Winter League Highlights: Searle’s success down under
(Photo by Rodger Wood)
All the Winter League talk this offseason has been related to play in the Caribbean. The leagues in Venezuela, the Dominican, Mexico and Puerto Rico are the most notorious offseason destinations for Cubs players and rightfully deserve their mention. There are however a few leagues being played around the world, including one in Australia, where a Cubs reliever is thriving in a prominent role.
Australian-born Ryan Searle started playing for his hometown Brisbane Bandits squad in late November. Acting as the team’s closer, the right-handed pitcher has seen much success in his six appearances this season.
In his 12 innings pitched in Australia, Searle has a 1.50 ERA with a 1-0 record and three saves. Though he’s walked five batters, the 23-year-old has struck out 10.
Searle bounced around the Cubs’ system in 2012. His early struggles in Double-A Tennessee led to an early demotion to High-A Daytona, where some of his totals improved. The reliever’s walks numbers improved from 4.1 batters per nine to 3.0, which improved his WHIP in the process. Searle also struck out one more batter per nine innings than he had in Tennessee. For his efforts he spent a few games in Triple-A to wrap up Iowa’s season.
In 2012, Searle finished with a combined 8-5 record with a 3.87 ERA in 42 games.
News in the Caribbean:
Johermyn Chavez had a base hit and a pair of walks for the Caribes de Anzoategui of the Venezuelan League.
Winter League Highlights: Negrin powers Leones to victory
Right-handed starter Yoanner Negrin has had a solid 2012 winter ball campaign for the Leones del Caracas of Venezuela. He’s been tough all year, posting a 2.61 ERA in 12 starts, fourth-best of all starters in the league. The 28-year-old also has a 4-1 record, which is tied for third in the league. Over his last 20 innings, he’s allowed just two earned runs and struck out 10 batters.
Negrin continued his consistent ways Thursday, allowing three hits over five innings and surrendering one unearned run in a Leones victory. He was awarded the win for his efforts.
Other notes around the Caribbean:
Rafael Dolis pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Estrellas of the Dominican league, striking out a batter in the loss. Dominican teammate Nelson Perez had a pair of hits.
Justin Bour had a two-RBI double and scored a run for Carolina of the Puerto Rican league.
Tony Campana had a pair of hits and a walk for Leones. He also scored a run.
Dave Sappelt had a base hit for the Bravos de Margarita of the Venezuelan league.
Winter League Highlights: Bour pours it on
(Photo by Rodger Wood)
As Vine Line noted on Wednesday, Justin Bour didn’t arrive in Puerto Rico until Dec. 6, so his totals thus far are limited. But he made a big impact Wednesday afternoon for his Gigantes de Carolina team.
Batting third and playing left field, the 6-foot-4 slugger went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, a run scored and two walks. His RBI came in the first on a single to center, and he was left stranded after ripping a double in the third. He grounded out in the fifth, and his next two at-bats resulted in walks.
Bour had a successful year in Double-A Tennessee this season. The natural first baseman finished with a .283/.360/.455 (AVG/OBP/SLG) line and had a franchise record 110 RBI. He hit 36 doubles and 17 home runs, good for third and seventh best, respectively, in the Southern League.
The Cubs’ 25th round pick in 2009 was also a Southern League midseason and postseason All-Star this year.
Other notes around the Caribbean:
Jay Jackson got the start for the Venados de Mazatlan of the Mexican league. He went 4.1 innings, giving up four earned runs on eight hits.
Dave Sappelt led off and had a pair of hits for the Bravos of Venezuela. He drove in a run, scored a run and recorded a walk.
Johermyn Chavez recorded a pinch-hit, two-RBI triple in his lone at-bat for the Caribes of Venezuela.
Winter League Highlights: Lake represents Cubs in All-Star game
While the rest of the players in the Dominican and Venezuelan leagues were resting during the midseason All-Star break, the best players from both leagues squared off in a Tuesday night showdown. While the game wasn’t studded with Cubs prospects, Junior Lake represented both the Cubs and his Dominican side well.
Batting fifth and playing center field, Lake finished the night 1-for-3 with an RBI in an 8-2 Dominican win. In the top of the third with Dodgers star Hanley Ramirez on third base, the Cubs lone All-Star representative beat out a soft ground ball to short, scoring Ramirez to make the game 4-2.
