL summer league, did we keep him in extended ST'ing, or is he out of baseball now?

[trwi7]

HiAndTight wrote:

Anyway, this is the first year in about 10 I haven't purchased the BA Prospect handbook. Any of the DSL guys in our top 30 there? Pena make the list like Pascual did a few years ago?

Nope.

[battlekow]

Also, is there ANY hope for Rolondo at this point? What happened to him? Did his velocity dip, did he just never develop....I know he couldn't find the strike zone at all, but it looked as though he was at least getting some swings and misses.

 

Is he back on the DSL summer league, did we keep him in extended ST'ing, or is he out of baseball now?

He's on the DSL team. Still only 21, which is kind of amazing.

[HiAndTight]

HiAndTight wrote:

Anyway, this is the first year in about 10 I haven't purchased the BA Prospect handbook. Any of the DSL guys in our top 30 there? Pena make the list like Pascual did a few years ago?

Nope.

Ok, I'm not sure if I should thank you for giving me what I asked for, or be angry you made me dumber because I inevitably had to read some of the comments from the posters complaining about Rogers W/L records in his inclusion in the top 30, or those whining about how ugly it looks when I would bet they know very little of most of those guys.

 

Anyway, I actually just ordered it. Not sure why I didn't earlier...that's a must have. I usually order it a couple months early.

 

I have some pretty vehement disagreements with that list, starting with Brooks Hall whom I love, and a slew of others, but I'm kinda behind the proverbial 8 ball on that discussion.

 

Seems to me with Pena being such a highly regarded Dominican player he could have cracked that list ahead of a guy like Walla who had a pretty awful debut.

[battlekow]

Final: AL All-Stars 4, NL All-Stars 3

NL All-Stars box score

Looks like Rigoberto Almonte and Jose Cepeda were the only Brewers on the DSL NL All-Star team, or at least the only ones to get in the game. Almonte allowed a run on two hits in 2/3 of an inning, while Cepeda could only get one out in the 9th, allowing two runs on a hit and a walk. Unfortunately, that means Brewers relievers combined to allow three of the four runs the AL would score, directly contributing to the NL's loss in the Juego de Estrellas.

 

NL All-Stars play-by-play

The NL entered the 9th with a 3-1 lead:

 

AL All-Stars Bottom 9th

• Pitcher Change: Jose Cepeda
  replaces Adner Ruiz.
• Charlie Valerio pops out to first baseman
  Aris Alcantara.
• Erik Gonzalez walks.
• Francisco
  Contreras singles on a line drive to left fielder Leonardo Fuentes.
  Erik Gonzalez to 2nd.
• Pitcher Change: Raul Pena replaces Jose
  Cepeda.
• With Kelvin Ortiz batting, wild pitch by Raul Pena,
  Erik Gonzalez to 3rd. Francisco Contreras to 2nd.
• Kelvin
  Ortiz doubles (1) on a fly ball to center fielder Jorge Castillo.
  Erik Gonzalez scores. Francisco Contreras scores.
• Alexander
  Zorrilla doubles (1) on a fly ball to right fielder Yoan Alcantara.
  Kelvin Ortiz scores.

[battlekow]

ESPN's Jorge Arangure reports that three DSL Brewers were suspended for positive drug tests: IF Allixon Cequea, OF Erickson Salaya, and RHP Leonard Lorenzo.

[Mass Haas]

Here are further details:

Three Milwaukee Brewers Dominican Summer Leaguers received 50-game suspensions: third baseman Allixon Cequea and outfielder Erickson Salaya both tested positive for Nandrolone, while pitcher Leonard Lorenzo tested positive for Boldenone. Nandrolone is an anabolic steroid previously linked to Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. Boldenone is a steroid typically used to treat horses but has been widely used by bodybuilders. It was also linked to Alex Rodriguez in 2009.

[Mass Haas]

Saturday's game on the 21st concludes the season schedule for the DSL Brewers, as Link Report followers will know.

