I have been coming to this site for a long time, even before Schilling made his Thanksgiving appearance back in 2003. I use the main board as a source of Sox news and links to interesting articles, but I really enjoy the Minor League section. Those of you who post in this section are crazy, and I mean that as the highest of compliments. I have never desired to become a full posting member as I do not really have the time to make sure I am thoughtfully adding to any conversation. However, I think I can add to this one. I live part-time in San Juan and attend Winter League games semi-regularly. I have two reasons for posting and think the SOSH community would find the following thoughts interesting.
My first thoughts regard the Rusney and Christian discussion. I have only attended Santurce games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium and with a 40 game schedule, all the SSS caveats apply. It is also impossible to get in depth stats with this league. I know everyone knows this, but Christian is such a great defender and a pleasure to watch. He receives the pitch so effortlessly with no mitt movement that you would think he is a machine. Of the games I have attended, no one has tried to steal on him. As far as his hitting, the numbers this year make him seem worse than he has been. The league is a pitchers league and Hiram Bithorn is a brutal place to hit. The wind is constantly coming in, particularly from LF and the foul territory makes Oakland's seem small (there are foul pops that land in play that sometimes the catchers don't even go after). His .650 OPS is easily in the top 3rd in the league. My "eye" observations are that he actually has a pretty good sense of the strike zone. I watch most games from directly in back of the plate, he lets a lot of close pitches go and I think he has walked more than he has struck out. That said, when he makes contact, it is not strong. Hiram Bithorn is also artificial turf, so all those ground balls take perfect hops and he has no chance. I think Leon is the proverbial pumpkin, so I hope the Sox keep him and he becomes the RH platoon of sorts with Swihart.
Caugas has come through twice and Rusney played both times. In 8 ABs he was 3-7 with a walk and no Ks. All his balls in play were smoked. I am not qualified to observe if he has made changes that spurred his second half resurgence and spillover to the Winter League, but I can see he looks good now. If he had enough ABs to qualify, he would have won AVG and OPS titles by daylight. He does play in the one hitters park (elevation, in valley with no wind, smaller dimensions) though. I have the same flicker of hope some of you above have - its too bad his contract and the Sox position with the luxury tax will probably keep him in AAA.
The second reason for posting is to promote the Puerto Rican Winter League in general. For those of you really missing baseball in the winter months, come down here. The Season starts around Halloween and ends New Years. January is playoff month. February is the Caribbean Series (won't be back in PR until 2019). Puerto Rico is the US, so no passport or currency exchange. There are lots of daily flights from the Eastern Seaboard cities. The San Juan metro area is like a lot of small US cities, it has it's poverty, but also has all the modern amenities you expect (the Malls are great - one is like an indoor Fifth Avenue). The financial crisis does not register in day to day life other than the lack of road repairs. Stay in Isla Verde, it is a great beach and all the hotels are resortish with Casinos and organized activities (snorkeling, hiking etc.) - Old San Juan is close and a great day trip. The food around here is outstanding.
At night, the metro area has two ballparks. I mentioned Hiram Bithorn where Santurce plays. Carolina's park is closer to the airport. With two parks, there is a good chance there will be a game most nights during the regular season. Unfortunately for the league, games are not well attended anymore, which benefits the baseball tourist. There are usually only a couple hundred people for the regular season, first round playoffs get a few thousand. I have not been to a finals round game yet. Box seats are $12/$15 reg/playoff. I always get a front row seat. The baseball quality is very crisp, errors are rare, guys are hustling, all the back-up and cut-off plays are executed sharply - its good baseball.
The players are friendly and interact with the crowd. One game I brought my seven year old. We sat in the front row behind the dugout. He was the only kid in the section. Each of the different players making the last out flipped him the ball, we were looking for other kids to give them to, but there were not any - he went home with six balls. Once of Santurce's coaches is Edgar Perez, the Sox PR area scout and recently promoted to international cross-checker. He saw our Sox hats and came over to speak for awhile. Great guy. He went into the batting cage to get Christian (he insisted we call him by his first name). Christian picked my son up and brought him out onto the field for pictures and autograph. He is a real nice kid and another big reason to root for him to be part of the equation with Swihart.
