Our series of fall instructional camp rosters concludes today with the final 10 MLB clubs. In the first two parts, we previewed Arizona-Detroit [link] and Houston to Oakland [link], with players from every continent. We conclude today with players from several countries on the western side of the Pacific, plenty from the Caribbean, and one unheralded European.
Philadelphia
The Phillies have three interesting players from the western side of the Pacific: New Zealand’s Kyle Glogoski, Australia’s Rixon Taylor-Wingrove, and Taiwan’s Hsien-Chieh Lin.
Glogoski had a superb debut in the minors this year, starting for the GCL Phillies West and finishing with a 2.13 ERA and a 47/11 K/BB ratio in 39 innings. No word yet on whether he will return to the ABL for a second season.
Taylor-Wingrove is a 1B who slashed .241/.310/.342 in 23 games as Glogoski’s teammate. The Newcastle, Australia native also played with Glogoski for Sydney, quite possibly the only pair of ABL teammates to suit up on the same minor league squad.
And finally, Lin is a 19-year old pitcher who tossed only four innings, all for GCL Phillies East. The Taiwanese righty did not give up a hit, but walked four and struck out one.
Also worth noting that that Russia’s Anton Kuznetsov, who disappeared mid-season after being demoted to the GCL, is not listed on the instructs roster. We have not been able to figure out whether he was injured or not.
Pittsburgh
The only unusual international player on the Pirates’ instructs roster is South Korea’s Ji-Hwan Bae. SS debuted this year after being released from Atlanta contract, but returned home in May to defend himself against domestic violence. Bae, 19, finished at .271/.362/.349 with 10 stolen bases and a superb 15-16 BB-K ratio in 35 GCL games.
San Diego
The Padres have a wealth of international minor league players in instructs, including four from México: Efrain Contreras, Austin Ruiz, Brandon Valenzuela, and Gilberto Vizcarra. More unusual, however, is Spain’s Cristian Heredia, from Madrid.
Heredia is a 17-year old outfielder that played 54 games for the DSL Padres, hitting .240/.330/.345 with six outfield assists. Will be interesting to see whether Heredia suits up for Spain in the near future.
Seattle
Did not release roster.
San Francisco and St. Louis
Do not hold instructional league.
Tampa Bay
None.
Texas
The Rangers also take on Italy in instructs (Oct. 5) and have four interesting international players in camp: Sherten Apostel, Abdiel Mendoza, Keithron Moss, and Teodoro Ortega, all of which hail from various Caribbean locales.
Apostel is from Curaçao and his brother Shendrik Apostel is a first baseman in the Pirates’ system. Apostel had an excellent season for two teams, slashing .278/.420/.460 with excellent plate discipline (41BB, 50K) in 224 plate appearances. He had 18 errors in 43 games at 3B.
Mendoza and Ortega are both right-handed pitchers from Panamá. Mendoza (20) had a 3.15 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 14 G, 10 GS across two-levels of A-ball. Ortega (18) had a 2.11 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in the DSL in 42 2/3 innings.
And finally, the Bahamian Moss played 51 games as a middle infielder at age 16 in the DSL. Moss showed impressive plate discipline for someone so young, drawing 35 walks en route to a .196/.350/.276 line and eight stolen bases.
Toronto
None.
Washington
The Nationals have two interesting international players on the instructs roster. First is Jamori Blash, Jabari Blash’s brother, who hails from the US Virgin Islands. The first baseman hit only .218/.273/.358 with poor plate discipline in Low-A. One of four active USVI players (Jharel Cotton, Akeel Morris). The other player of note is Rodney Theophile, a right-handed pitcher from Nicaragua who had a 10.67 ERA in 14 1/3 innings as an 18-year old in the GCL. Theophile struck out 11 and walked 11.
There is a very unusual member of Atlanta’s instructs’ roster: Isranel Wilson, from the French Caribbean island of Saint-Martin and potential member of the French national team. The outfiellder hit .223/.305/.349 with 16 stolen bases as a 20-year old in A and High-A.
All photos ©Extra Innings UK, with the exception of the picture of Glogoski, ©Photosport.nz. An earlier edition of the article incorrectly stated that Wilson had been a member of the French NT already.
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