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.

What Next For The New York Yankees by Mybookie.ag

Dominican player Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees
seek another AL title, photo by Keith Allison on Flick

The New York Yankees are excited and relieved in equal measures with the return of Alex Rodriguez at a very crucial stage of their campaign. Rodriguez will be looking to help his team equal the season’s longest winning streak when they face the struggling Oakland Athletics on Thursday night. Just last week, Hal Steinbrenner, the owner, said that Rodriguez is a great asset, although not everyone in New York is as thrilled about his return after he was suspended the whole of last season for using a banned substance. The designated hitter, at 39 years of age, was instrumental in the three game sweep of Kansas City who are the reigning AL champions. He hit a three run shot on the 4-2 victory on Wednesday for his 11th homer of the season. He marked an impressive 1,995 RBIs to overtake Lou Gehrig 1,993 RBIs to record the most in the history of AL. It is also a great opportunity for those who wish to get involved in the betting battle. Check it out, the MLB odds in this betting preview to make the best decisions.

In the 2013 season, Rodriguez featured in only 44 appearances for his team after being sidelined with a hip surgery. In an interview, he admitted that despite being out of any baseball action for 2 years, he feels like he is in a good place, happy and having fun. He saw the spell as an opportunity to rest and get his energy back; the reason why he saw this spell as a blessing in disguise. He feels explosive as he seeks to build on his .375 average in the last 13 encounters with the A’s, but he hasn’t faced them since 3 years ago. Strong pitching is the other thing that places New York in a better position to match its season’s best four-game winning streak.

The other player on our radar is CC Sabathia. This season, he has had his worst performance ever, despite going for nine straight years without injury. Sabathia was responsible for six of the 10 Texas’ 10 runs on Saturday’s 15-4 loss. However, the six-time all-star has won his previous two road starts where he owns a 3.48 ERA after six starts compared to the 11.77ERA at home. After losing his two starts in 2013 against the A’s he has a 6.00 ERA.

Out of the 8 on road matches, the Yankees have dropped seven of them and nine of the 10 matches in Oakland. However, the A’s still hold the worst record at home at 6-16 given that they have lost six of the seven home games after the 3-2 loss on Wednesday to Detroit. Kendall Graveman will be the man that Oakland will be turning to after he has impressed since he was recalled from Triple-A Nashville. The right-hander has never faced the Yankees, but he featured on the opening day roster, although he went 1-2 in four starts before he was sent down with an 8.27 ERA. Graveman was impressed with his performance as he told the MLB official website that he felt comfortable in the game. His movements were good, he located the fastball impressively and whenever he was required to change his speed, he did it well.

Dominican player Robinson Cano denies PED suspension rumor

Dominican player and Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano along with his agent, Scott Boras, yesterday said there was no truth to rumors of Cano being suspended for performance-enhancing drugs. Boras, told The New York Daily News that the rumors were false. He had traced the allegation to a rumor that originated in the Dominican Republic, a reporter in the U.S. and a rival agent.

Hard to stop a 'rumor' originating from the Dominican Republic. The rumor mill and oral communication in general is one of the top forms of communication in the Dominican Republic. I have often told people that are trying to contact Dominicans in the Dominican Republic to just go down there and start asking people. If you know what city a Dominican person is in, then I bet you can find them in half a day just by asking the first people you come across in whatever Dominican city you may be in.

But the 'U.S. reporter and the 'rival agent' obviously lack integrity if they were involved in this rumor in any way.

Cano has never really been suspected of performance enhancing drugs. His numbers have been consistently awesome since he was in the minor leagues and there is nothing in his injury history to suggest PEDs.

That was not the case last month, when Dominican player Melky Cabrera got busted for PEDs and suspended 50 games. Cabrera was in the midst of his best year ever, and coming in his seventh full-time big league season, the jump in stats were an anomaly that may have suggested PED use.

Cano's friendship with the fellow Dominican baseball player Cabrera fueled the suspicion that Cano could have failed a PED test. But it appears that the rumors were entirely false, and Cano hopes to focus on making the playoffs this season with the Yankees.

