Caribes de Ansoategui and Navegantes del Magallanes faced off in the Venezuelan Winter League playoffs on Monday night. The two teams top the standings in the Round Robin playoffs, that lead to a finals where the two top teams face off to represent Venezuela in the Caribbean Series.
The game got off to an offensive explosion with Caribes taking a 5-0 lead after the top of the 2nd inning. Magallanes put up four runs in the bottom of the inning to make it a 1-run game. That was as close as they would get though as the visiting team just kept adding runs as they went on to a 16-5 blowout victory.
Several players had big games but it was Cincinnati Reds outfield prospect Felix Perez that topped everyone. He went 3-4 with a double, two home runs and five runs driven in. He was pinch hit for late in the game when it was out of hand and the player who pinch hit for him added a third homer for the seventh spot in the lineup.
The big night at the plate for Perez pushed his line for the playoffs to .305/.364/.593. In 300 plate appearances between the Venezuelan Winter League regular season and playoffs the outfielder has put up this stat line:
| PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| 300 | 98 | 19 | 3 | 13 | 51 | 16 | 65 | .349 | .387 | .577 |
It’s been a strong winter for Perez, but it’s also been a long winter as he’s racked up more than half of a seasons worth of extra plate appearances in Venezuela so far. If he can carry his production with him into spring training he could turn some heads and put himself into the running for a spot on the bench with the big league club.