Other highlights around the Caribbean:
Justin Bour went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk for the Gigantes in the Puerto Rican league. It was his first hit in nine winter at-bats.
Winter League Highlights: Rondon trying to bounce back
After undergoing Tommy John elbow surgery, it can be difficult for a pitcher to regain confidence in the arm. That’s what Cubs prospect Hector Rondon is dealing with now. Except he’s returning from multiple surgeries to the same elbow.
The Venezuelan right-hander, whom the Cubs selected with the second overall pick of last week’s Rule 5 Draft, underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2010 and had another procedure in December 2011, wiping out much of the last three seasons. After throwing just seven innings in 2012, Rondon is trying to work his way back to his 2009 self, when he was named the Indians pitching prospect of the year.
To get some innings under his belt before reporting to Spring Training in mid-February, Rondon has been playing winter ball for the Leones del Caracas in his native Venezuela. The reliever has eased back into things, pitching 19 innings in 21 appearances. At first glance, his 4.26 ERA and 2-1 record are nothing to get excited about. But after struggling in three of his first four games—he surrendered four earned runs in his first appearance—he reeled off 14 straight outings from Oct. 23-Dec. 1 without giving up an earned run. Since Dec. 1, he’s given up one earned run in each of his last three appearances.
On the winter, the ground ball pitcher has not surrendered a home run and has struck out 11 batters.
Because he was selected in the Rule 5 Draft, Rondon will have to be on the team’s active roster for the duration of the season or be offered back to Cleveland.
There were no games played yesterday as Mexico and Puerto Rico were off, and the Dominican and Venezuelan leagues are on their All-Star breaks.
Winter League Highlights: Figueroa secures first win of winter
(Photo by Rodger Wood)
Cubs prospect Eduardo Figueroa was a workhorse for Single-A Daytona in 2012. The reliever saw action in 37 games, pitching 77.2 innings, the most of any bullpen arm. The 6-foot-1 righty also made five starts and picked up a pair of saves. Overall, he posted a 4-5 record with a 2.90 ERA.
Signed as a nondrafted free agent in May of 2007, the 24-year-old found solid footing in High-A over the last year after bouncing around at the rookie and Low-A levels. Though his numbers this winter for Venezualan team Tiburones de La Guaria haven’t been great, he’s been able to get in good work, throwing 29.1 innings and posting a 4.91 ERA.
On Sunday, Figueroa picked up his first win of the winter, pitching 1.1 innings of relief, surrendering one hit and a walk in a 7-4 win over the Leones del Caracas.
Other highlights around the Caribbean:
Luis Valbuena continued to impress in Venezuela. He homered, doubled and drove in five runs as the Cardenales de Lara cruised to an 8-1 win. He also scored a run and drew a walk.
Nelson Perez ripped a pinch-hit, two-RBI single in a win for the Estrellas de Oriente of the Dominican league.
Winter League Highlights: Jay Jackson bounces back in Mexico
(Photo by Stephen Green)
After enduring a rough summer, Cubs pitcher Jay Jackson found it necessary to spend the winter working on his game in the Mexican league.
Jackson struggled for Triple-A Iowa in 2012. He finished the year with a 3-7 record and a 6.57 ERA, and was removed from his starter role in early June. In 86.1 innings, he struck out 76 batters, but he also walked 43 and surrendered 14 home runs.
Drafted by the Cubs in 2008, Jackson saw immediate success at the lower levels. In 2009, he started at Class-A Daytona, spent most of the season at Double-A Tennessee and finished the year at Iowa. Heading into 2010, Baseball America rated him the Cubs’ fifth-best prospect.
Jackson has been solid this offseason for Venados de Mazatian. In seven starts, he has a 2-2 record with a 2.53 ERA in 32 innings, and has allowed just one home run. In three of his winter outings, he went at least five innings without surrendering a run, including a Nov. 9 game in which the righty went five strong and gave up only one hit.
But on Thursday, Jackson might have had his finest outing of the season. He went seven scoreless innings, scattering five hits and striking out three in a 7-0 win over Mayos de Navojoa.
Other news from around the Caribbean:
Dave Sappelt had a 2-for-4 day with an RBI and a pair of runs scored in the Venezuelan league for Margarita.
Tony Campana recorded a hit and scored a run in a losing effort for Leones del Caracas of the Venezuelan league.
