Plunk Everyone

While many baseball fans have been busy enjoying freezing weather, snow, ice storms causing power failures, and other joys of winter, a lot of baseball players have been hanging around the various Caribbean leagues playing winter ball and getting hit by pitches. Which means it's time to take a look at who's been hitting the most batters in the winter leagues.

Arizona Fall League
The Arizona Fall League wrapped up their season in November, with Braves prospect Tommy Hanson winning the league MVP. But, Hanson only hit 3 of the 124 batters he faced in AFL play, which was good for only 8th place on the hit batters list. Sergio Perez was the biggest threat to batters safety in the league, hitting 6 batters, and only not hitting 100. He works for the Astros and could be plunking opposing batters for them in spring training soon.

Arizona Fall League hit batter leaders

Name	Team	HB	Batters Faced	HB per BF
Sergio Perez	Scottsdale Scorpions	6	106	0.057
Rowdy Hardy	Surprise Rafters	5	103	0.049
Gaby Hernandez	Peoria Javelins	4	136	0.029
Joe Woerman	Peoria Javelins	3	62	0.048
Jeff Sues	Scottsdale Scorpions	3	71	0.042
Shane Lindsay	Phoenix Desert Dogs	3	96	0.031
Phil Hughes	Peoria Javelins	3	124	0.024
Tommy Hanson	Mesa Solar Sox	3	124	0.024
Dan Cortes	Surprise Rafters	3	132	0.023
Kevin Pucetas	Scottsdale Scorpions	3	146	0.021
Jeff Manship	Phoenix Desert Dogs	3	167	0.018

Hawaii Winter League
The Hawaii Winter League also finished play in November, despite the name, and their leader in throwing baseballs at opposing hitters was Chris Salberg of the Orioles farm system. He hit 7 of the 136 batters he faced. But, right behind him was Steve Edlefson of the Giants system. He drilled 6 batters, but only needed 72 attempts, meaning he hit one out of every 12 batters.

Hawaii Winter League hit batter leaders

Name	Team	HB	Batters Faced	HB per BF
Chris Salberg	West Oahu CaneFires	7	136	0.051
Steve Edlefsen	Waikiki Beach Boys	6	72	0.083
Jason Godin	North Shore Honu	5	137	0.036
Rob Harmon	Waikiki Beach Boys	4	73	0.055
Scott Shaw	Honolulu Sharks	4	124	0.032
Austin Chambliss	Honolulu Sharks	3	45	0.067
Cody Scarpetta	West Oahu CaneFires	3	71	0.042
Josh Stinson	Honolulu Sharks	3	99	0.03
Johnny Venters	Honolulu Sharks	3	136	0.022
Daiki Kiyohara	West Oahu CaneFires	2	64	0.031
Moises Robles	West Oahu CaneFires	2	81	0.025
Matt Meyer	North Shore Honu	2	86	0.023
Christopher Kissock	Honolulu Sharks	2	87	0.023
Timothy Bascom	West Oahu CaneFires	2	91	0.022
Shawn Nottingham	North Shore Honu	2	97	0.021
Roy Merritt	Honolulu Sharks	2	98	0.02
Jose Capellan	North Shore Honu	2	109	0.018
Fumikazu Kimura	West Oahu CaneFires	2	131	0.015
Jun Hyeok Heo	North Shore Honu	2	136	0.015
Mitsuo Yoshikawa	Waikiki Beach Boys	2	161	0.012

Dominican Winter League
In the Dominican Winter League, there are some big names in the field of hitting batters. The 2008 MLB leader in plunks, Daniel Cabrera, is pitching there this winter, along with Reds pitchers Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto, who tied for 3rd in the majors. But, it's Julio Depaula who is showing them all how it's done - or how not to do it, with 7 hit batters out of 110 batters faced. It looks like the Rays were impressed enough to sign him.

Dominican Winter League hit batter leaders:

Name	Team	HB	Batters Faced	HB per BF
Julio DePaula	Gigantes del Cibao	7	110	0.064
Ramon Ortiz	Tigres del Licey	5	154	0.032
Dustin Nippert	Tigres del Licey	4	150	0.027
Matt Wright	Tigres del Licey	4	151	0.026
Julian Tavarez	Aguilas Cibaenas	4	194	0.021
Carlos Marmol	Tigres del Licey	3	32	0.094
Jose Acevedo	Tigres del Licey	3	36	0.083
Anderson Garcia	Estrellas de Oriente	3	51	0.059
Samuel Gervacio	Tigres del Licey	3	52	0.058
Elizardo Ramirez	Leones del Escogido	3	59	0.051
Juan Feliciano	Aguilas Cibaenas	3	100	0.03
Omar Beltre	Azucareros del Este	3	184	0.016
Jorge Sosa	Tigres del Licey	3	324	0.009

Mexican Pacific League
In the Mexican League, major league veteran Oscar Villarreal has hit 6 batters in 252 attempts, but Rays farm hand Pablo Ortega and someone named Alfredo Caudillo have hit 7 each. Meanwhile, 41 year old former all-star Scott Erickson has hit 5 batters in 81 attempts, for a rate one plunk per 16.2 batters faced. Don't call it a comeback - he's been here for years. Game 4 of the Mexican League semi-finals is today.

