Down on the Farm: DSL Giants 2019 Season Review

With the minor league season all but over, we'll get started with some season reviews before kicking it up a notch in the postseason.

The 2019 DSL Giants were not a very good team, finishing with a 31-41 record good for 4'th place in the DSL Northeast division.  Fortunately, while it is nice to see our minor league affiliates win, that's not the point and this year's DSL Giants featured some pretty darn exciting players.  Age is a critical factor in the DSL, more so than at higher minor league levels.  The kids you want to pay attention to are the 17 year olds, maybe 18.  By 19 years old, they are most likely just organizational players.  A successful 16 year old is definitely someone who stands out.  Most of the prospect buzz from this year's team came from the offensive side of the ball, which is one big reason why the team record was not better.  The pitching was the weakest I can recall since I have followed the DSL.

The standout player was 17 yo OF Luis Matos.  He was the ohbytheway 3'rd top signing from what is looking like a massive talent haul from the 2018 international signing period.  While SS Marco Luciano and OF Jairo Pomares were sent directly to Arizona for their pro debuts, Matos started his pro career in the DSL but quickly proved he deserved to be in Arizona too with a dominating offensive performance from beginning to end. He finally got his promotion late in the season and performed well in Arizona too.

There were several other outstanding young offensive players on this year's DSL squad.  17 yo 1B/OF Victor Bericoto hit all season long and got promoted to Arizona along with Matos in August.  Then there was C/1B Rayner Santana who played most of the season at age 16.  All he did was lead the team in HR's with 10.  C Ronaldo Flores(17 yo) and IF Jose Peralta(turned 18 yo on July 4) are two more names to remember.

There is not much to get excited about on the pitching side, but you might want to remember Luis Castillo, a LHP who did not turn 17 until August 24 and struck out 52 batters in 53.1 IP.

Team Leaders:

BA:  Luis Matos- .362.  Victor Bericoto- .344.  Ronoldo Flores- .325.

HR:  Rayner Santana- 10.  Luis Matos- 7.  Victor Bericoto- 5.

SB:  Luis Matos- 20.  Adolfo Valdez- 17.  Carlos Cuevas- 12.

Luis Matos also led the entire DSL in doubles with 24.

There were no pitching Qualifiers.  In addition to the aforementioned Luis Castillo, RHP Jose Mullings(19 yo) led the team with 66 K's in 53.1 IP.  BTW, age is not as critical for pitchers as for hitters in the DSL.