5 players you probably didn't know were still playing baseball in the Winter Leagues
It's true -- the Major League Baseball season is over. It's been that way for more than a month. But don't fret, ardent baseball fanatics, there is still baseball being played (and we're not just talking about
There are the Winter Leagues -- both in the Caribbean and Australia. You'll find some established big league names like
Fresh off winning the Atlantic League batting title last season with a .345 average, the 38-year-old Chavez is patrolling the outfield in his native Venezuela this winter. He has two homers and seven RBIs in 36 at-bats. No word on how is defense is holding up, though.
Soriano, who announced he had retired in 2015, is still playing baseball in the Domincan Winter League. The 36-year-old has compiled a 2.04 ERA and 15 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings. We're not sure if he's planning a comeback or just bored and wants to strike some people out -- but we'd love to see him add to his 207 career saves. Mostly though, we just miss him furiously untucking his shirt after recording the final out of a game:
After not appearing in a big league uniform last year, Guthrie recently signed on to play winter ball in Australia. It looks as though the former World Series champ hasn't pitched in a game yet, but he's still managed to make the league's All-Star team. Probably because he's good at Twitter.
Dice-K, 36, is reportedly pitching in Puerto Rico to get ready for his third (and final) season with the NPB's Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. Thus far, he's 0-2 with a 3.00 ERA. In his most recent outing, he gave up just three hits and one run over five innings.
Yes, after getting tired of obliterating baseballs in Japan, Wily Mo took a break this past season. But now, the 34-year-old has returned to the Dominican winter league where we hope (oh god we hope so much) that a big league team takes a chance on him. He hasn't played in two weeks and only has six hits and four RBIs through 10 games, but we're guessing he'll start crushing soon. He does have this sort-of triple:
Wily Mo Peña conectó sencillo remolcador para ampliar la ventaja de los @TigresdelLicey que ahora ganan 3-0. Cortesía de @afpsiembra pic.twitter.com/GiN1RUl7fS
— LIDOM (@LIDOMRD) October 29, 2016
I'm no scout or anything, but I'm pretty sure that should translate to these kinds of hits in the Majors: