Bergolla’s Hot Winter
By
Amanda
Posted at 11:30 pm
I'm desperate for content today, so I'm rehashing a story from Reds.com four days ago.
Young William Bergolla is having quite the winter in Venezuela:
Bergolla continued his scorching Venezuela Winter League campaign this week, going 10-for-21 in five games to improve his batting average to .402. The slick-fielding middle infielder has collected multiple hits in nine games and has only gone hitless in two of his 20 contests. He's been particularly impressive at home, hitting .469 in 49 at-bats.
At 23 years old, Bergolla's so skinny and sweet-faced that it would be easy to believe that he's 16, but maybe this is him coming into his own.
Also in Venezuela is another of my favorites, little Ray Olmedo. Of Ray-Ray they say:
Olmedo collected five hits in 17 at-bats, scoring three runs and driving in two in four games. He's hitting .323 with 15 runs, two homers and seven RBIs in 62 at-bats.
Not bad for a little fella.
If you think the minor league stuff might help get you through until Kriv-dawg pulls off a major blockbuster deal, there's a lengthy analysis of the Reds' farm system on MILB.com.
I think there’s still a chance that Bergolla won’t be in the Reds system next year, isn’t there? They took him off the 40-man roster, so doesn’t that mean that he is a free agent? If some other team wants him, he could be gone. That’s a shame since he could have been a good emergency option if the Reds can’t find another middle infielder to go next to BP.
I think Olmedo would be a more likely emergency middle infielder anyway, but I’d like to see Bergolla hang around. I’ve always enjoyed watching him play when we go to see the Bats.
Yup, Bergolla fits the RHM mold. He’s a little guy who’s speedy.
Thinking back to when he was up with the Reds in 2005, I thought he looked ready defensively, but he was definitely overmatched against major league hurlers. If he continues to pound Venezuelan League pitching, though, maybe he’ll attract some favorable attention from the minor league instructors, and somebody will take him under a wing and teach him how to use that speed to best advantage for getting base hits (which basically is to hit the ball on the ground and run like heck).
Hope so. I like seeing guys like Dunn and KGJ go yard as much as the next person, but little guys with speed are good for manufacturing runs when the long ball isn’t happening, and I think a team needs to be able to do that in order to be a real contender (think David Eckstein or Ryan Freel).
HMZ
Mmm…little and speedy…though perhaps a little skinny for my personal tastes. Also, in some photos, he could be mistaken for a girl. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing: look how well it’s worked out for Brad Thompson and the Cardinals.