RONALD PENA
2/28/87; NDFA '03; Dominican Republic
R/R; 5-9, 180
| Level |
BA |
OBP |
SA |
AB |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
K |
SB |
CS |
| 2004 DSL |
.100 |
|
.100 |
40 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
14 |
0 |
|
| 2005
DSL |
.150 |
|
.200 |
40 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
12 |
0 |
|
| 2006 DSL |
.224 |
.334 |
.342 |
152 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
26 |
45 |
2 |
1 |
| 2007
A- |
.000 |
.000 |
.000 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| 2007 R |
.308 |
.390 |
.500 |
52 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
12 |
0 |
1 |
| 2008
A |
.248 |
.312 |
.359 |
290 |
16 |
5 |
2 |
25 |
85 |
1 |
3 |
Pena didn't play much in his first two DSL years, then made
some progress in his third. He hit well in brief action in the GCL and
appeared in one late-season game with State College. The Pirates every
year or so bring up a catcher from the DSL who immediately becomes an
organizational guy. They may do that to help with the Latin American
pitchers at the lower levels, since many of them may not speak much English at
that point. I've never thought to look to see whether they tend to pair up
the Latin American pitchers and catchers in the GCL. I'm not sure, though,
whether this is what they have in mind with Pena. He was expected to be Hickory's backup catcher in 2008, but Andrew Walker's ankle injuries left him as the regular for large parts of the season. Offensively he probably wasn't ready for the level and struck out a lot without producing much power. I didn't see anything noteworthy about his defense when I saw him play. He had twelve PBs in the equivalent of half a season, which isn't remarkable at that level. He caught only 17% of would-be base stealers, well below Walker's percentage. If Kris Watts moves up to AA, Pena could be the regular catcher at Lynchburg or could back up Walker there if Walker gets promoted. He could also return to low A in either role.
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