Fall/Winter League Roundup: Boston finishes Venezuelan Development regular season on top

This continues our series of weekly roundups of the Fall/Winter Leagues. Coverage will continue every Monday into January. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously through January. This week's roundup covers the period from December 4 - December 10.

Dominican Baseball League

As he has been all season long thus far, lefty Roenis Elias (pictured) was excellent. He started on Tuesday against Escogido and threw 6 2/3 innings striking out an impressive 8 while allowing 1 earned run on 5 hits and 1 walk. That outing lowered his season ERA to 1.89 and his WHIP to 1.05.

For Estrellas, Aneury Tavarez led off all 4 games this week and was solid. Overall, he was 5-for-18 with a double, triple, 2 runs, and an RBI. Chris Madera also pinch-hit in a couple games, going 1-for-3.

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League

Josh Smith was the only pitcher to see action this week in the VPBL. He had two appearances for Aragua - one good (2/3 innings with 1 hit) and one bad (1/3 inning, 1 walk, 1 earned run).

For the hitters, shortstop Deiner Lopez was the only hitter to start a game, appearing in 3 total, starting 1 and going 1-for-5 with a walk and 2 runs.

Australian Baseball League

Lefty Daniel McGrath had another strong outing yesterday, throwing two shutout innings without allowing a hit and walking only one. He did not earn a decision. This is a welcome start to the season for McGrath who pitched for Melbourne last winter as well, finishing with a tough 6.17 ERA over 11 2/3 innings.

Venezuelan Developmental Program

The regular season came to an end on Friday and the Boston affiliate ended the year with the best record at 22-10-4 (yes, there are ties). In the final week of the season, they played three games, including a doubleheader on Tuesday, finishing the week even at 1-1-1. The pitching had a very strong week, only allowing 7 runs over the three games. Some highlights were Riti Mendoza who threw 3 scoreless innings on Monday, allowing 1 hit and 2 walks to lower his season ERA to 0.36 in 24 2/3 innings. Angel Padron also had one of his best appearances of the season, throwing 4 innings with 1 earned run, 3 hits, and 5 strikeouts.

The Boston bats were equally as quiet, mirroring the pitching by scoring only 7 runs. Catcher Isaias Lucena had the best week starting one game and coming in midway through the other in the doubleheader. He went 2-for-5 on the week with 2 home runs both coming on Tuesday. He finishes the year with a solid .339/.438/.500 slash line. The other standout was Pedro Castellanos who hit cleanup and secured a hit in all three games. He went 4-for-9 with 2 doubles, 1 run, 1 RBI to raise his season slash line to .304/.373/.489, finishing top 10 in the league in all three categories.

Colombian Professional Baseball League

The only Red Sox player in Columbia is infielder Jose Sermo who had a down week. He played in 5 games, going 2-for-12 but at least both his hits went for extra bases with a home run and double. He also had 2 runs, 3 RBI, 4 walks, and 8 strikeouts.

Photo Credit: Roenis Elias by Kelly O'Connor.

Will Woodward is a Senior Staff Writer for SoxProspects.com. Follow him on Twitter @SPWill.

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