2002 DSL Red Sox
From SoSH
2002 Dominican Summer League Red Sox Season Ending Report
If anyone wants to see other players DSL numbers, ask me, and I'll post them. I don't have Hanley's, but do have anyone who played in the US in either 2000 and 2001
Anyway, here goes
The Dominican Summer League is primarily made up of 17 and 18 year old players, with a few older players hanging around. Looking at historical player examples it is hard to get a good reading for the value of numbers in the DSL. Most of the Dominican players in the majors put up middle ground numbers in the DSL; although, both Soriano and Vlady showed right away that they had superstar potential. It is also interesting to note that very few Dominican players in the majors repeated a season in the DSL, but ODDLY the 2 greatest players from the Dominican both spent 2 years in the league. (go igure)
The Red Sox Dominican program has in recent years turned out some good prospects. The 2002 DSL Red Sox season was highlighted by one excellent season. Unfortunately the difficulty in preparing this writeup is that it is difficult if not impossible on most players to find relevant information such as Age and height/weight, so this report will not be as good as some of the others. The DSL Red Sox did win their League, and lost to the Phillies team in the playofs.
Also note that many Dominican prospects never appear in this league, the big ticket signees almost always skip right to an American Rookie League. .
Realistically, anywhere from 3-10 of the players on the DSL roster will ever appear in the United states, and most likely it will be closer to 5.
The STUD Willy Reyes had an AWESOME season. The Negative is that his age is currently unknown (to us at least, but he is likely at least 18) . The good news is that when the Sox name their players of the year, Reyes should win this easily, and we can get some information on him then. A switch hitting second baseman Reyes hit 22HR in only 254 at bats, which easily lead the league. His batting average was decent at .256 . His walk rate wasn’t bad 36/256, it was the best on the team, but that may just be due to people pitching around him a lot. His strikeouts were high at 64/254. His final OPS was 958. He also stole 13 bases, but with 9 CS. He also committed 23 errors in 72 games at 2B. He was named to the Dominican League AL All Star team.
The Infield Luis Herrera. Ranks with Cabrera the best of the new groups signees. Herrera was apparently 17 when signed this Spring. He is 6’3”, 195. Like Reyes, he batted .254. The Righthanded hitter showed some power hitting 11HR in 268 at bats. Luis was impatient at the plate with on 17 walks, but he made more contact that Reyes with only 52 strikeouts. His final OPS was 747. Luis didn’t run much 6 SB in 8 attempts. He appears adequete defensively with only 15 errors in 70 games at 3B
Reynis Mola. A righthanded hitting 1B. Mola batted .283 with 7HR in 240 at bats. He also walked 23 times and struck out 57 times. He did lead the team with 22 doubles. He finished the year with an 818OPS. His error total was high for a 1B with 11 in 57 games played
Alexander Penalo. A switch hitting Shortstop Penalo certainly broke the mold for Sox Dominican prospects this year. He showed excellent contact with a .304 BA, and a 27BB/32K ratio. He showed some speed with 10 SB, and 4 CS, His OPS was 805. He made 28 errors in 62 games at SS.
The Outfield Manuel Robles. Probably the most impressive of the DSL OF, which was a generally unimpressive lot. Robles showed a little pop with 6 HR and 21 doubles. He batted .275 with a very poor 7 BB/ 37 K ratio in 255 at bats, and finished the year with a 749 OPS . Defensively he made 7 errors in 66 games.
Ismael Rosario. An OF with what seems like good speed. Rosario batted .283, but didn’t even show a glimpse of power. He posted a 740 OPS with 14 SB, and a 28 BB/50 K ratio in 251 at bats. Defensively he made 8 errors in 67 games. Rosario is 17 years old, and is 6’ 165. He is one of the new groups signees.
