Milwaukee Brewers Players Participate in Caribbean Series

Cuba defeated Mexico 3-2 on Sunday to take the Caribbean Series Championship.  Of the 5 teams that were present in this tournament, 3 of the teams had players from the Milwaukee Brewers organization.  Luis Jimenez, Elian Herrera, and Hector Gomez all played for the Dominican Republic team, Orlando Arcia played for Venezuela, and Hiram Burgos played for Puerto Rico.

The Dominican Republic defeated Cuba in their first game of the Caribbean Series 6-1.  Jimenez batted cleanup and finished the game 0-4.  Herrera, who was recently dropped off the 40-man roster and sent to AAA, went 2-4, with a double, triple, and a run scored.

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Their second game was a loss to Venezuela 6-5.  Jimenez, batting cleanup again, went 1-5 with an RBI.  Herrera, batting fifth, finished 0-3 with a walk, and knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly.  Gomez batted sixth and finished 2-5.

Next, was a 3-2 win over Mexico.  Herrera had another good game, going 2-5 with an RBI.  Gomez entered the game in the latter half and went 1-1 with a run scored, walk, and a stolen base.  Jimenez made a pinch hitting appearance in the 8th inning, and grounded out.

The fourth game was another loss, to Puerto Rico, 3-2.  Jimenez got the start in right field, and hit cleanup, going 0-3 with a walk.  Herrera started at second base and batted fifth, going 1-3 with a double and a run scored.

The final game of the Caribbean Series for the Dominican Republic was against Mexico and resulted in a loss, 5-4.  Gomez got the start at third base and hit cleanup, finishing the game 1-3 with a double, run scored, and an RBI.  In the second inning, Gomez made a throwing error that resulted in two runs scoring, he also had an error later in the game.  Herrera hit fifth and started in right field, finishing the game 1-4 with an RBI.

The final totals for these three players were:

• Jimenez: 1-14, BA .071, RBI, BB
• Herrera: 6-19, BA .316, 2 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, 2 R, BB
• Gomez: 4-9, BA .444, 2B, RBI, 2 R, BB, SB

Arcia participated in all five games for the Venezuela team.  Reviewing the Brew ranked Arcia as the Brewers number one prospect going into the season, although he had a rough Caribbean Series.  Arcia collected a hit in three of the five games but finished the Series 3-16 for a .188 batting average, stole a base, knocked in a run, and scored two others.  Venezuela beat each of the other four teams in the round robin section, but lost to Cuba 8-4 in the knockout round, eliminating them from the tournament.

Burgos made 6 starts for the Brewers in 2013, going 1-2 with a 6.44 ERA, and was signed as a free agent on January 29, with an invite to Spring Training.  He made two appearances for Puerto Rico, both out of the bullpen.  In their first game, a 5-2 loss to Venezuela, Burgos pitched 1.1 innings.  He faced 5 batters, walking one, striking out two, while not surrendering a hit.  In his second appearance, which was in a 3-2 win against the Dominican Republic, he picked up a hold.  He faced 5 batters in an inning of work, striking out a batter, while giving up a hit and a walk.

With Spring Training right around the corner, it’s nice to see some young Brewers being productive, representing their respective countries.  Hopefully they can keep it going and contribute to the Major League roster, come April.  Cuba won their first Caribbean Series Title since 1960 with their victory over Mexico.