Eduardo Figueroa pitched 1.2 innings of hitless baseball in a Tiburones win in Venezuela.
Winter League Highlights: Another big day for Sappelt
(Photo by Stephen Green)
Dave Sappelt continued his hot stretch for the Bravos de Margarita of the Venezuelan league, leading his side to a 9-0 win Wednesday. The Cubs outfielder went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, a walk, an RBI and three runs scored.
After striking out in his first at-bat, he singled in the fourth inning and scored on a double one batter later. He forced a walk the sixth and would eventually score from second.
Sappelt then led off the eighth with a home run to left and doubled in the ninth, finishing a triple away from the cycle for the second time in the last week. On the winter, Sappelt is batting .314/.364/.514 with 3 home runs, 14 runs scored and 9 RBI.
Other highlights from around the Caribbean:
Jeffry Antigua pitched 1.1 innings, allowing no hits and no runs in a Toros win in the Dominican league.
Esmailin Caridad pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Yaquis de Obregon of the Mexican league.
From the Winter Meetings: Sveum on the bullpen [Part 2]
Former Cubs reliever and MLB Network analyst Dan Plesac (center) joined Brian Kenny and Tom Verducci for on-site reporting from the Winter Meetings.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Here are more Dale Sveum dispatches from the sprawling Gaylord Opryland Resort, where the halls have been buzzing on this last full day of the Winter Meetings.
• Sveum made it clear the bullpen is getting attention in the Cubs front office. The team already re-signed Shawn Camp, their lone free agent, and may look to add more.
“Upgrading the ‘pen is something we wanted to do. … Whatever happens from here on out—we’re talking to a lot of people, and hopefully things work out. But [Carlos] Marmol is our closer, and we’ve got to get better at the back end. We signed Shawn Camp back, James Russell, so that’s a start. But we have to get better in that seventh, eighth inning.”
Sveum wouldn’t directly comment on Japanese pitcher Kyuji Fujikawa, though the Cubs’ pursuit of the reliever attracted plenty of Japanese reporters to the manager’s press conference. Fujikawa, a free agent who saved 220 games over 12 years with the Hanshin Tigers, clearly intrigues Sveum.
“I think he can fill any kind of role. He’s got that kind of stuff. Those numbers and that ability to do things with three, four different pitches just doesn’t come around very often. So he can set up, he can close, do anything he wants with the baseball. He’s got four quality pitches and can add and subtract with his fastball. Yeah, I mean, he can pitch in the seventh, pitch in the eighth, pitch in the ninth, he can get left-handers out—so he can pitch in any kind of situation.”
• Sveum spent about a week in Arizona to see Cubs prospects, including highly regarded shortstop Javier Baez, who just turned 20 last week. Many have compared Baez’s bat speed to Gary Sheffield’s.
“Incredible bad speed. Didn’t get to see any results, but the bat speed was pretty good. I didn’t go to his best games. But he had a heck of a minor league season—the combination of the home runs and everything. He was a bigger kid than I thought when I saw him in person. I saw him without a shirt on one day, and I was like, wow, he’s a pretty big kid. But a lot of tremendous, tremendous tools at that age. That kind of bat speed just doesn’t come around at 19 years old.”
Winter League Highlights: Campana capitalizes on opportunity
(Photo by Stephen Green)
Cubs outfielder Tony Campana might not pass the eye test of most major league scouts. At 5-foot-8 and no more than 170 pounds, Campana doesn’t possess a lot of raw power—and his two career professional home runs back that notion.
But in 89 games with the Cubs last season, he put his speed and defense on display, stealing 24 bases and taking away numerous hits in center field. In just 37 minor league games last year, the 26-year-old swiped 18 bases and posted a .280 average.
Campana has continued his base stealing exploits this winter for Leones del Caracas of the Venezuelan league. He’s played in only 11 games, but he has managed to steal six bags. And he hasn’t been caught yet.
Although he’s hitting only .214 so far, he made the most of his start Tuesday, going 2-for-5, driving in a run in the fifth inning and scoring a run in the eighth in a 10-7 win over the Bravos de Margarita.
Other highlights around the Caribbean:
Dave Sappelt finished 2-for-4 with a pair of runs in a losing effort for his Margarita team in Venezuela.
In the Dominican league, Junior Lake went 1-for-4 with two runs scored in an Estrellas de Oriente win.
