Anyone who cares about the Atlantic League will want to follow the Caribbean Series for the next few days (especially if they can see the games on ESPN Deportes or ESPN3)because we have counted 18 players so far who are on the four teams.
Pitchers Cesar Carillo of Lancaster, Randy Keisler of Southern Maryland and Long Island, Dan Serafini of Bridgeport, Yorman Bazardo of Camden and Jon Hunton of Lancaster, Somerset and Long Island all are part of the Mexican League pitching staff. Hurler Brian Sweeney of Somerset and Southern Maryland (see more on him below), infielder Edgardo Alfonzo of Long Island and Bridgeport and outfielders Jonel Pacheco of Camden and Cesar Suarez of Lancaster and Camden are part of the Venezuelan team.
Puerto Rico has pitchers Matt DeSalvo of Southern Maryland and York, Nelson Figueroa of Long Island (more below), Ben Grezlovski of Somerset, Long Island and Atlantic City, Juan Padilla of York and Bridgeport, Eddy Ramos of the Road Warriors, Newark and Bridgeport and Saul Rivera of the Road Warriors. Catcher Rene Rivera of Camden and infielder Danny Gonzalez of Lancaster and the Road Warriors are part of the same team.
Infielder Erick Almonte of Long Island is with the Dominican Republic.
THREE OF FOUR OPENING DAY STARTERS HAVE HAD INDEPENDENT TIES
In fact, three of the four opening day starting pitchers in what turned out to be pitching-dominated games have Indy ties. The latest after the Insider
was put to bed last night was southpaw Kris Johnson, who limited Mexico to three hits and an unearned run in five innings to get the host Dominicans off to a good start in a 2-1 win. Johnson pitched for the Kansas City (KS) T-Bones (American Association) much of last season after being released out of Triple-A with Boston. The 27-year-old has since signed with Pittsburgh, an organization that certainly can benefit from better pitching.
Nelson Figueroa, whose latest bid for fulltime major league duty will come with Toronto this spring, continued his exceptional work in the afternoon, winning for Puerto Rico at the expense of another former Indy hurler, Seth Etherton, who started for Venezuela. Figueroa spent a little Indy time with the Long Island Ducks while Etherton was with Long Beach, CA in what was then the Golden League.
I do not pretend to understand all of the roster qualifications, but Figueroa had pitched in the Dominican championship series for Escogido, that country's Caribbean Series representative. Figueroa has now won series games for three of the four countries. He had pitched for both the Dominican and Mexico in past years.
"I'm back here because I want the chance to keep pitching in the big leagues," the right-hander told MLB.com. "I could be sitting somewhere in an office and dealing with rush hour traffic, but instead the stadium is my office and I come to work and get to play and have fun."
NON-ROSTER COUNT UP TO 34
The Continental League is a thing of the past, but it cannot be forgotten because the latest Independent player to get a major league spring training invitation is left-hander Brandon Sisk, who started his pro career with Bay Area (Houston region) in that Texas-Louisiana-based circuit.
Sisk will be with Kansas City after the 26-year-old put up a combined 7-3 record and 2.52 ERA for 41 relief outings in Classes AA and AAA last season. He is the 22nd pitcher to get a non-roster invitation from a major league club. Twelve position players bring the overall count to an impressive 34.
PASCUCCI GETS METS INVITE
Valentino Pascucci, a power-hitting first baseman-designated hitter who got his first major league exposure in several years last September, will be back in major league camp with the New York Mets. Pascucci's Indy time was spent with Camden.
SWEENEY RE-JOINS SEATTLE SYSTEM
Veteran right-hander Brian Sweeney has signed as a free agent with one of his former teams, the Seattle Mariners. It does not appear he will be an official non-roster invitee although it is a pretty good guess he will get some major league exposure this spring.
Sweeney, 37, started his pro career in 1996 with Layayette, IN (Heartland League). He more recently trained with Southern Maryland and pitched one official game for Somerset, both times then signing with major league organizations. He has pitched in the majors for San Diego and Seattle
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