It’s pretty hard to rack up wins in baseball these days, especially since starters get kicked out of the game pretty early, usually before the fifth inning. And while lovers of sabermetrics decry the “wins” line, it’s still relevant to pitchers themselves.
Luichy Sánchez, Santiago’s colleague, says that this year the group of Dominican starters has a joint record of 17-23. Let’s look at each of the main ones:
FRAMBER VALDEZ, Houston Astros, is the only left-hander. He is 2-2, 2.93, in 40 innings, 34 hits allowed, 32 strikeouts. He is a native of Palenque, is 28 years old and is playing on a one-year deal for US$3 million.
FRANKIE MONTAS, Oakland Athletics, has a 2-4 record, 3.67 ERA, in 49 innings 36 hits allowed with 53 strikeouts, but Oakland does not hit. Montás is 29 years old, is a native of Sainaguá, San Cristóbal and plays on a one-year contract for US$5 million.
LOUIS SEVERINO, New York Yankees. He has had a good year with 3-0 and 3.63 in 34.2 innings, 30 hits allowed, 11 walks and 38 strikeouts. The Yankees hit a lot and find it easier to support their pitchers. Severino is 28 years old, a native of Sabana de la Mar and has a 3-year contract for US$40 million (2019-22). For life he is 46-26.
SANDY ALCANTARA, Miami Marlins. He is a new star of Dominican pitching. This year he is 3-2 and 2.49 and since last year he has been a victim of pitching for a bad team. In her 8 starts this season she has 50.2 innings, 36 hits and 42 strikeouts. She allows just 6.4 hits per 9 innings and 7.5 strikeouts. He is 26 years old, a native of Azua, and plays on a 5-year contract for US$56.0 million.
FREDDY PERALTA, Milwaukee Brewers. He is 3-1 and 3.53, has gone 35.2 innings with 27 hits, 48 strikeouts (12.1 strikeouts per 9 innings, very good). He has a 5-year contract for US $ 15.5 million (2020-24), which means that he was fooled by Milwaukee. I think he should have changed agents.
JOHNNY CUETO: Chicago White Sox, a 36-year-old veteran, made his debut last night after signing a minor league pact and briefly passing through the minors. He pitched 6 scoreless innings with 2 hits allowed and 7 strikeouts, but did not get a decision.
OF INTEREST: Two cases of misconduct occurred yesterday in the major league. On the one hand, Dominican pitcher Jean Carlos Mejía received an 80-game sanction for testing positive for prohibited substances. Mejía had been pitching with Milwaukee and here he belongs to Licey. He could be back in three months or so. Matt Harvey, a problematic MLB pitcher in every sense, was sanctioned for 60 games allegedly for trafficking and distributing a drug called Oxycodone, a cousin of cocaine. Is this possible? Will they send him to the ordinary justifies or not? The Angels brought up 36-year veteran Cesar Valdez last night, who was in triple-A Salt Lake City. There, Valdez was 4-1 with a 3.03 ERA. The Los Angeles Dodgers are going through bad days, but yesterday they beat Arizona 7-6. The club is 23-12, Arizona is 18-19 with a marked improvement from last year. Oh, another recently suspended Dominican is catcher Pedro Severino, also from Milwaukee and Licey (says Freddy Tapia). What happened there?