Rene Jabalera. An OF who didn’t show that much this year.. He batted .269 in 1293 at bats. He walked 15 times and struck out 38 times, finishing the year with a 710 OPS. He made 8 errors in 63 games
The Pitchers
Henry Cabrera. A righthanded pitcher who was used primarily as a starter. Henry posted an 1.75 era in 46 1/3 innings. He struck out 36 and walked 23, while allowing only 29 hits. Unfortunately he also gave up a ton of unearned runs which bring his RA closer to 3.5. He is one of the new signees, and is 18 years old, and 6’4 180. He certainly outperformed the much more heralded Astacio by miles.
Irving Sanchez. Irving seemed to be used primarily in middle relief, but posted outstanding numbers for the year. The righthanded pitcher only allowed 51 hits in 62 innings, along with 39 strikeouts and just 11 walks. Sanches posted a 1.31 era, but a RA of 2.6 as like Cabrera he gave up an inordinate number of unearned runs. He was named to the Dominican League AL All Star team.
Elvin Carmona . Elvin was the closer, and did a good job; although he did fall apart at the end of the year, as he hadn’t allowed an earned run in his first 24 innings. Elvin only pitched 31 1/3 innings in 24 games. He showed a good power arm striking out 33 batters, and only allowing 31 1/3 hits. His era for the season was 2.01. He was named to the Dominican League AL All Star team.
Elpidio Hilario. Hilario is interesting in that he posted strikeout and hit numbers, but he also walked way to many, and ended up with a poor era. He threw 35 innings, giving up 34 hits, and 39 strikeouts, very nice. He gave up 21 walks, and an era of 5.65. I think he pitched better than the era indicates, probably the opposite of someone like Astacio, who was even worse than his era indicates. Elpidio is another of the new signees. He is 18 years old, and 6’ 175
Olivo Astacio. Wow this guy stunk this year. He threw 22 inning, and ended up with and era of 6.96, but he was even worse than that. He allowed 26 hits, and 21 baserunners in those 22 innings, while only striking out 14. What is real scary are that these numbers are much better than he did in the GCL.
Here is what Gary wrote about Astacio during his dismal GCL run
Quote:
RHP Olivo Astacio started for the Sox.. Basically a two-pitch guy, with a fastball that sits at 88-90 mph, and a slurve that comes in around 77 mph. Astacio’s listed at 6’ 5”, 190 lbs., and that’s overly generous. He is 6’ 5”, but has the build of an Ethopian…I’d peg him at about 155-160 lbs. He’ll turn 18 next week.
Argenis Zapata. Getting a mention just because of how rancid he is. You simply don’t see players finish a season with numbers like this. Zapata appeared in 22 games, amassing a grand total of 13 Outs. He also allowed 24 baserunners and finished the year with an era of 29.08
Going back in to add the other new signees who I had initially ignored
Elisandro Marrero. A 19 year old, 6'1, 180 pitcher who didn’t seem to know a strike from a ball. He is the oldest of the new signees, and likely will have a short life in the system, unless he has just an unreal fastball. His era wasn’t awful at only 5.45, but he gave up a lot of hits 37 in 33 innings, and his strikeout/walk ratio was a joke (26/25)
Antonio Tejada. Now I’m starting to wonder if they did anything but bring a radar gun along when they signed these guys. Each new signee I look at has less of an idea of the strikezone than the previous guy, and Tejada is the worst so far. Tejada threw 22 innings and walked 26 guys, I like the 18 hits, but this is just ugly. His strikeouts didn’t make up for it with only 15. Tejada is 18 years old, and 6’4” 165
Adonis Breton. A 6’2” 170lb 17 year old Righthand pitcher. At least he showed better control than most of the new signees. Of course that didn’t stop him from getting knocked all over the ballpark. He was tatooed to the tune of 43 hits in 30 1/3 innings. He allowed 20 walks, and struxk out 26. His era was a hefty 6.46, and his RA was pushing 11.
Lewis Calderon . He is the last of the new signees and he gets a pass, because the barely used him this year. He is 16 years old, 6’4” 225. Like most of the other new signees he struggled finding the strikezone; although, 9 walks in 13 innings is outstanding for this group. He only struck out 5 guys,. He’ll likely stay in the DSL for another year IF there is still a DSL.
