Winter League Update December 2010: Position Players

While the MLB Winter Meetings are underway in Florida, there are Jays prospects still playing winter ball in a variety of southern locations.

From a position player standpoint, the results have not been pretty as of late. Since I last covered position players in the winter leagues on November 13th, virtually every Jays prospect has either regressed or continued their inability to produce.

I’ll start with the two players who, despite some decline in their statistics, have still been successful during their winter league stints:

OF Darin Mastroianni:

Mastroianni’s numbers have cooled off since my last update in November, but they are still impressive. Here’s a look at his numbers in the Venezuelan Winter League through 37 games:

.365/.449/.460, 24R, 46 H, 5 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 18 RBI, 20 BB, 20 SO

While Mastroianni only has 5 hits since November 19th, he’s batting .355 versus right-handed pitching and .421 versus left-handers. He’s also 11-for-15 in stolen base attempts.

3B Brad Emaus:

A questionable exclusion to the Jays’ 40-man roster and now eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, here’s a look at Emaus’ numbers through 31 games in the Dominican Winter League:

.267/.353/.476, 15 R, 28 H, 8 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 12 BB, 15 SO

Emaus isn’t having the same success as he was during his explosive start to the winter season, but he is still batting .273/.368/.485 over his last 10 games.

It will be interesting to see if he remains a Blue Jays prospect after Thursday’s Rule 5 Draft.

1B Balbino Fuenmayor:

Playing with Class-A Lansing this past season, the 6’3” 235-pound Fuenmayor’s stats are somewhat acceptable. Here’s a look at what he’s done in his short stint (47 at-bats) in the Venezuelan Winter League:

.277/.333/.362, 5 R, 13 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 19 SO

While Fuenmayor’s slash line isn’t exactly spectacular, it’s decent, particularly his batting average. He has struck out 40% of the time though, and has compiled a mediocre .235/.316/.324 line over his last 10 games.

SS Manny Mayorson:

It’s quite surprising that Mayorson is struggling so much in the Dominican Winter League so far considering he hit .316 at Double-A and .333 at Triple-A this season.

Nevertheless, here are his numbers in 13 winter league games (32 at-bats):

.156/.243/.250, 5 H, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SO

The one positive to take out of Mayorson’s winter league stats so far is that he has only struck out twice in his 32 at-bats. He has, however, gone just 2-for-22 (.091) over his last 10 games.

C Jonathan Jaspe:

It’s still puzzling as to why Jaspe was selected to play winter ball, but here’s a look at his numbers through 11 games in the Venezuelan Winter League:

.174/.208/.304, 4 H, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SO

Similar to Mayorson, the only positive out of Jaspe’s terrible numbers is that he has only struck out once in 23 at-bats, so at least he is making contact. His less than stellar play has resulted in him not seeing any action since November 19th.

Other Jays’ position players that are in action but only have small sample sizes include:

OF Moises Sierra (DWL) – Currently on the Jays’ 40-man roster, Sierra is 1-for-6 with three strikeouts so far, and just got his first hit in DWL action yesterday

SS Jesus Merchan (VWL) – .333/.385/.417 in 12 at-bats

1B David Cooper (VWL) – .176/.222/.176 in 17 at-bats

Constant updates can always be found on the Jays’ official winter league website.

-JM

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