Edward Rogers and Rual Valdes Players of the Week

For the second week of the round robin playoffs in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) Edward Rogers and Rual Valdes were the players of the week, according to the official award given by the Sports Writers Association of Santo Domingo.  This was for the period from January 3-10, 2011, and here is the press release from LIDOM.

Edward Rogers won the player of the week, after hitting .400 last week for the Estrellas from San Pedro de Macoris.  Rogers played 30 games with the Orioles between 2002 and 2006, but has been on the AAA level the last 4 years, most recently with the Diamondbacks AAA affiliate last year.  He is from San Pedro de Macoris, and is playing for his hometown team.  The San Pedro de Macoris players never end.  Just click the label below and you will see a bunch of players from this city of 300,000 people.

Ed Rogers

Raul Valdes is a relief pitcher with the New York Mets.  Valdes was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 11 innings last week in the LIDOM.  He debuted last year in the major leagues, pitching in 38 games for the Mets.  He was named to the Caribbean Series all-star team last year, as he pitched for the champion Dominican team, Escogido.  A defector from Cuba, Raul began his career in the states in 2005.  He is from Havana, Cuba.

Raul Valdes

Danny Richar and Miguel de los Santos Players of Week

The Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) has named Players of the Week for the playoffs.  In years past they only gave this award during the regular season, so the Dominican Baseball Guy was unaware they were giving out the awards the last couple weeks.

For the first week of the round robin playoffs Danny Richar and Miguel de los Santos won the award.  This was for the period December 27, 2010-January 2, 2011, and here is the press release.

Danny Richar is currently in the Florida Marlins organization and played all of last year with their AAA affiliate New Orleans Zephers, where he hit .315.  Richar has played a handful of games in the big leagues with the White Sox and Reds from 2007-2009.  Richar batted .563 last week to win the award.  He was born in 1983 in La Romana, DR, and has been playing in the states since 2005.  He plays for his hometown Toros de La Romana.

Danny Richar

Miguel de los Santos is in the Rangers organization.  The Rangers are the favorite team of the Dominican Baseball Guy and it is quite a coincidence that they are one the most successful teams in scouting and signing Dominican players in recent years.  They of course have established big leaguers like Nelson Cruz and Julio Borbon, and they recently signed Adrian Beltre.  They also have some great young players.  Alexi Ogando and Omar Beltre were both big stories last season, as was rookie of the year closer Neftali Feliz (all Dominicans).

So, hopefully Miguel de los Santos is the next in line of great young Dominican pitchers for the Rangers.  He has absolute gas and has had almost 2 strikeouts/inning in rookie leagues and A ball over the last 4 years, along with a pretty good ERA.  ESPN Dallas has a nice write up on him here, and LoneStarDugout.com has a short article on his LIDOM success this season here.  He pitched 5 shutout innings in the LIDOM last week to win the award.  Miguel is from La Romana as well, and hopefully we see him in the MLB soon.  He also plays for his hometown La Romana Toros.  It must be a great time for both these players to play in front of their friends and family in their hometown.

Miguel de los Santos

Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) Players of the Week 2010

Here is the list of the players of the week for the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) 2010:

October 25-31: Radhames Liz

Nov. 1-7: Matt McBride

Nov. 8-14: Juan Francisco

Nov. 15-21: Juan Francisco

Nov. 22-29: Joel Guzman and P Fabio Castro

Nov. 29-Dec.5: Wilson Betemit and P John Halama

Dec. 6-12: Omar Luna and P Yunesky Maya

Dec 13-19: Alexi Casilla and P Edward Valdez

Apparently the LIDOM started naming both a player and a pitcher of the week for the last four weeks of the season.  Notice, favorite of the Dominican Baseball Guy, Juan Francisco is the only repeat winner.  He also won two Player of the Weeks last season, and repeated as the MVP of the LIDOM this year.  The Dominican Baseball Guy will get up a post about all the post season awards soon.

LIDOM is currently in the playoffs, which starts on December 26 and will be going on through the end of January.  Escogido, Estrellas, Bulls, and Gigantes are the four teams that are competing in the playoffs.

Alexi Casilla and Edward Valdez Players of the Week

For the last week of the regular season (December 13-19) in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM), Alexi Casilla and Edward Valdez won the player of the weeks honors.

