Baseball Latin America – Baseball Brazil

photo credit: Edson Kojima

The 7th Annual Inter-Club Brazil Cup/6th Annual Seattle Mariners Cup will be taking place this weekend, April 27-29, at the Yakult Training Center in Ibiúna.

It’s somewhat of a confusing title for a tournament (bascially, for these age groups it’s the 7th anniversary of the tournament, and the 6th anniversary of the Mariners sponsoring it), nonetheless it will feature some of the best U-15 and U-17 baseball talent currently in Brazil. 

U-17 teams include Atibaia, Ibiúna, Maringá, Nippon Blue Jays, São Paulo e Presidente Prudente.

U-15 teams participating are: Coopercotia, Gecebs, Guarulhos, Ibiúna, Indaiatuba, Marília, Mogi das Cruzes, Nikkei Curitiba, Nippon Blue Jays, Paraná Clube, Pereira Barreto e São Paulo.

More info can be found on the Confederação Brasileira de Beisebol e Softbol website.

Nippon Blue Jays - Sub-20 Brazilian Champs, photo courtesy of CBBS

The final phase of the 12th Annual Brazilian Baseball Inter Clubs U-20 Tourney was held in Londrina, Paraná, this past weekend. The Nippon Blue Jays won the tournament by beating Londrina in the final game, 13 to 8.

April 14, 2012 (Saturday)

Presidente Prudente 7 x 2 Gecebs

Nippon Blue Jays 8 x 18 Gecebs

Atibaia 2 x 4  São Paulo

Londrina 6 x 2 Atibaia

April 15th, 2012 (Sunday)

Presidente Prudente 1 x 2 Nippon Blue Jays

São Paulo 2 x 8 Londrina

Londrina 8 x 13 Nippon Blue Jays (final)

Champion: Nippon Blue Jays

Runner Up: Londrina

3rd place: Presidente Prudente

4th Place: São Paulo

Awards:

1st  best BA: Rodrigo Uehara – N.B. Jays (0.467)

2nd best BA: Ellison Kagueyama – São Paulo (0.429)

3rd best BA: Roberto Mendes – Londrina (0.409)

co-Home Run King: Nilton Fukushima – Londrina (2 HR)

co-Home Run King: Diogo Nakaie – Maringá (2 HR)

Stolen Base Leader: Lauro Watanabe – N.B. Jays (3)

Best Pitcher: Felipe Fukuda – N.B. Jays

Pitcher Honorable Mention: Roberto Mendes – Londrina

Best Catcher: Nilton Fukushima – Londrina

Best Infielder: Rodrigo Tsuhako – P.Prudente

Best Outfielder: Leandro Hara – Londrina

Player of the Championship: Roberto Mendes – Londrina

Murillo Gouvea - photo courtesy of greenwichtime.com

Pitcher Murillo Gouvea of the Houston Astros organization will be returning to Single A Lexington of the South Atlantic League. Gouvea went 1-3 with a 3.98 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in 30 appearances (74.1 IP), mainly in relief, for the Legends last season. Despite the high WHIP, Gouvea had 83 strikeouts to only 29 walks.  He’ll start this season in the bullpen again according to the Astros SB Nation’s blog, Crawfish Box.

Infielder Leonardo Reginatto of the Tampa Bay Rays organization actually had a couple of appearances with the Rays major league team this spring training, albeit they were as a late inning defensive replacement. Reginatto played last season for Tampa Bay’s Class A short season affiliate, the Hudson Valley Renegades. No announcement yet on where he’ll start the season, or the status of outfielder Wester Ramos, who played with the Rays Venezuelan rookie team last summer.

Still also awaiting a status update on the three Brazilians currently with the Seattle Mariners organization. Infielders Felipe Burin and Pedro Okuda, and pitcher Thyago Vieira, all played rookie ball last season, however it doesn’t look like any of them saw time in the Mariner’s major league camp this spring.  Burin, in particular, had a very strong 2011 campaign in the Venezuelan and Arizona rookie summer leagues, (.350 BA, 42 R, 30 2B, 1 HR, 50 RBI, 4 SB, .891 OPS) so he could possibly move up to short season Class A this year.

A newcomer to pro ball is pitcher Rafael Moreno, who signed with the Baltimore Orioles this past offseason, I found some interesting notes on Moreno in the Inside MD Sports chat forum:

“Soon after signing Marrugo the Orioles added Rafael Moreno, a 17-year-old Brazilian righthander who pitched at the same tournament in Colombia. Moreno has represented Brazil in international competitions since 2008, when he played in the 14U COPABE Pan American championships in Venezuela as a 13-year-old. Moreno was the youngest player on the Brazilian roster but he was also the team’s best player. Moreno made the tournament’s all-star team as the event’s top righthanded pitcher—edging out Mariners righthander Victor Sanchez and Blue Jays righthander Adonys Cardona of Venezuela—by leading the tournament in ERA after throwing seven innings with two runs allowed (none earned) with 13 strikeouts and no walks. Moreno also played center field, hit .400 (6-for-15) and tied for the tournament lead with four stolen bases in four tries. Moreno had also pitched for the Brazilian youth national team at the 16U World Youth Championships in Mexico in August. In Mexico, Moreno made three appearances including one start, allowing six runs in 10 innings with 11 strikeouts and six walks. Moreno has a strong, thick 5-foot-11, 185-pound frame and works off a high-80s fastball and gets by more on guile than stuff.”

Yan Gomes - photo courtesy of eblogger.com

By far the biggest surprise of spring training, as far as Brazilians are concerned, was the performance of Catcher-Infielder Yan Gomes of the Toronto Blue Jays. Gomes had a monster spring, putting up great offensive numbers (.333 BA, .923 OPS, 1 HR, 13 R, 9 RBI in 39 AB) and showing versatility all over the field by playing first and third as well as catching. 

Nevertheless, Gomes is a victim of big league roster numbers and will start the season in Triple A. Critics will also point to the fact that Gomes feasted on minor league pitching during the later innings of spring training games, not to mention he did strike out a lot and didn’t take any walks. Still, there’s no denying that he made the Blue Jays decision difficult on who to carry as the backup catcher, and he could likely be the first guy to get called up if there is an injury to Blue Jays catchers J.P. Arencibia or Jeff Mathis. All it takes is one cup of coffee in The Show!

Looks like  Kansas City Royals organizational outfielder Paulo Orlando will be starting the season with the Burlington Royals of the Rookie Appalachian League while he recovers from the sports hernia injury that he suffered at the very beginning of spring training. The timing of the injury really was unfortunate as he had been slated to be in the major league camp this spring.  Hopefully Orlando bounces back quickly and at least gets back to Double A NW Arkansas, where he finished off last season strong after having a slow start in Triple A Omaha.

It was also announced today that pitcher Andre Rienzo will be starting the season on the roster of the Single A Winston-Salem Dash. Rienzo is currently ranked by Baseball America as the 17th top prospect in the Chicago White Sox minor league organization. Rienzo did not have any appearances with the White Sox major league team this spring.

I’ll have an update on other Brazilians as minor league teams continue to set their rosters.