"You can't control what people say," Cano told the New York Daily News. "There's a lot of negative stuff out there and I can't control that. I have to stay above that."

Dominican beisbol player of the week Robinson Cano, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Dominican pitcher Bartolo Colon has 22 inning scoreless streak

On Tuesday , Dominican pitcher Bartolo Colon scortched the Angels for seven innings, only surrendering one unearned run in his final inning of work. That unearned run ended his consecutive scoreless inning streak at 22.1 innings, but he does still maintain a streak of 22.2 innings without surrendering an earned run.

The amazing thing: Colon is in his 15th big league season and is two years removed from major elbow surgery. That surgery in 2011 was under investigation by MLB because it involved injecting his elbow with his own stem cells from his back. The Dominican pitcher Colon was eventually cleared in that case, and he pitched last year with the Yankees. He is back this year with the A's, and is having an even beter year, at 39 years old. Colon has nine wins and a 3.55 ERA in 23 starts and over 140 innings.

The even more amazing thing: according to Fangraphs he is pitching about 90% fastballs. Since Fangraphs began tracking pitches in 2002, no pitcher with over 100 innings has pitched that many fastballs. And Colon's fastball only averages 90 mph. 

How does he do it? He is doing what he has done his entire career, pounding the corners of the zone, and either getting called strikes or getting hitters to swing and make weak contact on pitches outside the zone.

Colon is scheduled to pitch next Tuesday on the road against the Royals, where he will attempt to lengthen his streak. He has a career record 170-122 and a 4.06 ERA. Very respectable numbers for a starter of his quality and longevity.

Bartolo Colon is from Altamira, DR.

Dominican pitcher Bartolo Colon, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Former Major League Baseball pitcher Rijo charged with money laundering in the Dominican

Dominican native and former big league pitcher Jose Rijo has been charged with money laundering in the Dominican Republic. He has been charged with laundering money for 'alleged' drug trafficker Avelino Castro. Prosecutors did not arrest Rijo, but ordered him to remain in the Dominican Republic.

The drug trafficking issue in the Dominican Republic has not been spotlighted as it has with the Mexican drug cartels of the 2000s or the Columbian cartels of the 1990s. But the fact is those same cartels actually ship their product through the Dominican Republic on the way to New York and the East Coast.

So, drug trafficking and organized crime are major problems in the Dominican Republic. Law enforcement in the Dominican Republic is undoubtedly more poorly funded and less organized than even Mexico or Columbia. The conditions are ripe for drug gangs to take advantage of the lack of law enforcement.

Murders, kidnappings, and bribery are the norm in the Dominican Republic, and even law enforcement officers are often caught up in the cycle of drug violence. Dominican news channels spout out stories of prosecutors being killed and police officers being bought off. And with the lack of law enforcement infrastructure (such as forensics teams) almost non-existent, many of the crimes go unsolved or are not investigated at all.

There are good law enforcement officers and prosecutors in the Dominican Republic. They just lack the infrastructure and man power to maintain the type of law and order we are used to in the States and other western countries. What drew prosecutors to the Rijo case was the fact that Avelino Castro was 'allegedly' involved in the kidnap and murder of Dominican journalist Jose Silvestre.

Rijo signed with the Yankees in 1980 and debuted with New York in 1984. He was the MVP of 1990 World Series with the Reds and made one All-Star team. Rijo last pitched in the Majors in 2002, rounding out a 14 year big league career. Interesting to note that he won the Reds Joe Nuxhall Good Guy award twice, and he is in the Reds Hall of Fame. Wonder if they can take those back?

He is from San Cristobal, Dominican Republic.

Dominican pitcher Jose Rijo, member of the Reds Hall of Fame, charged with
laundering drug money in the Dominican Republic, photo by zeejaydee on Flickr

Dominican pitcher Rafael Soriano steps in and performs in Yankees closer role

Dominican pitcher Rafael Soriano has been an anomaly in his Major League Baseball career. He has been in the majors for parts of eleven seasons, but only full time for the last five. He has been dominate at times (45 out of 48 saves in 2010 with Tampa Bay), but at other times he has seemed average (his ERA dropped to 4.12 last season in a set-up role with the Yankees).