Alexi plays for the Gigantes and has been an established Major Leauger with the Twins for the last four seasons. At times he plays everyday with the Twins, but injuries and other factors have pushed him into a bench player at times.  He is a quality talent in the LIDOM though.  He played in 40 of 49 games this year, and hit .303 while playing excellent defense at 2B and SS.  Alexi is from San Cristobal, DR.

Edward Valdez has been with Escogido in the LIDOM.  He has made it as far as AAA in the last two seasons and he is currently under contract with the Rockies.  He has been used as a starter and long reliever.  Maybe we will see him with the Rockies in the next few years.  Edward is from Nizao, DR.

Wilson Betemit, John Halama, Omar Luna, Yunesky Maya Players of Week

For the week of November 29-December 5, Wilson Betemit won the Player of the Week Award in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) and John Halama won the Pitcher of the Week.  Here is the press release.

Betemit won the award one time last year.  He has been an MLB player for six years, splitting time between the minors and majors for most of these.  He has had some good years for the Yankees, White Sox, and most recently the Royals.  He even won the Royals player of the month award last year for July, so not sure he how he started out in the minors for them last year.  He has 24 RBI in 22 games for the Gigantes in the LIDOM this year.  Betemit is from Santo Domingo, DR.

John Halama is from Brooklyn and has been at the AAA level since 2005 with various organizations and AAA teams.  He played in 262 games in the majors with 5 teams from 1998-2006.  Another interesting sight in the LIDOM: a journeyman American pitcher seeing extended playing time.  It is more evidence that teams in the LIDOM are concerned about one thing, winning.  There is no effort to develop players or play local talent, the teams just want to win the league and go to the Caribbean Series.

For December 6-12, Omar Luna and Yunesky Maya won the awards.  Here is the press release.
Luna hit .500 for the week and had a home run and 4 RBI.  He has been in the minors since 2007 and reached AAA last year with the Durham Bulls, the Tampa Bays Rays affiliate.  He is from Monte Cristi, DR.

Maya is a legit major leaguer in the prime of his career.  He was signed by the Nationals last summer, after defecting from Cuba.  He won the Cuban equivalent of the Cy Young for the 2008-2009 season.  He spent just five games in the Nationals minor league system before being called up and starting 5 games last year.  This article from the Federal Baseball blog, tells his story and the story of him signing.  He is from Pinar del Rio, Cuba.  So many good Cubans, sad we can't see them all play in MLB.  They could give Dominicans competition for the most foreign players.

Irvin Joel Guzman and Fabio Castro Players of the Week

So, apparently the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) names a player of the week and sometimes a  pitcher of the week each week.  The Dominican Baseball Guy did not realize this, but from now on will post a link and some info about both the player and the pitcher of the week for each week of the Dominican Winter Baseball League season.  That is when the LIDOM releases both names, because often times they only name a player of the week.

For the week of November 22-29 and the sixth award of the season, here is the press release for the player and pitcher of the week.  Irvin Joel Guzman was chosen as the player of the week.  Guzman was 4-8 with 2 HRs and 7 RBI for Escogido.    Guzman has played a few games in the big leagues with Tampa Bay and the Dodgers, but has spent the rest of his baseball career at the AA and AAA level.  Last year he hit 33 HRs playing  for the Bowie Baysox in the Eastern League.  He is from Quisqueya, DR, which is a suburb of the baseball Mecca San Pedro de Macoris.

The pitcher of the week was Fabio Castro.  Castro pitched seven innings and allowed zero earned runs for the Gigantes.  He is currently leading LIDOM with a 1.29 ERA and is second in wins.  Castro has seen a few major league games with the Rangers and Phillies, but spent last year with Pawtucket in the AAA International League, the Red Sox affiliate.  He has already signed with the Mariners for next year.  He is from Monte Crisit, DR.  Here he is in some Dominican League action:

Juan Francisco Player of the Week

Juan Francisco won his second consecutive player of the week award in the Dominican Winter Baseball League.  The Minor League Baseball site, milb.com, has great player biographies and lists their current stats in the Winter leagues, so I linked to Juan's page above.  This was the award for November 15-21, and here is the official press release from the Dominican Winter Baseball League, also known as the Liga de Beisbol Professional Dominicana or LIDOM for short.

