Dominican Player of the Week: Juan Francisco of the Atlanta Braves

The Dominican Baseball Guy has awarded Juan Francisco of the Braves as his Dominican Player of the Week. Juan hit .375 with three home runs last week, and got some votes for player of the week in the National League.

It is no secret Juan Francisco is one of the favorite players of the Dominican Baseball Guy.  He was playing with the Gigantes del Cibao in 2009, the year I followed the Gigantes for the entire Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) season.  That year he won the MVP of the Dominican Winter League, and he also won it in 2009.  He was either at the top or close to the top of the LIDOM in home runs, RBI, and average in both of those years.

He had a slower year this past off-season in the LIDOM.  As he has gotten closer and closer to securing a regular big league gig, his playing time in LIDOM has gone down.  He had played in 81 big league games going into this season for the Reds, but they decided to trade him this off-season.

His power is his calling card.  Juan is one of the best guys to see in batting practice.  Kids line the outside of the stadium waiting for him to hit them balls, which they will use to play at their own games and practices.  During games, the stadium always stopped for Juan Francisco, aka "El Diamante."  Not sure where the nickname came from, but during that year the announcers started calling him "The Diamond of Bonao."  Francisco is from Bonao, Republica Dominicana.  I saw him hit one shot in San Francisco de Macoris at the Julian Javier stadium that I swore went over the lights.  We all lost it in the lights, and people were saying "he hit it to the moon."

Lots of people say that he is a below average fielder and that he strikes out a lot.  And he does.  But the Dominican Baseball Guy still thinks he is going to be a star, as I predicted two years ago when I first saw him play in Dominican Winter League action.  I think his power and his clutch play will be enough to outweigh deficiencies elsewhere.  He won a lot of games for the Gigantes that season with late inning heroics.  And, after all, I cannot go back on my prediction now.

The only other Dominican player to receive votes in the player of the week race in either league was Rafael Furcal of Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic.

Dominican player of the week Juan Francisco bats in the Midwest League in 2007, photo by Joel Dinda on Flickr

Dominican Winter Baseball League MVP and Post Season Awards 2010

The Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) has finished the regular season and the playoffs are being played right now.  Here is the press release announcing the post season awards.

As the Dominican Baseball Guy predicted, Juan Francisco won the MVP.  The Dominican Baseball Guy also predicted that he would play in the MLB this past season and he did.  Juan won the Rookie of the Year in LIDOM in 2008, the MVP last year, and the MVP this year.  He has had quite a run in his first three years.  This article from the Gigantes del Cibao website sums up his dominance in the LIDOM over the past three years.

This year he was in the top 5 in HR, RBI, Runs, and average.  In just 3 years he has 30 HR, which puts him only 2 behind the Gigantes club leader Nelson Cruz, who took seven years to get to that number.  He is only the third player in LIDOM history to have two 10 HR seasons, and is half way to the career record.  He is also only the 10th player to hit two 400 feet HR in Quisqueya Stadium.  He nearly made the Reds playoff roster this season, and should see more playing time next year after playing in 36 games last season.  Juan is from Bonao, and he is known as "the Diamond of Bonao."

Juan Francisco

The Rookie of the Year went to Eury Perez.  He is in the Nationals system and played last year at single A.  Eury is a speedy center fielder, who had 60 stolen bases during his single A season last year.  He hit .345 and had 21 stolen bases in 37 LIDOM games.  It will be some time before he makes it to a big league club, but he has the potential to be a productive lead off hitter and center fielder.  Eury is from San Luis, DR.

Eury Perez

Another National, Yunesky Maya won the Pitcher of the Year.  He is an established major leaguer who came over to the Nationals last season after pitching for many years in the Cuban National Series, the top Cuban league.  He won the Cuban equivalent of the Cy Young on 2009.  In eight LIDOM starts he was 4-2 with a 1.32 ERA.  He also had 42 K's in 41 innings and just 8 walks.  Maya should fit into the Nationals starting rotation somewhere this year, the only question is where.  Maya is from Pinar del Rio, Cuba.

Yunesky Maya

Here is an article from Federal Baseball Nationals blog that sums up these two and their potential going forward.  Both played for Escogido in the LIDOM this year.

Lastly, Dean Treanor won the Manager of the Year Award.  Treanor managed the Toros to first place in the LIDOM.  He has managed and coached in various minor league teams and organizations since 1988.  He has managed the Toros for the last two years.  Treanor will be managing the Indianapolis Indians of the International League next year (according to this article).  Treanor played baseball at Cal Poly-San Luis Obisbo in the 1970s.

Dean Treanor

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.