Soriano was expected to continue in his set-up role with the Yankees this season. He was in fact the team's third choice for the closer role. But after injuries to Dave Robertson and legendary closer Mariano Rivera, Soriano was next in line for the job.

Pretty good third option. The Dominican pitcher Soriano has flourished since being handed the closer role. He is 24 for 25 in save opportunities and has a 1.46 ERA. Some guys are just meant to be closers, and Soriano seems to come from that mold.

The Yankees are of course riding their bats in the hopes of bringing home another World Series, but Soriano is a welcome addition to the pitching staff, that should be able to close out games with regularity.

Dominican pitcher Rafael Soriano is from San Jose, Dominican Republic.

Dominican pitcher Rafael Soriano is the Yankees new closer, photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

Dominican player of the week: Alfonso Soriano

Dominican player and Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano has been named the Dominican player of the week here at the Dominican Baseball Guy blog. Soriano is no stranger to awards. Since he first appeared on the MLB scene back in 2000 with the Yankees he has made seven All-Star games. He has won the player of the week in his league six times, and the player of the month three times. And he has four Silver Slugger awards.

Last week was a short week due to the All-Star break, but in just three games Soriano had two doubles, two home runs, and five RBI, while hitting .545. He actually did most of the damage in just one game, with both doubles and both home runs, and the five RBI all coming one game.

His average has declined in recent years, but he was never a high average hitter. But he is still on pace for around 30 home runs and 90 RBI, right around his career average. Pretty good numbers for a 36 year old player in his 14th MLB season.

He had two World Series titles with the great Yankees championship teams and made the playoffs with the Cubs in 2007 and 2008. Other than that, he can be said to be a player that has had all these great numbers on bad teams. He put up great numbers on some really bad Rangers teams, and perhaps his best year came with a horrible Nationals team in 2006.

Soriano is one of the few Dominican players to be signed as a free agent into the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NIPON) where he played for three seasons before being picked up by the Yankees. He is from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.

Dominican player of the week Alfonso Soriano, photo by EmmyMik on Flickr

Dominican beisbol player of the week: Robinson Cano

Robinson Cano has been hot. He almost won the Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Beisbol Player of the Week last week, but was the runner up to Aramis Ramirez.

Last week Cano had a better week than most players have in a career (.286, 4 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R). But this week he hit .414 (12-for-29) with four home runs and 10 RBIs in seven games. It was good enough for his sixth career American League Player of the Week honor, and his first career Dominican beisbol player of the week award.

Amazingly, these two hot weeks by Cano were not enough to win him the American League Player of the Month award, which he has already won 2 times. He was edged out in this award by fellow Dominican beisbol player Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays. Bautista had 14 home runs and 30 RBI in June, compared to Cano's 11 home runs and 21 RBI, though Cano did hit for a much higher average.

Yankees skipper Joe Girardi commented that he basically expects these types of performances by Cano on a consistent basis.

He is one of the best player in MLB and will contend for the MVP, as he has done for the last several years. So, the Dominican Baseball Guy agrees with Girardi. Expect to see more Dominican beisbol player of the week awards for Robinson Cano throughout the rest of the season as well.

Cano is from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. Bautista and Ramirez are both from Santo Domingo, the Capital of the Dominican Republic.

Dominican beisbol player of the week Robinson Cano, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Dominican baseball player of the week: Aramis Ramirez

The Dominican baseball player of the week goes to Aramis Ramirez, who edged out Robinson Cano by a vote of 1-0. Cano had a good week for the Yankees (.286, 4 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R), but Ramirez had a better week for the Brewers.

Aramis Ramirez had eleven hits last week and hit for a .500 average. He also added two home runs and seven RBI.

The Dominican Baseball Guy was surprised to see that Ramirez is in his 14th season. He played for the Pirates? What? And he actually had a couple good years for them? What?

