Dominican players in MLB playoffs 2015: AL Wildcard Edition

The Astros and the Yankees have set their rosters for tonight's AL Wildcard at Yankee Stadium. Both teams can reset their 25-man rosters for the divisional round after the one game wildcard match up. So, it is only a mild surprise that the Astros decided to bring nine pitchers.

The Astros bring with them two Dominican players to New York. Eight of the nine pitchers are American, with Oliver Perez hailing from Mexico. Drug kingpin Chapo Guzman is probably a big fan of Perez, as he is from Culiacan, Sinaloa. The Tomateros de Culiacan have been very successful in the Mexican Pacific League, winning ten domestic titles and two Caribbean World Series.

There are four Latin players in the Astros infield group, but only one of them is from the Dominican Republic. Jonathan Villar is from La Vega, DR. Back in 2011 he was a top 100 prospect, and he has played with the Astros for the last three seasons and been one of their first outfielders off the bench. Villar has also played and started for the Aguilas in the Dominican Winter Baseball League, and had a home run in the playoffs back in January. Unfortunately for Villar he is behind Puerto Rican sensational rookie Carlos Correa, so he will likely be used only as a pinch hitter.

Carlos Gomez, known as Go-Go, will start in center field
for the Astros. Photo by Arturo Pardavila III on Flickr.

The only other Dominican player that the Astros bring to the AL Wildcard is outfielder Carlos Gomez. When he made his debut in 2007 with the Mets, Gomez was the youngest player in National League at 21 years old. He has since had a successful nine year MLB career and made two All-Star games with the Brewers before being traded to the Astros this year. He has been injured, but will be starting in center field. Carlos is from Santiago, so it is natural that he has played for the Aguilas in the Dominican Winter League for a number of years, even appearing with them after he became an All-Star.

While the Astros only have two Dominicans on the 2015 AL Wildcard roster, they also have three players from Venezuela, one from Mexico, and one from Puerto Rico. Not surprising considering their GM, Jeff Luhnow, speaks Spanish and has strong ties to Latin America as he grew up in Mexico City.

The Yankees on the other hand, bring three Dominican players to the wild card contest. Or four if you count Alex Rodriguez, but considering he was born in Miami, I consider him an American player.

Two pitchers, Ivan Nova and Luis Severino will be in the bullpen for the Yankees. Nova was one of the top prospects in all of baseball when he was coming up, and has had a fairly successful six years in the majors, posting a 4.33 ERA in over 600 innings. He is from Palenque and has played for Escogido in the Dominican Winter League. Severino has had a highly successful debut season this year, after being named to some AAA All-Star teams.

The third Dominican player that the Yankees have on the roster is a rookie that only played in two games. Gary Sanchez is another can't miss prospect and has made All-Star teams at every level including a Futures team this year. This seems to be a move to get a young player some playoff experience. Gary is from the capital of Santo Domingo and has played for one of two great teams in the capitol, Escogido.

The winner of this one game wild card may reshuffle the roster before facing Kansas City in the next round.

Record nine Dominicans to play in MLB All-Star Game

Dominican player David Ortiz is appearing in his
9th All-Star Game. Photo by Aaron Donovan.

The 2013 MLB All-Star Game features a a record nine Dominican baseball players. The total number of Latin and Dominican players has been on the upswing over the last decade-plus, and those higher numbers of total players undoubtedly leads to more Latins and Dominicans participating in the mid-summer classic. Last year in the 2012 All-Star Game eight Dominican players were featured in the game.

The American League All-Star roster features starters and perennial All-Stars Robinson Cano, Jose Bautista, and David Ortiz. It also features Dominicans Bortolo Colon, Jhonny Peralta, Nelson Cruz, and Edwin Encarnacion. No shortage of drama here, as you can see that Colon, Peralta, and Cruz are all mired in steroid accusations and could be suspended before the end of the year. But alas, they have been named to the team.

Featured on the National League roster are just two Dominican players. Jean Segura is appearing in his first All-Star game, after just a little over a years in the majors. He had a respectable season for part of last year with the Brewers, and then he tore up the Dominican Winter League in the off-season with the Gigantes del Cibao. The other Dominican player on the National League roster is Segura's teammate in Milwaukee Carlos Gomez.

This is the Dominican players that plan to play as of now. The Dominican Baseball Guy is somewhat perplexed at the All-Star carosuel. I beleive Colon is out due to injury or he is a replacement player, but is not playing. I thought Cruz was out injured as well. Big Papi will probably come up once, swing for the fences, and sit down. Who really knows?

In the end, nine Dominican players have been named to the 2013 MLB All-Star game. We will all tune in tonight to see which ones play.

Dominican baseball player of the week / Pelotero de la semana: Carlos Gomez

Dominican baseball player Carlos Gomez has had a pretty average career, spending parts of six seasons in the big leagues. He came up with the Mets in 2007 and then was a full-time starter for two years with the Twins. He has been with the Brewers for the last three seasons, and the highlight of his career probably came last season when he was a member of a Brewers team that made the NLCS.