Dominican Winter League All-Stars vs. Puerto Rico All-Stars 2010

The Dominican Winter Baseball League All-Stars traveled to Puerto Rico on Sunday to take on the Puerto Rican League All-Stars.  The Dominican team featured a few major leaguers and some top prospects including Juan Francisco, Julio Borbon, Fernando Abad, Alexi Casilla, Erick Almonte, and Timo Perez.  They were managed by Felix Fermin.  This article from Listin Diaro has a list of the Dominican team.

The game took place in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.  The Puerto Rican team won the game 4-3.  Pedro Valdes won the MVP for the Puerto Rican team.  Valdes has had an interesting career, spending a few seasons in MLB with the Cubs and Rangers, and playing in Japan, Korea, Mexico, and of course his home country Puerto Rico.  Here is a recap of the game from El Nuevo Dia, a Puerto Rican publication.

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 Republic Wins Caribbean Series

The Dominican Republic, which was represented by Escogido, won the Caribbean Series 2010. They went 5-1 in the 4 team double round robin tournament against the winners of the Mexican, Venezuelan, and Puerto Rican winter leagues.

The Dominican Winter Baseball League has the story here, but this is in Spanish. Or see it in English at the MLB Winter league site here. There are also a few other highlights and stats at the MLB Winter League site.

Caribbean Series 2010 All-Tournament Team

Mets OF prospect Fernando Martinez won MVP

Player, position, team
Kevin Barker, 1B, Dominican Republic
Pablo Ozuna, 2B, Dominican Republic
Vinny Castilla, 3B, Mexico
Angel Sanchez, SS, Puerto Rico
Armando Rios, RF, Puerto Rico
Jesus Feliciano, CF, Puerto Rico
Fernando Martinez, LF, Dominican Republic
Edwards Guzman, C, Puerto Rico
Raul Padron, DH, Venezuela
Raul Valdes, LHP, Dominican Republic
Nelson Figueroa, RHP, Dominican Republic
Efrain Nieves, LH reliever, Puerto Rico
Peter Parise, RH reliever, Puerto Rico

Several Dominicans or players from the Dominican team made the all tournament team. Juan Francisco, the Dominican League MVP, also had a good tournament. The Dominican Baseball Guy has said it before, Juan Francisco is going to be a good or really good MLB player, probably this year. Hopefully Kevin Barker gets some more big league time too, as he has put up numbers in AA, AAA, and the top winter leagues. Both these guys are in the Reds organization. And yes that is 42 year old Vinny Castilla who spent 16 years in the big leagues, still playing in his home country in the winter league.

Dominican Nicknames

Nicknames are very common in this country, everyone has them, and generally goes by their nickname. With that said, the commentators on TV and the announcers at games end up giving out lots of nicknames to players.

All baseball fans know Dominicans David Ortiz (Big Papi), Manny Ramirez (Man Ram), Alex Rodriguez (ARod), and Pedro Martinez (Petey).

Thus far the Dominican Baseball Guy has said that Juan Francisco is known a ¨El Diamante¨ (The Diamond) and Dario Veras is known as ¨El Flaco de Oro¨(The Golden Skinny Guy). Of course Dario´s nickname makes a lot more sense in Spanish.

I spent last night in the press box with the announcer for los Gigantes and learned a knew nickname. Israel Paredes (the Announcer for Gigantes) has been calling Luis Durango La Maquina (The Machine). All these nicknames fit the players really well. Durango is leading the league in steals, and when he runs he does it like a machine. He plays center field really well and has a pretty good average. The Dominican Baseball Guy earlier guaranteed that we will see him in the Majors within 2 years, and he has done nothing to make me doubt this. Interestingly, Durango is Panamanian, and counts as an import in the Dominican Winter League. Durango was with the Padres AA team last year, check out the labels to see other posts on him.











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More nicknames to come, just check out the nicknames tag.

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.

Juan Francisco, Conor Jackson Continue to Mash, Luis Durango will be in Majors

11/13/09 Game
Juan Fracisco had two towering home runs last night. These shots were close to 400 footers. This guy has a ton of power and will definitely be in the big leagues next year. Also for Gigantes, Luis Durango is a really really fast center fielder that has been playing well. He also showed off his arm last night, gunning a guy down at the plate when I thought he had no chance on the play. The Dominican Baseball Guy GUARANTEES they will be in the big leagues within 2 years.

For Escogido, Conor Jackson is leading the league in average, runs scored, and stolen bases, and is 3rd in RBI. Diamondbacks fans should be happy he is rounding back into big league form.

Here are some photos of the game from the Julian Javier Stadium in San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic, all courtesy of the Dominican Baseball Guy: