After a significant delay, we’ve finally landed in beautiful Puerto Rico to take a look at some of the players who excelled in their league this past winter. For a full explanation of all this, head on over to our coverage of the Mexican Pacific League. Otherwise, sit back, relax, and enjoy your stay in Puerto Rico.
Batters
League Totbat MinAB Qualbat Parambat Paramtot OPS BB/K ISO Puerto Rican 115 84 58 15 13.04 .715 .572 .139
Key. Totbat, total number of batters in league; MinAB, minimum number of at bats needed to qualify; Qualbat, number of batters who qualified; Parambat, number of batters who met parameters (i.e., positive iOPS, iBB/K, and iISO); Paramtot, percentage of total number of batters who met parameters. OPS, OBP + SLG; ISO, SLG – BA.
For the sake of comparison, the MLB OPS, BB/K, and ISO in 1998 were .757, .516, and .154. Batters in the Puerto Rican League tend to hit a little worse, hit for less power, and draw a few more walks relative to strikouts than in the big leagues (disregarding, of course, level of competition).
Below are the 15 batters, in descending order of at bats, who had enough at bats and were above league average in all three categories, OPS, BB/K, and ISO.
Puerto Rican League Last First Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB PCT OBP SLG OPS BB/K ISO iOPS iBB/K iISO Diaz Alex OF 177 37 59 20 0 6 26 17 19 21 .333 .392 .548 .940 .895 .215 31.53 56.32 54.60 Sierra Ruben OF 172 29 49 14 1 7 31 25 34 2 .285 .376 .500 .876 .735 .215 22.55 28.47 54.91 Lucca Lou 3B 171 24 53 9 1 9 29 17 22 2 .310 .372 .532 .905 .773 .222 26.59 35.01 60.02 Vaz Roberto OF 169 21 51 12 2 4 15 20 13 6 .302 .376 .467 .843 1.538 .166 18.00 168.79 19.31 Correa Miguel OF 168 30 42 11 0 6 18 18 30 13 .250 .323 .423 .745 .600 .173 4.29 4.83 24.30 Latham Chris OF 167 29 39 8 4 4 19 35 42 12 .234 .366 .401 .768 .833 .168 7.42 45.60 20.74 Cruz Jose OF 166 34 53 9 1 6 29 31 27 5 .319 .426 .494 .920 1.148 .175 28.81 100.60 25.80 Valentin Jose 2B 164 34 48 12 2 9 31 35 37 5 .293 .417 .555 .972 .946 .262 36.03 65.27 88.81 Villanueva Hector 1B 155 23 52 6 0 10 31 27 21 2 .335 .434 .568 1.002 1.286 .232 40.21 124.63 67.25 Beltran Carlos OF 151 28 47 7 3 9 28 18 30 6 .311 .385 .576 .961 .600 .265 34.46 4.83 90.76 Martinez Ramon 2B 145 18 42 10 1 3 14 15 17 2 .290 .356 .434 .791 .882 .145 10.67 54.16 4.29 Vidro Jose 2B 144 33 60 12 0 10 30 11 7 5 .417 .458 .708 1.166 1.571 .292 63.24 174.55 110.03 Colon Dennis 1B 106 11 29 9 0 2 12 10 13 0 .274 .336 .415 .751 .769 .142 5.15 34.40 1.90 Merced Orlando DH 103 13 26 2 1 7 25 18 9 0 .252 .364 .495 .859 2.000 .243 20.19 249.43 74.78 Lopez Pedro C 89 11 18 4 2 4 12 13 16 0 .202 .304 .427 .731 .813 .225 2.29 41.96 61.82
Diaz, age 30, has spent parts of each of the past 7 seasons in the big leagues, with the Brewers, Mariners, Rangers, and, most recently, Giants. In 766 at bats, his career numbers are .240/.271/.324. Primarily an outfielder, he has also played a few games at second base. In 1995 he hit .248/.286/.333 in 270 at bats filling in for Ken Griffey, Jr., while Junior recovered from a broken wrist. Last year he hit .129/.129/.161 in 62 big league at bats. I’m not sure why, but he’ll probably get another chance somewhere this year.
Sierra, age 33, once appeared to be a superstar in the making but it never quite happened. He had 139 big league homers by age 25, but he’s only hit 100 more since then. For his career he’s at .269/.317/.451 in 6409 at bats (that’s 1723 hits for those of you keeping score at home). Last year with the White Sox he hit .216/.247/.459 in 74 at bats. He’ll probably resurface for a handful of games in 1999 before disappearing again.
Lucca, age 28, has toiled in the Marlins’ farm system for all of his 7 seasons, the past 3 of which he spent at Triple-A Charlotte. He showed decent pop and excellent plate discipline prior to reaching Charlotte, at age 25, but lost his batting eye upon reaching Triple-A. Playing mostly third base and some outfield, in 1998 he hit .290/.319/.453 over 397 at bats. His MLE was .248/.266/.373, which isn’t good for a third baseman but still is a significant upgrade from Josh Booty. His career numbers are .279/.355/.440 in 2473 at bats.
The 24-year-old Vaz is a personal favorite of mine. He’s a sweet swinging corner outfielder in the Oakland system. Vaz doesn’t have overwhelming tools but he sure can hit. Last year at Double-A Huntsville he hit .295/.369/.409 in 457 at bats. He also stole 23 bases. His MLE was .253/.305/.334. Not the stuff of legends, but I’m rooting for him.
Correa, 27 years old, played last season at El Paso, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Double-A affiliate, where he hit .279/.315/.419 in 537 at bats. That translates to a .231/.251/.324 MLE, terrible for an outfielder. After spending his first 6 seasons in the Braves organization, he moved onto Seattle in 1997 before coming to the Brewers. Last year, his ninth as a professional, was his first full one in Double-A.
Latham, age 26, is a switch-hitting center fielder in the Twins system. Originally drafted by the Dodgers, he came to Minnesota in the Kevin Tapani deal, if I’m not mistaken. He wins high marks for his defense and is very fast. Latham has spent most of the past 3 seasons at Triple-A Salt Lake City. Last year he hit .324/.412/.488 in 377, for an MLE of .284/.356/.410. Over 8 years in the minors he’s hit .290/.384/.428 in 2628 at bats. In 116 big league at bats, his numbers are .164/.248/.207. He’s currently battling it out with the younger Torii Hunter and Jacque Jones for a starting job. He’s no star in the making, but Latham should probably get a chance to play everyday for somebody.
What can I say about Cruz that isn’t already known? Seattle’s 1st round draft pick (#3 overall, after Ben Davis and before Kerry Wood) was traded to the Blue Jays for relievers Paul Spoljaric and Mike Timlin late in the 1997 season. The 25-year-old switch hitter can play all three outfield positions, has good power, draws walks, and can run a little. In 747 big league at bats he’s hit .250/.334/.454. He’s at the beginning of what promises to be a very solid career.
The 29-year-old Valentin, as you probably know, plays shortstop for the Milwaukee Brewers. He was moved to second base in Puerto Rico to accommodate some young prospect whose name escapes me at the moment, but he’ll be back at short for the Brewers. In 428 at bats in 1998 he hit .224/.323/.393. In his 7 years with Milwaukee he’s hit .241/.320/.422, which is pretty nice production out of a shortstop.
Villaneuva, age 34, is a huge man who caught and played some first base for the Cubs and Cardinals from 1990 to 1993. He had two outstanding seasons in Chicago, followed by a poor one, followed by 17 games of futility in St. Louis. His big season (excuse the pun) came in 1991, when he hit .276/.346/.542 in 192 at bats. For his career he hit .230/.293/.442 in 473 at bats. Despite the fact that he looked like as much of an athlete as John Kruk, Villanueva was, at least according to Greg Maddux, a good catcher to work with.
Beltran, age 22, is one of the better prospects in all of baseball. The switch-hitting center fielder from Puerto Rico was taken by the Royals in the 2nd round of the 1994 amateur draft. After 3 lackluster seasons, in 1998 he emerged as a potential offensive and defensive force. He split most of the season between Class-A Wilmington and Double-A Wichita, before hitting .276/.317/.466 in a 58 at bat trial with the big club. Beltran figures to be the starter this year in Kansas City, and though it may be a while before he reaches such lofty levels, he reminds me a bit of a young Bernie Williams.
