{"id":27261,"date":"2020-12-31T16:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prospects1500.com\/?p=27261"},"modified":"2020-12-31T16:45:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T21:45:00","slug":"a-place-in-the-sun-venezuelan-winter-league-lvbp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prospects1500.com\/international\/a-place-in-the-sun-venezuelan-winter-league-lvbp\/","title":{"rendered":"A Place In The Sun &#8211; Venezuelan Winter League (LVBP)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2020-2021 baseball season in the Venezuelan Winter League was a question mark from the get-go. Like most things in this country, once it starts it seems an astonishing feat of determination. A normal season in the country has a three month regular season and a little over 60 games (from October to December) and a postseason that\u2019s played in the New Year.<\/p>\n<p>In this, the most unusual of years, the pandemic (and plenty of other factors all too long and complex for this piece) dictated that the season would start on November 27, with the regular season lasting 40 games until January 10, and a different postseason format altogether. The amount of games is worth mentioning because they represent a particularly small (but not necessarily insignificant) sample to rate players.<\/p>\n<div class=\"s2nPlayer k-2qeEP8AW\" data-type=\"float\"><\/div>\n<p><script type='text\/javascript' src='\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=2qeEP8AW&#038;cid=9000&#038;offsetx=0&#038;offsety=0&#038;floatwidth=400&#038;floatposition=bottom-right' data-type='s2nScript'><\/script><br \/>\nBefore we start naming a couple of notable presences in this <strong>LVBP<\/strong> season, there&#8217;s another nugget to take into account. The league has 8 teams (Leones, Tiburones, Tigres, Caribes, Cardenales, Navegantes, Bravos and \u00c1guilas), but two of them are currently under sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which entails amongst other things that, no MLB player or MLB affiliate could play for Navegantes and Tigres (the sanctioned teams).<\/p>\n<p>With that out of the way, let\u2019s name a couple of guys that, even in this short span, have made a mark in this <strong>LVBP<\/strong> season. A little heads up, there\u2019s an unusual amount of catchers in it.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=ortega000den&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Dennis Ortega<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; Bravos de Margarita &#8211; Age 23. Ortega has been the catcher for Bravos most of the games and has been, without a question, one of the best players in the <strong>LVBP<\/strong>. The best hitter in a team that has hit a lot. In his first \u201cfull season\u201d with Bravos he\u2019s amongst the league leaders with .385 AVG and 1.018 OPS, driving in 19 runs in just 25 games so far. He\u2019s a member of the St. Louis Cardinals who played A+ in Palm Beach in 2019.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=basabe000osl&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Osleivis Basabe<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; \u00c1guilas del Zulia &#8211; Age 20. Recently acquired by Tampa Bay, Basabe has a small amount of games this month and only has permission to play in December, but trust me. That\u2019s been enough to show excitement that should send very good news to the Rays. \u00c1guilas has turned around in the last two weeks (having the best record in that timeline), since Basabe has been on the field. With a very good glove, he\u2019s also been hitting second in the lineup, driving and scoring important runs, but all in all, being contagious (in a good way) for his team.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=moreno000gab&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Gabriel Moreno<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; Cardenales de Lara &#8211; Age 23. The authorization from the Toronto Blue Jays for Moreno already ran out, but the catcher was putting up numbers to be the MVP of the <strong>LVBP<\/strong>. It\u2019s not a minor detail that Moreno was (and still is) the best offensive player in the best team in the league. He\u2019s also the catcher that best handled his team staff while he was on the field. He ended up with a .375 AVG and .980 OPS in 18 games, with 9 assists and no errors behind the plate.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=oviedo000lui&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Luis Oviedo<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; Cardenales de Lara &#8211; Age 21. Oviedo has been impressive in the bullpen of Cardenales, certainly good news for the Pittsburgh Pirates considering that his stats were uneven at best in 2019 with the Lake County Captains. In 9 appearances with 14.1 IP, he has a 0.63 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP, with ten strikeouts and no walks, making him a guarantee every time he\u2019s called to pitch.<\/p>\n<p>How about the Mets&#8217; 24-year-old <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=rodrig006dav&amp;search=David+Rodriguez&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">David Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong>?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Mets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Mets<\/a> David Rodriguez has been on another planet this winter.<\/p>\n<p>Came into today among the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LVBP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LVBP<\/a> leaders in<\/p>\n<p>2nd | .404 AVG<br \/>\n2nd | 1.098 OPS<br \/>\n1st | 60 Total Bases<br \/>\nT-7th | 4 HRs<br \/>\nT-7th | 19 RBIs<\/p>\n<p>The Mets signed him last year but never got to see him play. They may have something here <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zWBmMRGuh6\">https:\/\/t.co\/zWBmMRGuh6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christopher Soto (@SotoC803) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SotoC803\/status\/1344404168811929601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 30, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>We didn\u2019t want to submit this piece without a special mention. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=leal--000eri&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Erick Leal<\/a><\/strong>, age 25 is pitching for Navegantes del Magallanes (which means he\u2019s currently unsigned by any MLB organization). Leal&#8217;s last stint in the US was with the A+ Myrtle Beach Pelicans (affiliate of the Chicago Cubs) in 2019. He has been by far the best starter this season in the <strong>LVBP<\/strong>, starting 6 games with a 4-1 record and leading the league in ERA (0.92) and WHIP (1.06). He\u2019s also second in K\u2019s with 21 and without a doubt deserves at least a look-see from an MLB team.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"es\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/B%C3%A9isbol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#B\u00e9isbol<\/a> | Erick Leal, abridor de Navegantes del Magallanes, sostuvo una impecable labor el pasado lunes y reafirm\u00f3 su candidatura al \u201cPitcher del A\u00f1o\u201d de la actual temporada de la LVBP. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Grandevzla?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Grandevzla<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/siyRziczOQ\">pic.twitter.com\/siyRziczOQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Instituto Nacional de Deportes (@INDeporteVE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/INDeporteVE\/status\/1344690443720810497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 31, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nSo, that\u2019s a little window to some names worth mentioning from the <strong>LVBP<\/strong>, a league that, as is right now, suits veteran players particularly well but always has sparks of youngsters showing great skills, forever searching for a place in the sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The 2020-2021 baseball season in the Venezuelan Winter League was a question mark from the get-go. Like most things in this country, once it starts <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prospects1500.com\/international\/a-place-in-the-sun-venezuelan-winter-league-lvbp\/\" title=\"A Place In The Sun &#8211; Venezuelan Winter League (LVBP)\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":27265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,2692,1457],"tags":[1205,5809,3806,3337,1875,5783,132,5810,5808],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Place In The Sun - Venezuelan Winter League (LVBP)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some very good baseball is being played in Venezuela. 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