DSL Season opener

It is not a secret that one of my favorite MLB-affiliated minor leagues (and probably the most obscure and hardest to follow) is the Dominican Summer League. Last season the DSL Twins finished with an overall 46-24 record on top of the Boca Chica Northern Division. The 2009 DSL season started last Saturday with DSL Twins blanking the DSL Reds 3-0, with the 19 year old Pedro Guerra, who last year I indicated as the best arm in the Twins' minor league system in my opinion, starting the game. The next game is today, since they never play baseball on Sundays in the Dominican Republic.

Here is the 2009 DSL Roster (from MiLB.com), with the players who were in the 2008 squad in italics and off-set:

#  Name                  Pos  Bat  Thw     Ht       Wt      DOB       
9 Ricardo Arevalo         P    R    R     6' 3"    210    02-28-1991 
43 Carlos Carrillo        P    R    R     6' 4"    180    11-25-1989  
4 Cesar Ciurcina          P    R    R     5' 11"   192    10-23-1990 
2 Frank Frias             P    R    R     6' 3"    170    08-15-1989 
39 Pedro Guerra        P    R    R     6' 0"    180    01-09-1990
17 Edgar Martinez         P    R    R     6' 0"    145    09-01-1990 
20 Francisco Nunez        P    R    R     6' 3"    180    12-28-1991
33 Luis Nunez             P    L    L     5' 11"   160    09-26-1991 
44 Renzo Reverol       P    R    R     6' 2"    192    01-24-1991
40 Wilson Sanchez         P    R    R     6' 1"    175    05-06-1991 
27 Eddy Santana        P    R    R     6' 1"    165    09-21-1987 
10 Manuel Soliman         P    R    R     6' 2"    185    08-11-1989 
26 Orlando Villaroel   P    R    R     6' 1"    190    03-08-1990

Catchers 
#         Name           Pos  Bat  Thw     Ht       Wt       DOB 
8 Felix Gallardo         C     R    R     6' 1"    178    06-25-1991 
38 Randy Pina         C     R    R     6' 0"    189    05-01-1991
35 Jairo Rodriguez    C     R    R     5' 11"   180    08-24-1988

Infielders 
#  Name                  Pos  Bat  Thw      Ht       Wt       DOB  
31 Victor Arias       SS    S    R     5' 11"    170   03-26-1991 
32 Juan Blanco        2B    R    R     5' 10"    152   04-24-1989
28 Pedro Estaba          SS    S    R     5' 10"    165   08-04-1992 
22 Lesther Galvan     DH    R    R     5' 10"    178   04-10-1990
19 Yorby Martinez     3B    S    R     6' 0"     170   01-12-1989
1 Daniel Santana      SS    S    R     5' 11"    150   11-07-1990 
23 Kelvin Silvania       1B    L    L     6' 1"     185   10-03-1990 

Outfielders 
#  Name                  Pos  Bat  Thw      Ht       Wt       DOB  
11 Felix Caro         LF    R    R     6' 0"     186    03-20-1990 
7 Ernesto Ciprian        OF    R    R     6' 2"     175    02-09-1991 
36 Alexandre De Oliveira OF    L    R     6' 1"     185    07-15-1992 
5 Yancarlo Franco     LF    R    R     5' 9"     145    08-29-1988 
21 Wilfy Gil          CF    R    R     6' 2"     180    11-10-1989 
25 Kelvin Ortiz          OF    R    R     5' 11"    178    10-19-1991
1 Candido Pimentel       OF    S    R     5' 11"    160    07-19-1990 
10 Emilio Sepulveda      OF    R    R     6' 2"     170    08-27-1991 
12 Romy Trinidad         OF    R    R     6' 2"     170    05-14-1991 

Several players are returning, but the roster has undergone a major overhaul, especially on the pitching side. There are two 16 year old in the roster and many 17 and 18 year old players. The DSL Twins team has 14 players who were born in 1991 or earlier.

Here is another exciting thing: What happened to the players who were there in 2008 but are not here in 2009. As you may remember one batter and several pitchersfrom the 2008 DLS squad were included in my lists of the Top Twins' prospects from this off-season. The exiting news is that they might be coming up north to join the GCL or the Elizabethton Twins when these teams start their season.

This is pure speculation, based on 2008 records and rosters. No announcement has been made yet, so it is breaking news :)

Here are the 2008 DSL pitchers with their current age and 2008 record who might be playing in the US this season:

Adrian Salcedo, 18, RHS, 1.65 ERA, 0.842 WHIP, 6.9 K/9, 6.25 K/BB (65.1 IP)
Ramon Acosta, 22, RHS, 0.00 ERA, 0.640 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, 3.89 K/BB (54.2 IP)
Jose Gonzales, 19, LHR, 1.87 ERA, 0.861 WHIP, 11.5 K/9, 4.78 K/BB (33.2 IP)
Leonardo Parra, 22 RHR, 1.41 ERA, 0.761 WHIP, 6.6 J/9, 4.71 K/BB (44.2 IP)
Edison Alvarez, 20, RHR, 2.09 ERA, 1.060 WHIP, 8.6 K/9, 5.29 K/BB, 15 saves (38.2 IP)

The following pitchers probably did not make the cut and were released by the Twins' organization:

Raynard Doran, RHP, 21
Jhon Garcia, RHP, 22 (big strikeout pitcher but oft injured, I would be surprised to see him North)
Deivi Germosen, RHP, 19
Lesmir Vargas, RHP, 22

The following batter and second in my Twins hitting prospect list, most certainly will be playing with the GCL Twins or with the Elizabethton Twins (the DSL league average OPS for 2008 was .660) :

Jairo Perez, C, RH, 21: .338/.437/.525

most likely made the cut:

Oswaldo Arcia, OF, SH, 18: .293/.343/.432

the following position players probably did not make the cut and were released by the organization:

Jhonatan Arias, 20 (.612 OPS)
Jean Carlos Mercedes, 21 (.670 OPS)
Rafael Sanchez, 19 (.570 OPS)
Eliel Sierra, 23 (.717 OPS)
Manuel Soliman, 19 (.640 OPS)
Carlos Vasquez, 18 (.426 OPS)

It would be exciting to see what these young arms and Jairo Perez can do in the US-based minor leagues.

I will try to follow the DSL closely and you will see DSL players appearing in my "who is hot in the minors" lists starting next week sometime after a week or so of games