For as maligned a player he has been in Chicago at times, his career numbers are great.  He has hit 20 home runs nine times and had 100 RBI six times.  Ramirez has probably deserved more than the two All-Star games that he has made. May be due to the fact that he has been a late starter many years. More evidence of late starting? He got his first Silver Slugger last year in his 13th season in the big leagues.  

Sure he will put up big numbers this year for the Brewers. But, let's face the facts Brewers fans.  Your team is bad, almost as bad as the last place Houston Astros.  Well, not that bad.

Dominican baseball player Aramis Ramirez es de Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana.

Dominican baseball player of the week Aramis Ramirez plays third base for the Cubs,
photo by terren in Virginia on Flickr

The Cano Baseball Experience: culture and baseball in the Dominican Republic

Yankees all-star and perennial MVP candidate Robinson Cano has been trained most of his life by his father.  While growing up and training in the Dominican Republic, Cano and his father have both lived and trained in the United States since Robinson started as a professional stateside.   The Canos have come to realize the benefits of understanding baseball and the culture of two countries.

The Canos are not alone in realizing the need and the market for cultural immersion activities around Dominican baseball.  People know that Dominicans are great at baseball and they know that the game occupies a central part of Dominican culture.  So, people want to learn more about the game and see more of Dominican baseball, whether it be in the United States or in the Dominican Republic.

In recent years there have been many groups involved in cultural immersion programs that feature Dominican baseball.  The TCU baseball team made a trip to play some games in the Dominican Republic.  A group of Arkansas baseball players took a missionary trip to the country.  Beyond the Game is a sports tourism company that leads trips to the Dominican Republic in which clients get a crash course in Dominican baseball and culture.

And of course, Major League Baseball and it's teams are growing their cultural development programs for Dominican players.  Even American players are learning Spanish and growing their baseball knowledge by learning more about baseball in the Dominican Republic.

So, in this tradition, Robinson Cano and his father are offering the Cano Baseball Experience.  From the website:

The Canó Baseball Experience (CBE) is a unique, authentic Dominican baseball experience. CBE is directed by Jose Canó, father of New York Yankees All-Star second baseman Robinson Canó and former Major League Baseball pitcher. After years of training Robinson, Jose and Robinson decided it would be great to share the experience of authentic Dominican baseball, Canó style. The goal of CBE is not only to instill and further the most core and fundamental baseball skills and instincts, but to also allow for an appreciation of the game and art of baseball. Your Canó Baseball Experience will last a lifetime, while testing and improving your baseball aptitude and allowing you to experience the methods that make Canó what he is.

So, the Cano Baseball Experience will be grounded more in growing baseball skills and aptitude.  But there will also be a cultural component in that American baseball players will be learning from a Dominican coach.  The Canos will also be offering the experience in Cano's hometown, San Pedro de Macoris.  So, players that choose to have the experience in San Pedro will be visiting one of the most historic baseball towns in the world, and be gaining invaluable cultural knowledge.

So, the Cano Baseball Experience also sees the immersion into Dominican baseball culture as an important aspect.  According to Robinson Cano:

My dad and I have been talking about giving kids a chance to experience baseball, the way I grew up learning it in the Dominican Republic; the whole idea of The Canó Baseball Experience is more than just baseball, its about culture and sharing the Dominican Republic with the kids of the US.

Visit the Cano Baseball Experience website to register:

Dominican player of the week: Rafael Furcal of the Saint Louis Cardinals

There is still one really good Dominican baseball player in Saint Louis, and his name is not Albert Pujols.  Cards fans are perhaps happy to have this other Dominican player this season with the way the two players seasons are going.

Rafael Furcal is by far outplaying Pujols thus far.  This week he played well enough to win the Dominican baseball player of the week.  In five games this week, Furcal hit .667, with 14 hits, 4 runs, 2 stolen bases.  He added a couple walks to up his on-base percentage to .696.

He has been in the big leagues for 13 seasons, and Furcal is off to one of his hottest starts ever.  He is batting .383 with 16 RBI through 33 games.  His on-base percentage is pushing .450.  But, this will never hold up.  His career high average for a season that he played a full work load is .300, which came back in 2006 and 2008.