Mexican Pacific League hit batter leaders

Name	Team	HB	Batters Faced	HB per BF
Alfredo Caudillo	Aguilas de Mexicali	7	298	0.023
Pablo Ortega	Venados de Mazatlan	7	400	0.018
Oscar Villarreal	Aguilas de Mexicali	6	252	0.024
Miguel Ramirez	Naranjeros de Hermosillo	6	296	0.02
Scott Erickson	Aguilas de Mexicali	5	81	0.062
Hugo Castellanos	Yaquis de Obregon	5	175	0.029
Hansel Izquierdo	Mayos de Navojoa	4	181	0.022
Sergio Valenzuela	Venados de Mazatlan	4	201	0.02
Mauricio Lara	Mayos de Navojoa	4	228	0.018
Edgar Gonzalez	Naranjeros de Hermosillo	4	244	0.016
Mario Mendoza	Mayos de Navojoa	4	252	0.016
Humberto Montemayor	Aguilas de Mexicali	4	334	0.012
Francisco Campos	Naranjeros de Hermosillo	4	389	0.01

Puerto Rican Winter League
The Puerto Rican Winter league has reached its postseason, and you can read all about it here if you can read spanish. I can't. But I can tell you that Josue Matos has led the league in hitting batters, so far, with 6, but Angel Garcia has only needed to face 112 batters to hit 5. Garcia is in the Royals farm system, and Matos has played in the farm systems for Seattle, Toronto and Philadelphia.

Puerto Rican Winter League hit batter leaders

Name	Team	HB	Batters Faced	HB per BF
Josue Matos	Gigantes de Carolina	6	220	0.027
Angel Garcia	Cangrejeros de Santurce	5	112	0.045
Chris Kelly	Lobos de Arecibo	5	147	0.034
Orlando Roman	Criollos de Caguas	5	225	0.022
Hector Mercado	Leones de Ponce	5	263	0.019
Roy Merritt	Indios de Mayaguez	4	56	0.071
P.J. Walters	Gigantes de Carolina	4	161	0.025
Tomas Santiago	Indios de Mayaguez	4	165	0.024
Josh Rainwater	Leones de Ponce	4	173	0.023
Dillon Gee	Leones de Ponce	4	215	0.019

Venezuelan Winter League
In the Venezuelan League, Major League Free Agent Tony Armas Jr. is showcasing himself to potential employers by leading the league in hit batters. He's hit 6, tied for the league lead with Tracy Thorpe, who has been invited to Mariners training camp. Meanwhile, Felix Arellan only faced 32 batters, but at the rate he was going, he'd have hit 10.7 batters if he'd faced 100.

Venezualan Winter League hit batter leaders

Name	Team	HB	Batters Faced	HB per BF
Tony Armas	Leones del Caracas	6	109	0.055
Tracy Thorpe	Cardenales de Lara	6	187	0.032
Marcel Prado	Aguilas de Zulia	5	68	0.074
Darwin Cubillan	Leones del Caracas	5	105	0.048
Harold Eckert	Tiburones de La Guaira	5	173	0.029
Kasey Olenberger	Bravos de Margarita	4	93	0.043
Yorman Bazardo	Tigres de Aragua	4	189	0.021
Mike Romano	Cardenales de Lara	4	279	0.014
Henry Bonilla	Tiburones de La Guaira	4	313	0.013
Felix Arellan	Leones del Caracas	3	32	0.094
Luis Torres	Tiburones de La Guaira	3	42	0.071
Justin Berg	Tigres de Aragua	3	60	0.050
Carmen Cali	Tigres de Aragua	3	69	0.043
Eduardo Perez	Aguilas de Zulia	3	101	0.030
Elio Serrano	Navegantes del Magallanes	3	109	0.028
Rich Hill	Tigres de Aragua	3	109	0.028
B.J. LaMura	Aguilas de Zulia	3	119	0.025
Ivan Blanco	Cardenales de Lara	3	122	0.025
Francisco Butto	Tigres de Aragua	3	127	0.024
Rosman Garcia	Tigres de Aragua	3	128	0.023
Yusmeiro Petit	Navegantes del Magallanes	3	152	0.020
Jesus Delgado	Tigres de Aragua	3	189	0.016
Horacio Estrada	Tigres de Aragua	3	212	0.014
Heath Totten	Aguilas de Zulia	3	314	0.010
Chris Jakubauskas	Cardenales de Lara	3	330	0.009

Labels: Winter ball