Sorry for the long post, but as you can see, I am passionate about the PR Winter League. I am not sure if I am set-up for personal messages, but if I am, please reach out if any of you want information about San Juan and the League. Thank you to everyone at this site - it is a real pleasure for those of us who do not live in Boston.
My first thoughts regard the Rusney and Christian discussion. I have only attended Santurce games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium and with a 40 game schedule, all the SSS caveats apply. It is also impossible to get in depth stats with this league. I know everyone knows this, but Christian is such a great defender and a pleasure to watch. He receives the pitch so effortlessly with no mitt movement that you would think he is a machine. Of the games I have attended, no one has tried to steal on him. As far as his hitting, the numbers this year make him seem worse than he has been. The league is a pitchers league and Hiram Bithorn is a brutal place to hit. The wind is constantly coming in, particularly from LF and the foul territory makes Oakland's seem small (there are foul pops that land in play that sometimes the catchers don't even go after). His .650 OPS is easily in the top 3rd in the league. My "eye" observations are that he actually has a pretty good sense of the strike zone. I watch most games from directly in back of the plate, he lets a lot of close pitches go and I think he has walked more than he has struck out. That said, when he makes contact, it is not strong. Hiram Bithorn is also artificial turf, so all those ground balls take perfect hops and he has no chance. I think Leon is the proverbial pumpkin, so I hope the Sox keep him and he becomes the RH platoon of sorts with Swihart.
Caugas has come through twice and Rusney played both times. In 8 ABs he was 3-7 with a walk and no Ks. All his balls in play were smoked. I am not qualified to observe if he has made changes that spurred his second half resurgence and spillover to the Winter League, but I can see he looks good now. If he had enough ABs to qualify, he would have won AVG and OPS titles by daylight. He does play in the one hitters park (elevation, in valley with no wind, smaller dimensions) though. I have the same flicker of hope some of you above have - its too bad his contract and the Sox position with the luxury tax will probably keep him in AAA.
The second reason for posting is to promote the Puerto Rican Winter League in general. For those of you really missing baseball in the winter months, come down here. The Season starts around Halloween and ends New Years. January is playoff month. February is the Caribbean Series (won't be back in PR until 2019). Puerto Rico is the US, so no passport or currency exchange. There are lots of daily flights from the Eastern Seaboard cities. The San Juan metro area is like a lot of small US cities, it has it's poverty, but also has all the modern amenities you expect (the Malls are great - one is like an indoor Fifth Avenue). The financial crisis does not register in day to day life other than the lack of road repairs. Stay in Isla Verde, it is a great beach and all the hotels are resortish with Casinos and organized activities (snorkeling, hiking etc.) - Old San Juan is close and a great day trip. The food around here is outstanding.
At night, the metro area has two ballparks. I mentioned Hiram Bithorn where Santurce plays. Carolina's park is closer to the airport. With two parks, there is a good chance there will be a game most nights during the regular season. Unfortunately for the league, games are not well attended anymore, which benefits the baseball tourist. There are usually only a couple hundred people for the regular season, first round playoffs get a few thousand. I have not been to a finals round game yet. Box seats are $12/$15 reg/playoff. I always get a front row seat. The baseball quality is very crisp, errors are rare, guys are hustling, all the back-up and cut-off plays are executed sharply - its good baseball.
The players are friendly and interact with the crowd. One game I brought my seven year old. We sat in the front row behind the dugout. He was the only kid in the section. Each of the different players making the last out flipped him the ball, we were looking for other kids to give them to, but there were not any - he went home with six balls. Once of Santurce's coaches is Edgar Perez, the Sox PR area scout and recently promoted to international cross-checker. He saw our Sox hats and came over to speak for awhile. Great guy. He went into the batting cage to get Christian (he insisted we call him by his first name). Christian picked my son up and brought him out onto the field for pictures and autograph. He is a real nice kid and another big reason to root for him to be part of the equation with Swihart.
Sorry for the long post, but as you can see, I am passionate about the PR Winter League. I am not sure if I am set-up for personal messages, but if I am, please reach out if any of you want information about San Juan and the League. Thank you to everyone at this site - it is a real pleasure for those of us who do not live in Boston.