Furcal is what he is: a well above average fielder and a quality top of the order hitter that also has lots of post season experience, and a World Series title.  While this start cannot hold up, it is good enough for the Dominican player of the week this week.

Furcal is from Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic.

Other Dominicans in week 4: Robinson Cano (.500, 3 2B, HR, 6 RBI) from San Pedro de Macoris.

Dominican player of the week Rafael Furcal with the Dodgers in 2010, photo by SD Dirk on Flickr

Latin baseball players celebrate Jackie Robinson day, Latinos celebran el dia de Jacki Robinson

Latin and Dominican baseball players celebrated Jackie Robinson Day on Sunday, along with all of Major League Baseball.  The entire league wore Robinson's number 42.

It is well known that Robinson was the first African-American to play in the big leagues, and that he opened the door for all the black baseball players after him.  However, Latin baseball players have also seen Robinson as a pioneer, because before him there were very few Latin players admitted into MLB.

There were some Latin players that played in the big leagues, often because they "looked" white, but for the most part Jackie Robinson is the reason that Latin baseball players were later admitted into the league.  And current players know this.

Giants Venezuelan outfielder Gregor Blanco summed up what Jackie Robinson day means to Latin baseball players:

"This is a very special day for all Latin players," Blanco said. "It means a lot to be able to wear his number. He opened up opportuntiies for eveyone and not only helped baseball but also helped the world."

Elsewhere, Dominican player Robinson Cano celebrated in New York, as other Dominicans throughout the league surely did.  Robinson Cano is from San Pedro de Macoris, the major baseball city in the Dominican Republic.  

Happy Jackie Robinson Day!  All of MLB whore his #42 Sunday

Dominican baseball players on MLB rosters 2012

Every year Major League Baseball releases a list of foreign baseball players on MLB rosters.  And Dominican baseball players have dominated this list for last decade plus.  Last year there were 86 Dominican players on opening day rosters, the same number of Dominicans on MLB teams in 2010.

This year, the number went up and Dominican baseball players still lead the way in foreigners in Major League Baseball, by far.  Overall, there are 243 foreign players on Opening Day rosters out of 856 total active or disabled list players.  That comes out 28.4 percent, the third highest percentage of foreign players ever.  

And the Dominican baseball players on MLB rosters in 2012?  There are 95 Dominican players on Opening Day rosters, the most since 2007 and the second most number of Dominican players ever to start the year in the big leagues.  And it comes out to 11% of all the players in the major leagues coming from the Dominican Republic.

See the list of all foreign MLB players by country too.  The Royals have the most foreign born players with thirteen.  All 30 teams have at least one Dominican baseball player on their roster.  The Detroit Tigers lead the way with seven Dominican players and the Blue Jays, Marlins, and Cubs each have six Dominican players.

Dominican baseball players on playoff rosters, Dominicanos en los finales de MLB

Every year, the Dominican Baseball Guy puts out a list of Dominican players on playoff rosters for each round.  So, here is the 2011 list of Dominican players on active MLB 25-man rosters for the Divisional round of the playoffs:

Texas Rangers: Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, Adrian Beltre, Esteban German, Nelson Cruz

Tampa Bay Rays: Joel Peralta, Juan Cruz 

Detroit Tigers: Jose Valverde, Al Alburquerque, Alex Avila, Wilson Betemit, Jhonny Peralta, Ramon Santiago 

New York Yankees: Ivan Nova, Rafael Soriano, Robinson Cano, Eduardo Nunez

Milwaukee Brewers: Carlos Gomez

Saint Louis Cardinals: Octavio Dotel, Rafael Furcal...and o yea, some guy named Albert Pujols

Arizona Diamondbacks: NOT A SINGLE DOMINICAN...they are definitely going to lose

Philadelphia Phillies: Placido Polanco, Michael Martinez, Wilson Valdez, Antonio Bastardo

This is 26 of the 200 players on active rosters for the first round of the playoffs.  This is the exact same number that were on Divisional playoff rosters last season.  It comes out to 13% of the 200 active players, which is slightly ahead of the 10% represented on opening day rosters.  The Tigers lead the way with 7 Dominican players on their playoff rosters and the Rangers have 6.

