Photo: Doug Gray
The Australian Winter League is in the final week of the regular season. The Cincinnati Reds have four prospects in the league this year and three of them are with the Sydney Blue Sox, who happen to be the best team in the league this year and are sitting at 24-13 as they enter the final day where they have a doubleheader scheduled.
Hansel Jimenez has played shortstop nearly every day for Sydney this winter. He’s had some ups and downs, but after a tough month of December he’s turned things around in January. The 19-year-old from the Dominican Republic hit his 4th home run of the year (36 games) for the Blue Sox this week and is now hitting .273/.415/.424 with eight walks and 12 strikeouts in 10 games this month.
Teammate Pablo Nunez hasn’t been a slouch in Australia, either. Unlike Jimenez, Nunez hasn’t shown much in the way of power. But he has been racking up hits all season long. The center fielder is riding a 4-game hitting streak that has also seen him walk four times. He’s been on base in 15 consecutive games and in 34 of the 37 games he’s played in for the Blue Sox.
During November he hit .475 and had five walks with six strikeouts in 11 games. In both December and January he’s walked 11 times and he only struck out seven times in December and just five times so far in January. For the year he’s now hitting .338/.455/.382 with 27 walks and 18 strikeouts in 166 plate appearances. Not bad for the 6th youngest player in the league with more than 25 plate appearances (and where the average age of a pitcher is 26).
Sydney has already secured their spot in the Australian Baseball League Championship Series. They will be taking on the Adelaide Giants (Drew Davies plays for them) in a series scheduled for January 23-25th in a best-of-three series. All games will be played at home for the Blue Sox who earned that right by finishing the regular season with the best record.
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