I don’t know how much of the WBC everyone’s been watching, but I just finished up watching the USA beat up on Venezuela and now Australia is giving Mexico a run for their money and I’ve got to say I’m pretty entertained. Anyways, I thought I’d do a quick rundown of the players the Bucs have in the WBC and how they’re doing and whether or not it’s actually relevant to anything.
Ray Chang- As noted here, Chang had a big hand in China’s first international victory, going 3-4 with a homer in their win over Taiwan. Chang’s not really a prospect; he’s bounced all over the place and was demoted from AAA last year. He’ll be 25 and playing for Altoona or Indianapolis next year.
Dave Davidson- The most cruelly named of the Pirates’ prospects pitched one scoreless inning against the US, but he did give up two baserunners in the outing.
John Grabow- Made a quick cameo for the US against Venezuela tonight, getting Marco Scutaro to fly out on the only pitch he’s throw in the tournament so far.
Paul Mildren- Gave up a run in two innings against Mexico for Australia tonight. He’s been pretty bad in both KC and Florida’s systems recently and isn’t much of a prospect.
Eliecer Navarro- Panamanian with great Dominican Summer League numbers (at a bit of an advanced age). He pitched an inning and a third against Puerto Rico in Panama’s opener and didn’t look great, though a reader did write in to tell me he saw him pitch and thought his stuff looked pretty good.
And sadly, that’s all we’ve got right now. I think Ian Snell will be Puerto Rico’s next starter against the Netherlands, but I’m not positive about that. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for his next start.
