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.

New York Yankees Dominican prospect has 30 game hit streak, pelotero Dominicano de las minores de los Yankees tiene hit en 30 juegos

Yankees Dominican prospect Abe Almonte recently bested the minor league longest hitting streak of the season when he hit safely in his 28th strait game.  He recently extended that streak to 30 games.  Almonte plays in advanced A for the Yankees, so it will probably be another few years before we see him in the majors...OR the Yankees trade him for an aging veteran to help them win a pennant.

The Yankees have always drafted well and signed lots of good Dominican prospects and Latin free agents.  The reason so few of the big league Yankees are home grown talent is that they often trade away their young talent in the quest to win now.

Just last year they sent Jimmy Paredes to Houston in the deal for Lance Berkman (see the story here).  Well, Berkman played about 40 games for the Yankees last year, and now Paredes is already starring for the big league club with the Astros.  This scene has played itself many times over.

But, somehow the Yankees manage to keep winning with this formula.  In some cases they hold on to young Dominican talent, such as with Gary Sanchez, who by all accounts should be a starring everyday catcher soon.  The question is, will they have the patience to let him and others Dominicans like Abe Almonte develop?

The Dominican Baseball Guy will be following Almonte and all these Dominican prospects.  Almonte is from Santo Domingo, Paredes is from Haina, and Sanchez is from Santo Domingo.

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.