Mariner Minors: 10/17/2004

Mariner Minors

Saturday, October 23, 2004

I generally focus entirely on Seattle Mariners prospects in this blog, but I feel like bringing up something else here that I stumbled on.

China is now putting forth an effort to get back into the Olympic sports world through baseball. Though the sport itself was banned in China during the Cultural Revolution late in Mao's life (along with nearly everything else that wasn't propaganda supporting grain returns), it has picked up in recent years, albeit with less ferocity than it did in such places as Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

To help China out in this area, Major League Baseball has signed an agreement with them to allow training in U.S. facilities and, somewhat unsurprisingly, they are using the same facilities in Peoria that the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres use. The Chinese National team will even be playing in the Arizona Fall League in 2006 in, what else, red uniforms.

I could easily point out some connections to the M's here, how they signed the first and (to my knowledge) only Chinese prospect thus far, RHP Chao Wang, who was released coming into this season. I could draw a parallel to their work in Taiwan setting up training facilities as suggest that, perhaps, China will be the next major talent market to open up to U.S. teams, though that possibility seems years away right now.

But perhaps most interesting to me is that, for all the people out there who argue that baseball is not an Olympic sport, that China, a nation that has not traditionally been open to U.S. culture, is now using it as a vehicle for regaining their honor in the international sports community. Perhaps there is still hope for the sport in the rest of the world.

posted by Jay Y. @ 3:48 PM

Winter League Rosters

In light of a few recent comments and e-mails, I'm compiling a list of players under contract with the M's that are playing winter ball this year. The list is by no means complete. Preliminary rosters often list less experienced prospects, and they are replaced later as the more notable names wrap up the instructional league or are allowed by the organization to begin play. When you look at these, keep that in mind.

When this post leaves the front page, I'll put a link up on the sidebar and continue to update it as necessary.

Arizona Fall League

*Shin-Soo Choo, OF, 22, AA
*Greg Dobbs, 3B, 26, AA/AAA/MLB
Brett Evert, RHP, 24, AA/AAA
Jon Huber, RHP, 23, A+
Michael Morse, SS, 22, AA
*Jared Thomas, LHP, 24, AA

Venezuelan Winter League

(Nibaldo Acosta, RHP, 21, A)
(Kelvin Alarcon, RHP, 19, VSL)
(Freddy Alvarez, C/OF, 19, VSL)
(Cibney Bello, RHP, 22, SS-A)
(Deybis Benitez, SS/OF, 17, VSL)
(Ivan Blanco, RHP, 21, SS-A)
(#Asdrubal Cabrera, 19, SS-A)
Renee Cortez, RHP, 21, AA
*Jose Escalona, LHP, 18, VSL
(Gerardo Esparza, ?, ?, N/A)
(Humberto Espinoza, SS/C, 18, VSL)
(Carlos Figueroa, RHP, 19, VSL)
Emiliano Fruto, RHP, 20, AA
(Juan Fuentes, C, 18, VSL)
(Diomny Gaetano, RHP, 20, VSL)
(#Nicomede Gomez, OF, 17, VSL)
#Juan Gonzalez, SS, 22, A+
(Jose Graterol, OF, 20, VSL)
#Jesus Guzman, 3B, 20, A+
Edgar Guaramato, RHP, 20, VSL
(Felix Hernandez, RHP, 18, AA)
*Cesar Jimenez, LHP, 19, A+
(*Jose Jimenez, LHP, 17, VSL)
Justin Leone, 3B, 27, AAA/MLB
Jose Lopez, SS, 20, AAA/MLB
(#Antonio Marcano, 1B, 20, VSL)
(#Oswaldo Navarro, SS, 20, A/SS-A)
(Clint Nageotte, RHP, 24, AAA/MLB)
Luis Oliveros, C, 21, AA
(Manuel Pinto, OF, 19, VSL)
Tony Runion, RHP, 33, AAA
*Matt Thornton, LHP, 28, AAA/MLB
(*Luis Valbuena, 2B, 19, VSL)
#Luis Ugueto, SS, 25, AAA

Dominican Winter League

Gustavo Martinez, RHP, 29, AA/AAA
Julio Mateo, RHP, 27, MLB
(Juan Sandoval, RHP, 23, A+)
#Ramon Santiago, SS, 25, AAA/MLB

