Fall/Winter League Roundup: Castellanos gets hot, Cordero provides heroics

The playoffs are coming up for a few of the winter leagues, though a COVID-19 outbreak put a pause on games in Puerto Rico. For the full list of Red Sox prospects participating in these leagues, check out our Fall & Winter Leagues page, which will be updated continuously throughout December and January. This week's roundup covers the week of December 13 through 19.

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Dominican Professional Baseball League

The regular season came to a close last week, but the two teams featuring Red Sox minor leaguers started some play-in action on Sunday evening. With the LIDOM season shorter than usual, if the teams in fourth-place (Aguilas Cibaeñas) and fifth-place (Leones del Escogido) finished within two games of each other (they did), they were to have a play-in in which the fourth-place team needs to win once, the fifth-place team twice, to move on to the round-robin among the top four teams. On Sunday night, Victor Santos threw 1 2/3 scoreless in Escogido's 12-9 victory, forcing a deciding play-in game Monday night.

Santos' teammate, Franchy Cordero only had one at-bat during the week, but he made it count, launching a pinch-hit, go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth to break a 6-6 tie. Prior to his strong Sunday outing, Santos made two appearances and allowed two earned runs on three hits over 3 1/3 innings. 

It was a rough week for Joan Martínez, as he allowed two runs on two hits and two walks without recording an out in his only appearance. He was not on las Aguilas' roster for the play-in game on Sunday.

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Venezuelan Professional Baseball League

Pedro Castellanos (pictured) was one of the hottest hitters in the Caribbean last week, going 11 for 20 with three home runs, a double, and five RBI. He is now hitting .323 with a .948 OPS for los Cardenales de Lara. Oddanier Mosqueda tossed a shutout inning in his only appearance los Caribes de Anzoátegui. 

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Mexican Pacific League

The end of the regular season is approaching, with Jorge Rodriguez and Hermosillo starting their last series on Tuesday. The team is 34-31, with an 18-15 record in the second half, which puts them two games out of the lead. In his lone appearance this week, Rodriguez took a blown save after allowing two runs on four hits in one inning. His ERA now sits at 4.76. 

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Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (Puerto Rico)

An increase in COVID-19 cases caused the league to suspend games until at least December 21. Even with only five teams in the league this year, a combination of players, coaches, and staff had 39 positive tests as of last week. As of press time, however, the league looks ready to start back up on Tuesday.

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Panama Professional Baseball League

Jonathan Araúz made his debut last week, going 2 for 7 with a double, walk, and a strikeout over two starts. Eduardo Vaughan made three starts and went 2 for 12 with a double, walk, and five strikeouts. 

Photo Credit: Pedro Castellanos by Kelly O'Connor

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