Martinez is a 26-year-old second baseman in the San Francisco Giants chain. He came up for 19 games last year when Jeff Kent was hurt and hit .316/.435/.368 in 19 at bats. Originally property of the Royals, he came to the Giants in 1997 (I’m guessing as a minor league free agent) and spent most of 1998 at Triple-A Fresno, hitting .313/.375/.497 in 364 at bats, which translates to .273/.330/.416. While certainly no threat to Kent’s job, Martinez could probably be a useful backup.
Vidro, age 24, split 1998 between Montreal and Class AAA Ottawa. He hit .289/.361/.391 in the minors and .220/.318/.278 with the big club. He’s shown good pop in the minors for a middle infielder and his plate discipline is improving, so he’s got a shot to be a regular at some point, especially given the Expos’ situation.
Colon, age 25, toils in the Mets system. The lefty swinging outfielder split 1998 between Double-A Binghampton and Triple-A Norfolk, hitting .285/.349/.422 at the former and .269/.357/.313 at the latter. His MLE last year was .248/.304/.321, which is substandard for a middle infielder and unacceptable for a first baseman/corner outfielder.
The 32-year-old Merced, once thought by some to be a promising young hitter, is now a journeyman first baseman/corner outfielder who doesn’t bring a lot to the table and charges too much for it. Last year with the Twins, Red Sox, and Cubs he hit .278/.336/.413 in 223 at bats. For his career he’s hitting .281/.361/.425 in 3204 at bats.
Lopez, 30 years old, caught for the Astros’ Double-A club last year, posting .287/.373/.517 numbers in 178 at bats. For his career, he’s at .253/.325/.364 over 2472 at bats. I always hope guys like Lopez make it to the Show.
Pitchers
League Totpit MinIP Qualpit Parampit Paramtot ERA K/BB K/9 H/9 Puerto Rican 109 23 53 8 7.34 3.69 1.78 6.49 8.43
Key. Totpit, total number of pitchers in league; MinIP, minimum number of innings pitched needed to qualify; Qualpit, number of pitchers who qualified; Parampit, number of pitchers who met parameters (i.e., positive iERA, iK/BB, iK/9, and iH/9); Paramtot, percentage of total number of pitchers who met parameters.
The MLB values in 1998 for ERA, K/BB, K/9, and H/9 were 4.42, 1.94, 6.61, 9.22. Once again ignoring the discrepancies in talent level, pitchers in the Puerto Rican League give up fewer runs and hits than their big league counterparts. Strikeouts and walks are about the same.
Here are the 8 pitchers, in descending order of innings pitched, who posted above-average values in each of the previously mentioned categories and who pitched the requisite number of innings.
Puerto Rican League Last First W L G SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA K/BB K/9 H/9 iERA iK/BB iK/9 iH/9 DeSilva John 3 4 11 0 61.3 51 26 21 28 52 3.08 1.86 7.63 7.48 16.55 4.09 17.55 11.21 Ludwick Eric 4 1 9 0 54.3 31 8 8 14 55 1.33 3.93 9.11 5.13 64.11 120.18 40.35 39.07 Pineiro Joel 2 0 12 0 50.7 43 19 18 18 39 3.20 2.17 6.93 7.64 13.41 21.44 6.73 9.37 Lilly Ted 2 1 6 0 32.0 25 9 8 9 38 2.25 4.22 10.69 7.03 39.07 136.64 64.65 16.57 Mix Greg 3 1 25 4 30.3 19 7 7 12 30 2.08 2.50 8.90 5.64 43.75 40.12 37.13 33.11 Nye Ryan 2 2 5 0 29.7 22 12 11 11 29 3.34 2.64 8.80 6.67 9.63 47.76 35.54 20.81 Martinez Javier 2 0 17 4 29.3 26 10 8 10 27 2.45 2.70 8.28 7.98 33.53 51.33 27.62 5.35 McGlinchy Kevin 1 1 14 0 24.0 16 6 5 2 28 1.88 14.00 10.50 6.00 49.22 684.66 61.76 28.81
That’s all for now. Next stop on the tour, Venezuela.
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