Interesting that the Dominican Baseball Guy has seen several of these players pop up in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM), and they are now playing at the highest level of baseball.  See the tags for Esteban German, Nelson Cruz, Wilson Betemit, Ramon Santiago, Wilson Valdez...all players that the Dominican Baseball Guy has seen in LIDOM action in recent years.

David Ortiz mentor to Robinson Cano and other younger Dominicans, David Ortiz es mentor para Dominicanos jovenes

David Ortiz has been an ambassador of Dominican baseball and Latin baseball since he busted on the scene with his first all-star campaign in 2004.  While he has been spreading the word of Dominican baseball to American fans and representing the game for all Dominicans, he has also served as a mentor to up and coming Dominican players.

The Dominican Baseball guy blogged on David Ortiz and his relationship with Hanley Ramirez a few months back.  Ramirez came up with the Red Sox and Ortiz showed him the big league ropes early in his career.

Ortiz has a similar relationship with Robinson Cano.  David Ortiz and Robinson Cano first met at a stadium in the Dominican Republic over ten years ago.  Cano remembers the meeting fondly, and says they have had a tight relationship ever since.  Ortiz gives him advice and even picked him for his team in the 2011 home run derby.

According to Ortiz:

“I look at him like a little brother,” said Ortiz. “It’s great. I really try to get along with everybody around me and since the first time I saw him, I saw how hard he was trying to be a good player and came to be who he is today. I always have open hands for people like that.”

Cano hopes to continue the cycle of good will and serve as a mentor to future young Dominican players.

David Ortiz es de Santo Domingo, Robinson Cano es de San Pedro de Macoris, and Hanley Ramirez es de Samana.

David Ortiz bats with the Boston Red Sox

Ex-Pirate Tony Pena elected to Latino Baseball Hall of Fame, Dominicano Tony Pena va a Salon de Fama

The Latin Baseball Hall of Fame, or Salon de la Fama del Beisbol Latino, is based in La Romana, Dominican Republic.  The organization works in coordination with MLB and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

They recently announced their class for 2012.  Aiden Gonzalez of MLB.com covered the story from the perspective of Bernie Williams and the Yankees.  But the Dominican Baseball Guy has not seen one article covering from the perspective of the Dominican inductee and former Pittsburgh Pirate Tony Pena.  Shocking, (the Dominican Baseball Guys knows) MLB and other major media outlets covering the Yankees and not the Pirates.

So, as the Dominican Baseball Guy it is my duty to cover Tony Pena's side of this great honor.  Pena is of course one the most revered Dominican players, and the Dominican Baseball Guy would consider him one of the leaders of what he considers the "modern wave" of Dominicans coming into the big leagues since the 1980s.    He is certainly one of the greatest Dominican catchers to ever play in the big leagues.  You know what, the Dominican Baseball Guy is going to say it: Tony Pena is the greatest Dominican catcher of all-time.

Which bring the Dominican Baseball Guy to another point...THERE ARE NO DOMINICAN CATCHERS nowadays.  The Dominican Baseball Guy noticed this down in the Dominican Republic.  In all the pick up games there is rarely someone playing catcher.  The Dominican Baseball Guy also hypothesizes that there is rarely good catching equipment in La Republica Dominica, so this could be another reason for the dearth of catchers in the country.  Lastly, the Dominican Baseball Guy surmises that "it's just not cool" to play catcher in for young Dominican players.  Just the opinion of the Dominican Baseball Guy, maybe some other reasons for this anomaly.

Pena had a great career that spanned 18 MLB seasons. He came up with the Pirates and went on to play with the Cardinals, Red Sox, and Indians. Tony was known for his defense behind the plate. He won 4 gold gloves and made 5 All-Star teams. He made it to the World Series with the Cardinals in 1987, losing to the Twins.