Last week Juan hit only the 10th 400 foot home run in the history of the historical Quisqueya Stadium in Santo Domingo.  So, this shows how much power he really has.  Not too many guys hit 400 foot home runs in any stadium.  Thus far, Juan is leading the Gigantes and the Dominican Winter League in home runs, RBI, and runs scored.  He is on his way to the Dominican Winter League MVP, as the Dominican Baseball Guy predicted in the last post.

He played in 36 games with the Reds last year, hitting .273.  Hopefully the Reds can get him some more playing time next year.

Radhames Liz, Matt McBride, and Juan Francisco Players of Week

The Dominican Winter Baseball League is in full swing, 20 games into the 50 game regular season.  The Dominican Baseball Guy always updates the players of the week, so this is the first edition of the Dominican Winter Baseball League Player of the Week.

Radhames Liz won the first player of the week award, and Matt McBride won the player of the week award for the week of November 2-7.  Here is the press release.  Liz has spent parts of three MLB seasons with the Orioles, mostly as a starter.  He was claimed off waivers by the Padres and spent last season with Portland in the Pacific Coast League.  Liz is playing for the Estrellas and from El Seybo, DR.

Matt McBride is in the Cleveland Indians organization and played 31 games with their AAA team last year, which is the highest level he has attained.  McBride carried a hot streak in his brief stink in the International League into the Winter League season.  He is absolutely killing the ball in the Dominican Winter League, with 7 HR and 19 RBI in 21 games.  He is leading the league in HR and RBI.

Juan Francisco won the third player of the week award.  He spent most of last season in the AAA International League, but did spend some time with the Reds.  He just missed their playoff roster.  The Dominican Baseball Guy has said it before, Francisco is a can't miss prospect and is going to have a long MLB career.  He won the Dominican Winter League MVP last year, along with several player of the week awards.  He has more power than anyone the Dominican Baseball Guy saw in the Dominican Winter League last season.  He is having another huge year and the Dominican Baseball Guy predicts he will win the MVP again.  Right now he is 1st in hits, 2nd in doubles, 2nd in HR, 1st in runs, 2nd in RBI.  I will be sure and refer to this post in two months when my prediction comes true.  Juan is from Bonao, DR.

Dominican Winter League All Stars 2009

The Dominican Winter Baseball League released their all stars, as well as MVPs, for the 2009 season. To bet on their teams then go to Partybets.

First off, here is a list of the players of the week throughout the season:

Dec. 7-14: Willy Mo Pena

November 30-December 6: Wilson Betemit

November 23-29: Juan Francisco

November 16-22: Juan Francisco

November 8-15: Kevin Barker

November 1-7: Timoniel Perez

October 24-31: Alexander Valdez

October 17-24: Conor Jackson

Not a surprise that a lot of these guys ended up on the all star team. Here are the all stars:

C Robinson Diaz

1B Kevin Barker

2B Alexander Valdez

SS Wilson Valdez

3B Juan Francisco

OF Timoniel Perez, Ricardo Nanita, Carlos Gomez

DH Eric Almonte

Relief Pitcher Julio Manon

Pitcher of Year Jose Capellan

Manager of Year Ken Oberkfell

And, as the Dominican Baseball Guy predicted, Juan Francisco won the MVP. He led the league in home runs and RBIs.

The league also announced the gold gloves:

C Alberto Rosario

1B Kevin Barker

2B Alexander Valdez

SS Wilson Valdez

3B Juan Francisco

OF Rudy Yan, Jose Costanza, Carlos Gomez

P Jose Capellan

Interesting that these lists are almost identical. Kevin Barker and Juan Francisco are certainly not know for their defense, but apparently the Dominican sports writers thought they were also the best fielders.

Lots of MLB guys on the list, and the Dominican Baseball Guy surely thinks this is a good barometer for future MLBers. Expect to see some of these guys in the big league next year.

Willy Moe Pena with the Red Sox in 2006, by Chip Griffin on Flickr

Discover a great degree at the "national federation of paralegal associations."