 

Could we see players brought to Maryvale for the final two weeks of their regular season? Possible, but unlikely...

 

In order to put the Brewer individual statistics in perspective, it may be easier to link to league-wide offnsive and pitching stats, which you'll find below. Note that you can click on specific categories to sort among the 34 (34!) league teams.

 

League Batting Stats

 

Not adjusting for ballpark variances, the Brewer bats were actually 11th in league OPS at .663, not bad. Not surprisingly, the high-spending Yankees ranked 1st and 2nd with their two clubs. The Brewers did strike out more than any other club, but you'll find them in the upper-middle of the league in most of the key categories.

 

League Pitching Stats

With the pitching, The Brewers also led the league in another "bad" category, and that was walks allowed, and by a fairly wide margin. The D-Crew pitchers were 29th in WHIP, 27th in ERA. But they also fanned the 8th most batters, so there's "stuff" to build on.

 

Individual DSL Brewer Stats

 

Other than the courtesy of having 23-year-old reliever Rigoberto Almonte pitching in his homeland this season (now with the Rattlers), the team was indeed very young -- of those that saw action, only two players, one of them RHP Rolando Pascual, 21 years old in his 5th year in the system, is currently over 20 years old. Pretty amazing.

 

CF Ruben Sanchez (stats) just turned 19 years old this week. Here was the team's one offensive "star" all season -- he should fill out his current 6'2", 180 lb. frame, and he's a LH bat that plays a premium position. Well done, young man, and nice signing, Brewers' management.

 

Other than that, the bigger bonus players (1B Hitaniel Arias, and OF's Jose Pena and Jose R. Garcia) all had difficult-to-middling seasons. You can find some promise among their numbers in certain categories, but certainly no breakouts. 20-year-old 6'6" Ronny Puello led the team in OPS at .795, but seems to be destined to LF / DH, so he'd really have to justify his long-term status with over-the-top production.

 

Deceivingly, the team's young pitchers may have more hope for future growth than the position players despite the overall team stats. As you click the individual team stats link just above, focus on those pitchers with good K-to-BB and K-to-IP ratios and low WHIP's. 6'0" RHP Eduard Reyes (stats) turns 20 this week and had wonderful peripherals over nine appearances (seven starts). Two other RHP's, Jose Cepeda and Jefffrey Saba, showed enough to be interesting despite low strikeout rates. The other 21-year-old arm other than Pascual is LHP Manuel Ruiz, who will be 22 in December. But he's a 6'5" LHP who was among the few strikeout hurlers on the squad, 44 in 28.1 innings. Based on that, he's one of the few 2010 DSL Brewers who can be penciled in (inked in?) to be stateside next spring. And we should shout out to battlekow's just-turned-17-year-old Venezuelan RHP, Osmel Perez (stats).

 

So we hope you enjoyed the Link Report DSL updates from bk and myself this season. We anticipate that next year's Maryvale squad will have a less "American" look, and we also won't see the sheer number of signings we saw this past offseason, because now the nucleus of a club no longer being built from scratch is in place.

 

Saturday's game will adjust the stats linked here, but feel free to chime in with any additional thoughts, thanks.

[HiAndTight]

CF Ruben Sanchez (stats)

just turned 19 years old this week. Here was the team's one offensive

"star" all season -- he should fill out his current 6'2", 180 lb. frame,

and he's a LH bat that plays a premium position. Well done, young man,

and nice signing, Brewers' management.

That .422 OBP and 21-19 BB/K ratio definitely looks good. Obviously little power, but with a 18 year old kid, that's to be expected(turned 19 on the 20th).

[battlekow]

Ben Badler at Baseball America has an unranked top 20 prospects list (sub. req.) for the two Latin summer leagues, and RHP Osmel Perez made the cut. Badler says Perez's fastball touches 94 with room for improvement as he grows, plus an "advanced" changeup and "solid" slider.

[TooLiveBrew]

Good to hear. The work you guys do on these updates is so, so appreciated.