VSL Season Starts Monday – Initial Roster Posted

1. VSL/DSL

The Venezuelan Summer League starts Monday for the Phillies with an 11:30 AM game against the VSL Cardinals.  The Phillies play a 70-game schedule running through early August, playing 5-6  games a week.  The Phillies are one of 8 teams in the VSL (unlike the Dominican league where almost all major league organizations are represented.

The big news for the Phillies is that both of their high profile signings from last winter are on the VSL roster.  Since GCL season does not stat for another month or so, there is still a chance that a couple of these players will end up in Florida.  SS Nerio Rios is 17 years old and reported to be a plus defensive player with more offensive potential than Freddy Galvis.  Bernardo Solarte is also 17 years old and is an OF, most likely the starting CF on the VSL squad.  Solarte is a player in the mold of Leandro Castro with good speed along with power potential.

The one disappointing note is that there are no new pitchers listed under the age of 19.  These early rosters are sometimes a work in progress, so other younger signees may show up later.  Last year’s VSL staff was somewhat disappointing, so an influx of younger, projectible arms is needed.  The youngest pitcher on the roster is 17-year-old Jorge Guzman who only pitched limited innings last summer as a 16-year-old.  4 of the 5 catchers on the roster are new signees with Hector Barrios being another signee from Panama.  One interesting note is that OF Rudney Balentien (from Curacao) has been transferred to the VSL after 2 seasons in the DSL.  We will follow up this initial post with periodic updates once play has started.

The initial roster is posted at the minor league baseball site.  Here is a copy of that roster with new players listed in bold:

Pitchers (click column headers to sort)
# Name Pos Bat Thw Ht Wt DOB Status MLB 40-man
37 Leonel Bastidas P R R 6′ 3″ 184 06-26-1989 Active No
53 Kirlian Campo P S L 6′ 0″ 180 05-17-1990 Active No
24 Victor Diaz P R R 6′ 6″ 229 05-19-1989 Active No
10 Atilio Escaray P R R 6′ 2″ 153 12-29-1989 Active No
22 Orlando Garces P L L 5′ 11″ 181 08-24-1990 Active No
33 Juary Gomez P R R 6′ 2″ 200 05-23-1990 Active No
38 Rafael Guevara P R R 5′ 11″ 166 11-19-1990 Active No
23 Jorge Guzman P R R 6′ 1″ 201 08-14-1991 Active No
17 Jose Hernandez P R R 6′ 1″ 201 01-21-1988 Active No
35 Zael Honora P R R 6′ 2″ 199 03-15-1990 Active No
49 Ely Izurriaga P L L 5′ 11″ 188 06-29-1990 Active No
16 Luis Leon P R R 6′ 2″ 166 11-24-1989 Active No
21 Jean Lopez P R R 6′ 2″ 175 03-31-1988 Active No
19 Ervis Manzanillo P L L 6′ 2″ 160 08-25-1989 Active No
18 Yosber Monzon P R R 6′ 0″ 176 11-04-1989 Active No
26 Jesus Pirela P R R 6′ 0″ 152 03-13-1989 Active No
46 Yovan Silva P R R 6′ 0″ 209 02-06-1990 Active No
51 Jesus Suarez P R R 6′ 3″ 200 12-05-1988 Active No
Catchers (click column headers to sort)
# Name Pos Bat Thw Ht Wt DOB Status MLB 40-man
29 Willians Astudillo C R R 5′ 9″ 182 10-14-1991 Active No
12 Hector Barrios C R R 5′ 10″ 187 06-16-1991 Active No
62 Marco Davalillo C R R 6′ 1″ 210 11-05-1990 Active No
— Osmel Reyes C R R 6′ 1″ 185 08-21-1988 7-day DL No
52 Enderson Villegas C R R 5′ 10″ 168 01-31-1992 Active No
Infielders (click column headers to sort)
# Name Pos Bat Thw Ht Wt DOB Status MLB 40-man
5 Carlos Perdomo 3B R R 5′ 10″ 168 04-25-1990 Active No
6 Nerio Rios SS S R 6′ 0″ 150 10-05-1991 Active No
11 Nelson Sosa SS R R 5′ 11″ 148 09-30-1989 Active No
8 Eduards Tolo 3B R R 5′ 9″ 140 10-07-1990 Active No
Outfielders (click column headers to sort)
# Name Pos Bat Thw Ht Wt DOB Status MLB 40-man
50 Rudney Balentien LF R R 6′ 0″ 160 11-03-1989 Active No
39 Vernal Bogle RF R R 6′ 0″ 167 11-21-1989 Active No
58 Rosmel Fajardo OF R R 6′ 2″ 177 07-19-1992 Active No
99 Gregorio Machado OF S R 6′ 1″ 184 10-28-1991 Active No
3 Bernardo Solarte OF R R 6′ 0″ 161 01-23-1992 Active No
14 Luis Unda LF L L 6′ 1″ 155 01-28-1990 Active No

7 thoughts on “VSL Season Starts Monday – Initial Roster Posted”

  3. “Curious Says:
    May 17, 2009 at 10:44 pm
    What is the latest from the rest of XST ? Who looks like going to Williamsport and GCL ?’

    Nobody seems to be following the extended spring- we’ll all have to wait until the draft to start to find out.

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  4. I was going to complain about the birth dates in lieu of ages, but I won’t do that. So, Osmel Reyes is injured again? He seems to be injured alot. Last time I looked he was listed as a pitcher, and I thought he got into a few games at the end of the year. Victor Diaz is still around.

    Guys who might still be in EST (!) (?)—# Carlos Hernandez INF, Jorge Guerra, 1B-C, # Framcico Diaz, C, Edgar Duran, INF, Winder Torres, OF, Luis Martinez, OF

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  5. Guys who I don’t have on my invitees list nor are on these rosters and who might be released: #Norberto Lezcano, OF, Levi Rossi, OF, *Juan Colemanarez, P, * Ricciard Rodriguez, P, M. Landaeta,P, L. Castillo, P, D. Lara, P, Berman Espinoza, P

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  6. I see the box score for the VSL opener. Looks like a 1st game box. The game had 12 runs scored, 23 hits, an outfield assist at home, 2 wild pitches, 3 balks, a SB and 2 CS, 21 Ks and 7 BBs (these numbers are the two teams combined). Interesting thing is it looked like a pitchers dual into the 6th. Bullpens come in and kaboom. The Phillies had 4 errors but only 1 of them lead the an unearned run.

    Pirela, the starting pitcher for the Phils, pitched well but he is one of the older guys on the roster. Best stat for him; he was 9 – 1 GO/FO. Andy, you were right about the age of the pitching staff. Most of them are 20 to 21.

    Side note Marco Davalillo, a 6′ 1″ 210 lbs catcher, picked a guy off 1st and caught the only guy trying to steal.

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  7. I am a little worried that we have not added too many projectible arms in either the VSL or DSL the last 2 years. There seems to be more of a focus on position players which used to be a notable weakness. The high profile signings from last year included only one pitcher – Alvaro Bacil in the DSL. Hopefully they will invest in a couple of high profile arms this year, especially if the international budget increases without a number 1 pick.

    This VSL team may not be that bad even if there are no high profile pitching prospects. With good young bats balanced by older pitching they could compete for the title.

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