Puerto Rican League

Juan Done, RHP, 24, AA
Miguel Martinez, LHP, 22, A+
Erick Monzon, SS, 23, A+
Melvin Pizarro, LHP, 27, A+
Melvin Rosario, RHP, 31, N/A
(Mumba Rivera, RHP, 24, SS-A)
Rene Rivera, C, 21, A+/MLB

Claxton Shield (Australia)
(Tim Auty, OF, 19, N/A)

The Mariners, as usual, do not appear to have any prospects in the Mexican Pacific League (but a belated thank you to Brian Durack at A's Y'all for the link to the MPL site). As for the rosters themselves, DWL is accurate so far as I know, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more names pop up. Puerto Rican League, at this point, is mere speculation. The VWL is loaded with M's affiliate prospects, but not that those players who have not yet debuted have their names in parentheses. Keep in mind that just because a VSL player is listed on the VWL roster doesn't mean they'll necessarily see game time, though they have taken some chances with Escalona and Guaramato. Also note that the ages listed tend to factor in the possibility of a player celebrating their birthday during play. While some of them haven't hit that mark yet, they are listed as the age they will be at winter leagues' end and not necessarily their current age.

More updates as players debut and more information filters in.

Last Update: Jan 6th, Claxton Shield rosters posted. Tim Auty playing for the New South Wales team.

posted by Jay Y. @ 1:57 PM

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Winter Leagues: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Good

OF Shin-Soo Choo, 8 games, 32 at-bats, 8 runs scored, 8 walks, 4 stolen bases, .375/.500/.469
3B Greg Dobbs, 8 games, 28 at-bats, 8 runs scored, 5 RBI, 2 doubles, .357/.438/.607
RHP Jon Huber, 2 starts, 3.00 ERA, 6 innings, 2 ER, 6 K
LHP Cesar Jimenez, 2 games, 0.00 ERA, 6 IP, 0 hits, 4 K
SS Michael Morse, 8 games, 31 at-bats, 5 runs scored, 1 triple, .387/.424/.452
RHP Tony Runion, 2 games, 0.00 ERA, 3 IP, 2 K
LHP Jared Thomas, 5 games, 2.61 ERA, 10.1 IP, 3 ER
SS/LF Luis Ugueto, 4 games, 18 at-bats, 1 double, 1 triple, .333/.333/.444

Bad

RHP Renee Cortez, 2 games, 9.00 ERA, 3 IP, 4 hits, 2 HR, 3 ER
RHP Edgar Guaramato, 1 start, 10.80 ERA, 1.2 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 ER
3B Jesus Guzman, 1 game, 3 at-bats, 2 R, 1 SO, .000/.000/.000

Ugly

RHP Brett Evert, 3 games, 43.20 ERA, 1.2 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 8 ER, 2 L

Of course, it's still early on, so these will be subject to change rather frequently. Evert, for example, pitched a scoreless inning last night to get a save. Guzman's only started one game. Guaramato impressed everyone watching him despite his end numbers, and keep in mind he's a) never pitched above VSL and b) only took pitching up this year. More will be added as more VSL players filter in.

posted by Jay Y. @ 11:39 AM

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Week two of my Arizona Fall League recaps is up over at InsideThePark. This is subscriber only content, but I may drop in a few numbers on the blog later for those who can't afford the subscription.

The Venezuelan Winter League is also underway as of Thursday night. As a side note, you know you're a bit crazy for the prospects when you're like Brad or me and you're running the team websites and box scores through Babel Fish just to figure out what's going on. I'm not entirely certain of the process they go through to get the translations and whatnot, but going through the message boards, I've seen the word "velveteen" pop up in the Spanish translations a great deal more than I've ever seen the word used in English.
Back on topic, you'd be amazed at how many Mariners players there are on the preliminary VWL roster. Right now, Thornton, Nags, Leone, and guys like that aren't down there yet, so the roster is being partially filled out by guys who haven't played any higher than VSL. There are 86 players on the extended roster right now, 26 of those are Mariners farm players, 16 of them played in VSL or below this season. It's insane.

posted by Jay Y. @ 1:42 PM