Tony also had a long career in the Dominican Winter Baseball League, playing late into his career with his original team, the Aguilas from Sanitago. The Dominican Baseball Guy could not find any statistics on his career in the DWL, but he played for more than ten years and won several titles with the Aguilas.

Tony went strait into coaching after his career was over, as many catchers do. He has managed the Aguilas for several years, winning DWL in 1998, 2000, 2001, and a Caribbean Series Championship with the team in 2001.  He spent 2002-2005 as the Royals manager and has been the Yankees bench coach for three years. 

Tony is from Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic. His son Tony Pena Jr. has pitched in the LIDOM and has had a cup of coffee as a pitcher with the Royals, and his other son, Francisco Pena, is in the Mets organization.  He joins Felipe Alou, Juan Marichal, Tetelo Vargas, Rico Carty and Horacio Martinez as the Dominican members of the Latino Hall of Fame.

Tony Pena, Yankees bench coach, by Keith Allison on Flickr

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.

Dominican pitcher Bartolo Colon has stem cell surgery on elbow. Is this surgery a Performance Enhancing Drug?

Earlier this May, the Dominican Baseball Guy blogged that Dominican pitcher Bartolo Colon had off-season regenerative surgery using stem cells on his elbow.  Do you think this is in the same class as performance enhancing drugs?

Well, first off the Dominican Baseball Guy would say yes.  This surgery is not offered in the United States.  This type of surgery normally uses human growth hormones, but since MLB outlaws these hormones, the doctors used Colon's own stem cells from his back.  Sounds pretty similar to PED to the Dominican Baseball Guy.

But, the procedure is not illegal, under MLB rules.  So, the Dominican Baseball Guy cannot chide Colon for breaking MLB rules.  Much like in the pre-steroid era, Colon is playing within the rules, even though it may not be in the spirit of the game.

And most recently, the doctor who performed the surgery has said that up to ten pitchers have inquired about the surgery.  It is obviously against the spirit of "no PEDs."  Let's get this figured out and into the next MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement please, before we have a post-stem cell era.

Colon is from Altamira, DR.  He is in his 14th big league season this year with the Yankees.

 Colon with the White Sox in 2009, by Keith Allison on Flickr

MLB investigating Bartolo Colon off season surgery

Bartolo Colon is off to a good start this season.  The Yankees signed him to a one year contract in the off season after he was out of the big leagues in 2010.  Thus far, he is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA in four starts.

His off season surgery which took place in the Dominican Republic has come under scrutiny by MLB.  Dr. Joseph R. Purita flew to the Dominican Republic from Miami to assist a team of doctors in the elbow surgery.  The team apparently injected stem cells from Colon's back into his elbow to repair ligament damage.  Purita normally uses Human Growth Hormones to perform such surgeries, but in this case used Colon's own stem cells due to MLB rules.

Yankee GM Brian Cashman heard about the procedure through Colon's agent, and reported it to MLB.  The procedure is now under investigation by the league because it could be an offense warranting suspension if Human Growth Hormones were in fact used.  For now, the procedure seems to be a perfectly legal aid in Colon's bounce back year, but it could lead to a suspension if it violated MLB rules.

Colon is from Altamira, DR.

Colon with the White Sox in 2009, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Dominican baseball player Robinson Cano on cover of Sporting News, Yankee and Dominicano Robinson Cano esta en la portada de Sporting News

The Dominican Baseball Guy just picked up this copy of the Sporting News Magazine with Dominican baseball player Robinson Cano on the cover.  The story touts Cano as the best Yankee at the moment, saying "move over Jeter and ARod."

The Dominican Baseball Guy tends to agree, and actually has Cano pegged as the MVP leader out of the box.  He has made the all-star game twice before, and also has two Silver Sluggers and one Gold Glove to his credit.

It will be interesting to see what the Sporting News has to say about the Yankees, and about Cano's transition from the Dominican Republic to the Yankees farm system and eventually to Major League Baseball.

Cano is one of the most loved players from the incredibly talent laden baseball town of San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.