Alexi Ogando dominate in first start for Rangers

To follow up on the big match up between two Dominican pitchers that the Dominican Baseball Guy blogged on yesterday, Alexi Ogando had a great debut as a starter for the Rangers and led them to a 3-2 win over the Mariners.  He went six innings with two hits and no runs.  Last year as a reliever he had the second lowest ERA in all the majors with a 1.30 mark.  He was not even slotted to start this off season, until an injury forced him into the fifth starter role.  With more performances like this it will be hard to take him out.  Ogando is from San Pedro de Macoris, DR.

Rookie phenom Michael Pineda also had a good game, though he was overshadowed by the performance of Ogando.  Pineda also went six innings, but allowed three runs.  Being that this was his first big league game, Mariners fans should expect to see improvement from him.  Pineda is from Yaguate, DR.

Alexi Ogando with the Rangers, by Red3Biggs

Michael Pineda to debut for Mariners, face Alexi Ogando and Nelson Cruz for Rangers

As the Dominican Baseball Guy noted last week, the Mariners named rookie Michael Pineda as their fifth starter toward the end of spring training.  Pineda will square off against another Dominican making his debut as a starter for the Rangers, Alexi Ogando.

Pineda brings a strong physical pedigree (6-foot-7, 260 pounds), and real power stuff to the big leagues for the first time tonight.  He was very successful in the minors, then posted a 2.12 ERA in 17 innings at spring training.  The Mariners decided to put him in as the fifth starter after the success in spring training.  Pineda is from Yaguate, DR.

Ogando had a wildly successful rookie year, after being mired in a visa scandal that left him stranded in the Dominican Republic and the Rangers Dominican academy for a couple years.  He had a 1.30 ERA in 44 games and 42 innings, while becoming a vital part of the Rangers middle relief down their pennant stretch.  Ogando is from San Pedro de Macoris, DR.

Another Dominican, Nelson Cruz is going for a HR in his fifth strait game to start the season.  The Rangers have several other Dominicans, so there will be a number of Dominican versus Dominican match ups tonight.  Cruz is from Monte Cristi, DR.

Nelson Cruz, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Mariners name Dominican Michael Pineda as fifth starter

Michael Pineda was ranked as the number 16 overall prospect in the Baseball America top 100 this off season, but with a strong Spring he forced his way into the Mariners rotation as the fifth starter.

Pineda is 6 foot 7 inches and is a true power pitcher.  He went 11-4 with a 3.34 ERA and 10K/9 innings in Double-A and Triple-A last year.

He is just 21 years old and should debut on April 5 against Texas.  We should see plenty of Dominican versus Dominican match ups in that game, as the Rangers have the most Dominican players on their big league club out of any team in the majors.

Pineda is from Yaguate, DR.

Baseball America top 100 prospects features 11 Dominicans

Baseball America is one of the most well respected sites in the evaluation of minor and major league talent.  Their prospect lists are generally well respected among industry insiders.  They recently came out with their preseason top 100 prospect list, a list featuring the top 100 players with the most upside that are still eligible as Major League Baseball rookies.  

The list features some well known minor leaguers like Bryce Harper (no. 1), Domonic Brown (no.4), and Aroldis Chapman (no. 7).  There are 11 Dominicans on the list and here are the Dominican players that were ranked:

Michael Pineda, Yaguate, DR: #16 prospect, RHP Mariners
Gary Sanchez, hometown unknown: #30 C Yankees
Jenrry Mejia, Tabara Arrisba: #44 P Mets
Wilin Rosario, Bonao: #49 C Rockies
Jean Segura, San Juan: #57 2B Angels
Simon Castro, San Jose de los Llanos: #58 RHP Padres
Miguel Sano, San Pedro de Macoris: #60 SS Twins
Cesar Puello, La Romana: #77 RF Mets
Rubby de la Rosa, Santo Domingo: #90 P Dodgers
Arodys Vizcaino, Yaguate: #93 RHP Braves
Jonathan Villar, La Vega: #94 SS Astros

The Dominican players represent 11% of the top 100 prospects in minor league ball.  This number is on par with the number of Dominicans in the big leagues, as 10% of the opening day rosters last season were composed of Dominican players (according to mlb.com).

Miguel Sano is probably the most well known of these Dominican prospects as he signed with the Twins in 2009 to a deal that featured a $3.1 million signing bonus, which is the second largest bonus ever paid to a Latin free agent (see list of largest Latin American signing bonuses by Patrick Clark).  Sano and his road to signing with the Twins is featured in the yet to be released documentary, Pelotero: a Dominican Baseball Story.  See a preview of the movie here.

All the other Dominican prospects are surely known by the fans of their big league clubs.  Michael Pineda and Gary Sanchez have both been hyped a lot.  The Dominican Baseball Guy will be following all these prospects and their road to the big leagues this season and beyond.