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.

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:

Tony Pena Jr. Gets win, Fabio Castro Pitches Brilliantly in Loss

10/27/09 Game-
It was a really good game last night in Santiago. The Gigantes lost 4-3 in 10 innings.

Tony Pena Jr. got his first win in Dominican Winter League after pitching a scoreless 10th inning for the home side. He is known as TJ. He is the son of former big league catcher Tony Pena and was in AA and AAA with the Royals affiliates last year.

Dario Veras had a chance to close it in the 9th and add to his career save total (he is close to setting the career saves record, see previous post). He got two outs quickly, then got MattCarson to foul a ball off directly behind home plate. Strangely, Mark Wagner whiffed on the foul ball. The very next pitch Matt Carson hit a home run to tie the game.

Mark Wagner catching in 2008, by Justin D. Henry on Flickr

The Aguilas won the game in the 10th after moving some runners around and getting a ground ball, with which Juan Carlos Perez beat out a throw at the plate.

The Gigantes squandered a brilliant performance by Fabio Castro. He pitched 7 innings of 1 hit ball and did not allow a run. This guy is good. In 3 games he has 3 no decisions, 16 innings pitched, and a 1.69 ERA. He started 25 games for the Blue Jays AAA team last year (Las Vegas 51s), and put up modest numbers.

Dominican Winter League: Gigantes triumph, Dario Veras gets first save

10/22/09 Game-
Gigantes won 3-2 tonight. Mark Wagner had a homer for the second strait game. Fabio Castro pitched 6 innings, allowing no runs, but Enerio del Rosario got the victory. Castro was with the Las Vegas 51s in the Pacific Coast League last year. Del Rosario pitched in all three levels of the Reds minor league system. In 44 combined appearances, his ERA was under 2.00. He could be a possible closer going forward for the Reds.

Dario Veras got his first save of the season. He is going for the all time career save record in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (89). He has 65 as of this save, and will need a very good year to get the record this year. He is an interesting story. He is 35, and has spent the last few seasons in the Mexican AAA League. He made 53 appearances with the Padres and Red Sox from 1996-98, but never made it past AAA after this. He has been closing games in the Dominican Winter League for the last few seasons.

Estarlin de los Santos had another hit, extending his hit streak to 5 games to start the season.

Dario Veras warms up for Gigantes, by Dominican Baseball Guy

Dominican Winter Baseball: Aguilas beat Gigantes, Erick Abreu and Ben Jukich pitch well

10/16/09-
The Aguilas scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat los Gigantes 5-3. The Aguilas took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the 7th. The Gigantes were held to just four hits. The Aguilas took the lead 3-0 in the bottom of the 4th. However, Estarlin de los Santos hit a single that drove in two runs and another run scored in the top of the 5th to tie the game.

Estarlin de los Santos had a good game for the Gigantes. He had the base hit that drove in two runs, and made several good plays at short stop. He showed off a very strong arm on one play and turned a couple double plays. He is in the Twins organization and had a pretty good year last year (.290, 1Hr, 23 RBI), mainly with the high-A Fort Myers Miracle. However, his value is clearly as a defensive player as he hit last in the lineup last night. He is from San Pedro de Macoris on the soutern coast, which is known as "The Cradle of Shortstops," producing Rafael Belliard and a number of other short stops.

Erick Abreu had a good game. He spent most of last year with the AA Corpus Christi Hooks. He had a very good year as a mid-game/set up reliever posting a 2.06 ERA in 27 games and 47 innings. I am from Corpus Christi and got to see him play a few times this summer. Last night he pitched 3 innings of shutout baseball in relief of starter Fabio Castro, a Blue Jays farmhand.

With the Aguilas, Ben Jukich pitched four innings of 2 hit, no run ball, and then was inexplicably taken out between the 4th and 5th ininnings. At first I thought it was a double switch or something, but there was no reason that I could see. He must have been on a pitch count or something.

Ben Jukich in 2006, photo by Joel Dinda on Flickr