Winter League Update

Thanksgiving is over, and we should all be in full blown Christmas mode, right? While there are currently 82 days until pitchers and catchers report on February 19th, there is still some baseball to be played in 2015. It's the latter part of the winter league schedule, the AFL season has ended, and there's only about a months worth of games left in the South American leagues. Here is the full list of all Mariner farmhands participating winter ball, so let's take a quick peek and see how our prospects are fairing towards the tail end of off season baseball.

In Venezuela, neither Rayder Ascanio (.138/.138/.172, 2 SB) nor Stefan Romero (.200/.250/.467, 1 HR, 1 2B) are doing much for the Tigres de Aragua at the plate, but Kyle Hunter has tossed a scoreless inning and Vidal Nuno (1.98 ERA in 7 GS, 27/5 K/BB) has been very effective on the mound. For the Cardenales de Lara, Leon Landry has also struggled, hitting just .163 across 43 at bats, while Carlos Misell has surrendered 18 hits in just 10.2 innings pitched. Only Osmer Morales has been decent, putting up an ERA of 3.43 with a 9.0 K/9 in 13 games. Jesus Sucre is batting .231/.286/.231 in 13 at bats for the Navegantes del Magallanes, and newly acquired CJ Riefenhauser has an 11.57 ERA in his first four appearances for the Bravos de Margarita, with three punch outs in 2.1 innings on the mound.

In the Liga de Beisbol Dominicano, Patrick Kivlehan is hitting .250 with a double in his first four games for the Leones del Escogido. Anthony Fernandez made only one appearance for the Aguilas Cibaenas, giving up two runs in just a third of an inning. Ketel Marte is hitting .211/.250/.211 with two stolen bases in limited action for the Gigantes del Cibao, while Jose Ramirez has not been good on the mound for the same club, issuing four walks and four wild pitches in just 4.2 IP. Tyler Olson is also pitching for the Gigantes where he's been given six starts and compiled a 5.91 ERA and 19/8 K/BB across his 21 frames.

The professional league of Puerto Rico, which is called the Liga de Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (ha), is where the Cangrejero de Santurce play their games. Their current center fielder is Ian Miller of your Jackson Generals. He is hitting .241/.338/.276 with nine walks so far this season, while Michael Rivera has a 4.50 ERA in 6 IP. Down in Mexico, Stephen Landazuri is enjoying a very good season with the Aguilas de Mexicali; he has a 3.43 ERA in 7 GS with 40 strikeouts in 39.1 innings pitched.

The Mariners also had quite a few prospects make appearances in the Arizona Fall League. DJ Peterson (.209/.321/.388) had a strong start for the Javelinas and earned an All Star game nod before tapering off down the stretch. David Rollins was solid in the desert, also earning an All Star nod, while compiling a 2.79 ERA with 11 K's and only three walks in 9.2 innings. Dario Pizzano hit .182 with a double and three walks in limited action, while Tyler Smith faded quite a bit in the 2nd half - he ended up hitting .231/.287/.333 with three stolen bases and six walks. Tyler O'Neill had an abbreviated season, as he was called up to the Canadian national team to play in the WBSC Premier 12 baseball tournament, where he slashed .333/.429/.833. He also won the exceedingly prestigious Most Runs Scored Award (no joke). O'Neill hit .333/.355/.733 with three dingers (tied for the team lead) before he left Arizona; unfortunately, he continued his normal plate approach, which includes absolutely no walking at any time for any reason. He struck out 11 times while taking zero free passes in his time with the Javelinas. Paul Fry punched out 10 in 10.2 innings, but also gave up 21 hits and had an ugly 7.59 ERA on the campaign. Ryan Horstman came back from injury to toss 9.2 innings and gave up only seven hits and a single run. James Paxton completely abandoned his curveball in Arizona, and got through 29 innings with a 29/8 K/BB ratio and 4.60 ERA.

In Australia, the Mariners have a couple of former AquaSox playing very well for the Adelaide Bite. Jordan Cowan has been a top of the order catalyst, hitting .309/.343/.394 with nine stolen bases and five doubles. His teammate Kyle Petty is in the conversation for league MVP; he leads the ABL with eight home runs and is slashing .378/.422/.744 with six stolen bases of his own. Kody Kerski is 4 for 4 in SVO, with six punch outs in 7.1 innings.