That is until now. Gomez was awarded the NL Player of the Week last, as he hit .346 (9-for-26) with four home runs and scored 10 runs. He was also first among National Leaguers with 10 RBI and three stolen bases. 

The Santiago, Dominican Republic native Gomez already has a career high nine home runs this season. Though the Brewers are more than likely out of the playoff picture, Gomez could possibly see a career high in RBI, walks, and stolen bases as well. Some consolation for a bad year as a team.

Gomez’s Milwaukee teammate, and fellow Dominican, Aramis Ramirez (.417, 10 H, 4 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI) also received some consideration for the player of the week award. Ramirez won the Dominican Player of the Week award earlier this season. He is from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Dominican baseball player of the week Carlos Gomez, photo by Steve Paluch on Flickr

Dominican player of the week: Hanley Ramirez

Hanley Ramirez hit .500 with 4 HR and 6 RBI, and that wins him the Dominican Baseball Guy Dominican player of the week award.

Hanley had a down year last year, but has made the transition to third base this season, and he is having a good year at the plate thus far. Ramirez, and fellow Dominican player Jose Reyes have the Marlins in the playoff chase in the National League East.

He is from Samana, an awesome Dominican beach town on the east coast of the country.

Carlos Gomez of the Brewers also received consideration for the NL player of the week award. He is from  Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Dominican player of the week Hanley Ramirez, by SD Dirk on Flick

Brewers re-sign Dominican baseball player Carlos Gomez, Dominicano firma con Brewers

The Brewers re-signed Carlos Gomez, and in so doing they avoided arbitration with the player, who will be in his sixth big league season this year, all with the Brewers.  The Brew Crew has six other arbitration eligible players yet to resign.

Gomez has been a successful major leaguer over five seasons.  He was the youngest player in the NL when he made his debut with the Mets in 2007.  He was traded to the Twins in the Johan Santana deal and was the Twins everyday center fielder for two seasons.  For the last two years he has been a utility outfielder and pinch hitter for the Brewers.  He was an important part of their playoff run last year, even as a bench player.

He should fight for an everyday outfield spot this year, and should see the 90-plus games he saw the last two years.  Gomez is from Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Carlos Gomez with the Brewers, photo by Steve Paluch on Flickr

Dominican baseball players in ALCS and NLCS, Peloteros Dominicanos en los finales de MLB

Time to announce the list of Dominicans baseball players in the league championship series this year.  Last round, The Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Baseball Index proved accurate once again.  The teams with the greater number of Dominican baseball players won in three out of four series in the 2011 divisional round of the Major League Baseball playoffs.

We will see if it proves accurate for the league championship series.  Here is the list of Dominican baseball players in the second round of the playoffs:

Texas Rangers: Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, Adrian Beltre, Esteban German, Nelson Cruz
Detroit Tigers: Jose Valverde, Al Alburquerque, Alex Avila, Wilson Betemit, Jhonny Peralta, Ramon Santiago
Saint Louis Cardinals: Octavio Dotel, Rafael Furcal...and o yea, some guy named Albert Pujols
Milwaukee Brewers: Carlos Gomez

The Brewers were the only team to overcome the huge odds of the Dominican Baseball Index in the first round, and they will have to do it again this round, as they have only one beisbolista Dominicano on their roster. The Tigers lead the way this round with six Dominicans on their roster.

Overall there were no changes involving the Dominican baseball players. There will be 15 Dominicanos playing in the league championship series, 15% of the 100 total players.

Dominican Winter Baseball League: Gigantes get first win, David Herndon gets win, Mark Hamilton and Erick Almonte Homer

10/18/09 Game-

The Gigantes got their first win in their first home game to the delight of the home crowd. There was lots of offense from both sides.

One of the Gigantes imported players, Angels prospect David Herndon, got the win. He pitched one inning, gave up 3 earned runs, and got the win. Once again proving that wins are an interesting statistic. Mark Hamilton, another import, had a home run and a single. He had really good numbers splitting time between AA and AAA in the Cardinals organization last year. One problem for him, the Cardinals have another pretty good player at first base, Dominican baseball player Albert Pujols. 

Dominican Erick Almonte showed that he can once again be a leading hitter for the Gigantes, with a home run. Estarlin De Los Santos, another Dominican baseball player, has a hit in all three games this season. He is just an exciting player at shortstop and playing well. So now the Twins have him in the minors, Alexi Casilla and Carlos Gomez on the big league club, and they just signed uber-prospect Miguel Angel Sano. Seems the Twins, like a lot of other teams, are finding really good Dominican players.

This season in the Dominican Winter Baseball League is officially dedicated to the Alou brothers (Felipe, Matty, and Jesus) all of whom had successful careers in MLB and played many years in the Dominican Winter Baseball League. Felipe's son, ex-big leaguer Moises Alou is actually the GM for the Leones de Escogido from Santo Domingo.

Moises Alou with the Giants in 2005,
by sgmom56 on Flickr