Willy Mo Pena Player of Week

Milly Mo Pena, the former Red/Red Sock/National, was named player of the week for the week of December 7-14. He has had a really good year playing for Licey. Like most players that have extended MLB experience, he has been dominating the pitching in the Dominican Winter Baseball League. There is a reason guys play in the big leagues...they are the best in the world. Here is the press release photo from the Dominican Winter League:

Wilson Betemit Player of Week

Another member of Gigantes, Wilson Betemit received the player of the week honor for the week of November 30-December 6. Juan Francisco was voted second for this week, after winning the honor for each of the last two weeks.

So, the Gigantes have won the award three weeks in a row, and it has shown in the overall team play. The Gigantes have been on a winning streak and are in 4th place, with a two game lead on fifth. This would get them into the playoffs.

Wilson Betemit has spent several seasons in the majors, including 87 games with the Yankees in 2008. He spent last season with the White Sox, and recently signed a minor league deal with the Royals. He has had a very good winter league season, and the Gigantes really started to play better when he came aboard through a trade from Escogido.

Juan Francisco Players of the Week

For the week of November 16-22, one of the Gigantes finally won the award. Juan Francisco was given the player of the week after hitting .423 with 3 homers, 2 doubles, and 6 RBI. The Dominican Baseball Guy has posted on Juan previously (check the tabs to see all posts), and I actually tabbed him the preseason MVP. He spent some time with the Reds last season and will surely be with the big league club more this year. He has great power, very fun to watch, and has come to be known as El Diamante (the Diamond) during this winter league season. Here is the official press release photo from the league-

I didn't realize that Juan actually won the award two weeks in a row. He won it for the week of Nov. 23-29 as well. He is also leading the league in home runs and RBI. Looks like he's gonna be the MVP of the Gigantes, and possibly the league, as the Dominican Baseball Guy predicted.

Kevin Barker Player of the Week

Kevin Barker had a pretty amazing week. In 5 games and 17 at bats he had 6 runs, 8 hits, 3 home runs, 9 RBI, and 6 walks. I have posted a couple times about Barker in the Dominican Winter Baseball League this as he is having a good year (follow the tags to see other posts about him).

He is a member of the Louisville Bats (Reds) contigent, of which there are at least 5 players and their manager participating in the league this winter. The Reds farm system looks pretty stocked, as all these players are playing well.

Kevin led the bats in average and home runs last year, so we should see him with the Reds soon. Here is the official press release photo from the league:

Timo Perez Player of the Week

Former big leaguer Timo Perez was named player of the week. He last played in the big leagues in 2007 with the Tigers. Here is his mlb bio and his minor league bio. He spent last season in the AAA Mexican League. He has had an interesting career, spending several years in the majors (most notably with the Tigers) and even playing in Japan.

Timo is having a his best Dominican Winter Baseball League season in his career. Last week he went an incredible 12-19, with 6 RBI in 5 games. He is batting .368 on the season with 6 HRs and 16 RBI for Licey.

Timo Perez with the Tigers, by wknight

Alexander Valdez Player of Week

Alexander Valdez was named player of the week for the Dominican Winter Baseball League for the 2nd week. He is the second player from Escogido to receive the honor.

In 5 games, he was 10-22, with 2 doubles, 2 triples, and 7 RBI.

Alex is in the Oakland A´s organization (though his bio at milb.com says he is with the Angels). He spent last year with the AA Midland Rockhounds in the Texas League and played well starting at 3rd bas most games.

Alex Valdez in 2007 A ball game, by Joel Dinda on Flickr

Connor Jackson player of week, Manny Acta signs as Tribe new Manager

The Dominican Winter Baseball League has an off night tonight. But Conor Jackson was named the player of the week for the first week of the season. Check out the Pelotero de la Semana link on the right side of the league website.

Connor Jackson with the Diamondbacks in 2007, by John Kim on Flickr

Any time a Dominican does anything big in the big leagues it is major news in the DR. So, the Manny Acta signing by the Tribe was big news. The Listin Diario covered the story as did the Diario Libre here. It has also been covered continually on television. As an Astros fan I am kind of disappointed he did not go to the Stros. Here is the MLB.com article. Check out his bio with the link to his name, he is a pretty interesting guy. Very smart in my opinion. Another baseball guy from San Pedro de Macoris. He has a ton a managerial experience and even managed the DR team during the first World Baseball Classic.