Yesterday afternoon saw the Dominican Summer League Reds season come to an end. They lost in the first round of the playoffs in the final game of the series, in extra innings. They stormed back from a 4-0 deficit in the 7th inning to tie things up, and eventually send the game to extras before falling 6-5.
The Reds would win their division rather easily, going 47-24 and finishing 10.5 games ahead of the second place White Sox. They were good at both home and on the road. When they got to play on their field they went 26-10. On the road they went 21-14.
Impressive team stats
After 12 games played the DSL Reds hit their low point on the season in terms of winning percentage. They fell to 6-5 on the year, giving them a .545 winning percentage. They never had a record that was worse than that during the year.
From July 5th through July 20th the Reds lost just one game. The Reds only had a losing streak of more than two games one time during the season. It came in the final three games of the season.
Top Hitting Performance
You’re probably not surprised by this one since he’s been written about multiple times in the last month, but this one goes to Jose Acosta. He led the league by hitting .403 in his 43 games before he was promoted to join the AZL Reds in Goodyear in mid-August. He also topped the league in on-base percentage at .503. His slugging percentage was second in the league at .611 (teammate Darlin Guzman just edged him out with a .616 mark). And you guessed it, because you’ve already done the math in your head, his 1.113 OPS led the league, too.
Overall his .403/.503/.611 line with 12 doubles, 5 triples, 3 home runs, 24 steals without being caught, and 30 walks with just 32 strikeouts would be more than enough to say he’s got to be the league MVP, right? The league hasn’t announced their award winners yet, but let’s hope they do a better job here than they did with their All-Star votes where Acosta was hitting over .400 but somehow didn’t make the squad.
Top Pitching Performance
This one was a bit closer as two guys – one starter and one reliever – were both outstanding. But the edge in innings, 57.1 to 43.2 gives Jose Franco the edge over Andry Cuevas here. Franco made 14 starts and posted a 2.20 ERA. He allowed just one home run on the season, walked just 14 batters, and he struck out 59. Worth mentioning the stats for Cuevas, though, who posted a 2.27 ERA with 15 saves, 19 walks, and 56 strikeouts to go with just 19 hits allowed in his 43.2 innings.
Team MVP
This one is probably easier than it will be with other teams in the farm system. With all due respect to guys like Darlin Guzman (.357/.394/.616), Jose Franco, and Andry Cuevas, this has to go to Jose Acosta. When you hit .403 on the season with a .503 on-base percentage, a .611 slugging percentage, play second base, and go 24-for-24 in steals, you are getting my nod of approval for the teams Most Valuable Player.
If you would like to see the entire stats for the team you can click here and head on over the team page at Baseball-Reference.