Saturday, March 04, 2006
Villarreal progressing in winter ball
01/13/2006
With each of his recent outings in the Mexican Winter League, Oscar Villarreal is giving the Braves even more confidence that he's healthy and some reason to believe he might indeed be somebody capable of being their closer.
Villarreal is one of a small handful of players from the Braves organization still playing in the Winter League playoffs. His recent success has helped Hermosillo advance to the second round, where it has split the first two games of a best-of-seven series against Guasave.
During three appearances in the playoffs, Villarreal has allowed just one hit and provided three scoreless innings. He retired all three batters he faced on Thursday to complete his second consecutive perfect outing. His first came on Jan. 8, when he was credited with the save in a 3-2 win over Mazatlan.
Assistant general manager Dayton Moore has had regular contact with Manuel Samaniego, a Braves scout in Mexico. Samaniego, a native of Hermosillo, has known Villarreal since the right-handed reliever was making his way through the youth ranks.
In other words, he knows just how strong Villarreal was before suffering shoulder and elbow injuries during the past two years. The injuries, which might have been a product of the rookie-record 86 appearances he made for the Diamondbacks in 2003, limited him to a total of 28 games over the course of the past two seasons.
"Manuel says that he's throwing well and his arm looks as good as it ever has," Moore said. "That's encouraging. He says [Villarreal] is really excited about his new opportunity and can't wait to get to Spring Training."
When the Braves acquired Villarreal and Lance Cormier in exchange for Johnny Estrada in December, they were hopeful that the 24 year-old right-handed reliever had returned to health. With his recent production, it appears he might be capable of enjoying the same type of success he had while posting a 2.57 ERA in his taxing rookie season.
While Villarreal is continuing to hone his skills in Mexico, Brayan Pena, Wilson Betemit and Jorge Sosa are doing the same while competing in the Dominican Winter League playoffs.
With a three-hit performance that included a triple on Thursday for Azucareros, Pena improved his postseason batting average to .291 (16-for-55). The 24-year-old catcher, who will likely be back at Triple-A Richmond to begin this season, hit .326 during the regular season.
Betemit, who will likely be used as a utility infielder again in Atlanta, has hit just .189 (7-for-37) in 10 playoff games for Escogido. His postseason struggles include 14 strikeouts.
As for Sosa, he's continuing to be used by Licey as one of its top setup men. In nine postseason innings (seven appearances), he's allowed five earned runs. He has, however, also recorded nine strikeouts while issuing just two walks.
Source: http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/
With each of his recent outings in the Mexican Winter League, Oscar Villarreal is giving the Braves even more confidence that he's healthy and some reason to believe he might indeed be somebody capable of being their closer.
Villarreal is one of a small handful of players from the Braves organization still playing in the Winter League playoffs. His recent success has helped Hermosillo advance to the second round, where it has split the first two games of a best-of-seven series against Guasave.
During three appearances in the playoffs, Villarreal has allowed just one hit and provided three scoreless innings. He retired all three batters he faced on Thursday to complete his second consecutive perfect outing. His first came on Jan. 8, when he was credited with the save in a 3-2 win over Mazatlan.
Assistant general manager Dayton Moore has had regular contact with Manuel Samaniego, a Braves scout in Mexico. Samaniego, a native of Hermosillo, has known Villarreal since the right-handed reliever was making his way through the youth ranks.
In other words, he knows just how strong Villarreal was before suffering shoulder and elbow injuries during the past two years. The injuries, which might have been a product of the rookie-record 86 appearances he made for the Diamondbacks in 2003, limited him to a total of 28 games over the course of the past two seasons.
"Manuel says that he's throwing well and his arm looks as good as it ever has," Moore said. "That's encouraging. He says [Villarreal] is really excited about his new opportunity and can't wait to get to Spring Training."
When the Braves acquired Villarreal and Lance Cormier in exchange for Johnny Estrada in December, they were hopeful that the 24 year-old right-handed reliever had returned to health. With his recent production, it appears he might be capable of enjoying the same type of success he had while posting a 2.57 ERA in his taxing rookie season.
While Villarreal is continuing to hone his skills in Mexico, Brayan Pena, Wilson Betemit and Jorge Sosa are doing the same while competing in the Dominican Winter League playoffs.
With a three-hit performance that included a triple on Thursday for Azucareros, Pena improved his postseason batting average to .291 (16-for-55). The 24-year-old catcher, who will likely be back at Triple-A Richmond to begin this season, hit .326 during the regular season.
Betemit, who will likely be used as a utility infielder again in Atlanta, has hit just .189 (7-for-37) in 10 playoff games for Escogido. His postseason struggles include 14 strikeouts.
As for Sosa, he's continuing to be used by Licey as one of its top setup men. In nine postseason innings (seven appearances), he's allowed five earned runs. He has, however, also recorded nine strikeouts while issuing just two walks.
Source: http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/
