2014 Cleveland Indians Winter League Results

For some, 162 games are not enough and as they have done almost since baseball’s inception, many of the Indians current and future players were involved in international baseball leagues during the off-season. This year, including those who played in the Arizona Fall League (which was already covered), 38 Indians continued their season through December. With the conclusion of the Liga de Beisbol Dominicano on January 17th, all four leagues that the Indians had players in are now concluded for the 2014-2015 season. Included in this group are players ranking from the Major League level, like Jose Ramirez and Roberto Perez, almost Major Leaguers, like Carlos Moncrief and Giovanny Urshela, players who missed most of 2014 with injuries like Tyler Naquin and low level players like 2014 draft picks Alexis Pantoja and Gian Paul Gonzalez.

Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional

A wide range of Indians prospects participated in the Venezuelan Winter Leagues this year, including a couple AAA players who could feature greatly on the Indians parent club next year depending on circumstances. The most interesting of these is hot third baseman, Giovanny Urshela, who, thanks to Lonnie Chisenhall’s poor glove at third, is now being looked at as a serious option for the 2015 squad. He was the starting third baseman for the Aguilas de Zulia and lead the team in hitting with an average near .400. He is playing along side his American team mates, Carlos Moncrief and Anthony Gallas, the three of whom have combined for 43 RBI, leading the Zulia Eagles to a 35-28 finish, tied for the second in wins in the league.

While the talent in Venezuela is of a large range, diminishing any positive stats and increasing worry over negative ones, Urshela’s success should be considered with slight optimism, especially considering that he beat a couple Major Leaguers in average, his own teammate Ender Inciarte and David Peralta, both of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In the big city of Caracas, Jesus Aguilar had been powering the league, but his season was cut short when the Indians required him to join their training facility in the Dominican Republic. Others who receieved very limited playing time in Venezuela were infielder Yhoxian Medina, catcher Alex Monsalve and pitchers Yoiber Marquina and Toru Murata. For the Caribes de Anzoategui, Mahoning Valley’s Ramon Rodriguez was one of the team’s ten most used relievers at 22.2 innings in 19 appearances. His 3.18 ERA and four holds were impressive, especially given that he is only 20 years old and just finished his first professional season above Rookie ball. Murata, a Clippers player during the regular season also with the Caribes, can have his numbers looked at a little more fairly when you see that he allowed three home runs in his final start of the season. Prior to that, he had an ERA under 3.00 and just one home run allowed in 19 innings across four starts.

Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente

The Indians had few players in the Puerto Rican Winter League, although they were a little more interesting than some of the other leagues. To start, Alexis Pantoja and Gian Paul Gonzalez were both 2014 draft picks who played in limited action. In addition, Indians reserve catcher Roberto Perez also played 29 games early on. The best though, was Giovanni Soto who has played internationally throughout his young career, including the World Baseball Classic last time around. This has been his most successful period during any league as he moved from the bullpen in the rotation and lead the Gigantes de Carolina in ERA, strike outs and WHIP. In fact, in the entire league, only the incredible Ivan Maldonado, who allowed just two earned runs in 46 innings, surpassed Soto in these stats (Soto still lead in strike outs).

Soto originally came from Detroit for Jhonny Peralta and after some set backs, spent 2014 with the RubberDucks with a 3.23 ERA through 53 innings. He will be 24 when the next season starts and looking to head to Columbus for the first time. With that in mind, his success in this mixed level league should give the Indians some extra comfort in giving him this promotion.

Australian Baseball League

The Indians had but one player involved in Australia’s professional league this year, the catcher Ryan Battaglia. He has been the second most used catcher for the Bandits, splitting time with Kuan-Wei Yang of Taiwan and former Indians farm hand, Mitch Nilsson. Given his poor showing against the far below MLB level Australian League and his even worse season in Mahoning Valley last year (.112/.231/.202 in 31 games) it isn’t a stretch to say that Battaglia most likely will not be the Indians first Australian born player.

Liga de Beisbol Dominicano

Quite possibly the largest and most talented league in the Caribbean was full of Tribesmen this winter as 13 different players from every level, including the Major Leagues participated. While the stats for pitchers and hitters are listed above, most did not play enough to be of particular value. Of most interest to Indians fans should be the relief pitcher Antonio Romero, who is yet to play in the Indians system after defecting from Cuba and signing with the team last year. His first minor league action will take place next Spring, but his four innings with just three hits and no runs allowed are a nice precursor to make sure he is ready for action.

Offensively, many of the Indians highly touted infielders were involved with the Dominican Winter League including the expected starting short stop in 2015, Jose Ramirez, AAA utility man Audy Ciriaco and the AA double play combination of Erik Gonzalez and Ronny Rodriguez all played. While none of these played a truly significant amount, both the Major League quality players, Ciriaco and Ramirez, had at least 85 at bats and batted near .250.