Plunk Everyone

There have been 23 plunks in the Major League postseason so far this year, which isn't bad - it's actually the most plunks in the pre-world series rounds since 2005. But it's hard to keep interested in major league postseason plunkings when it seems like they're taking a week off between each game. But, there are alternatives. New seasons have already begun in the Arizona Fall League, the Venezuelan Winter League (Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional), the Mexican Pacific League (Liga Mexicana del Pacifico), and the Dominican Winter League (Liga de Beisbol Dominicano). The Puerto Rican league starts up next month. 84 batters have already been plunked in the Venezuelan League, 59 in the Mexican League, 37 in the Arizona Fall League and 11 in the Dominican League.

So, here are some leaders in winter league plunkings. Some of these players may be the Major League HBP heros of the future for your favorite team. Annoyingly, the MLB.com stat pages for these leagues don't list HBPs- but that's why we have the internet.

Daryl Jones is tearing up the Arizona Fall league so far, having been hit by 4 pitches in 10 games for the Surprise Rafters. He's a Cardinals minor leaguer, and he only got hit 6 times in AA level ball in 2009. But, in 2008 he's had 3 double digit plunk seasons in the minors, and a total of 50 minor league plunks. There are only three other batters who have been hit more than once in the Arizona Fall League, and the player's major league parent club is in parenthesis next to their names for the ones I bothered to look up.

Name	Team	HBP	Plate Appearances	HBP per PA
Daryl Jones (STL)	Surprise Rafters	4	47	0.085
Jose Tabata (PIT)	Scottsdale Scorpions	2	42	0.048
Nevin Ashley (TB)	Phoenix Desert Dogs	2	31	0.065
Ruben Tejada (NYM)	Surprise Rafters	2	36	0.056

The Dominican League is only a week and a half into there season, and Pablo Ozuna is the only player to be plunked twice so far. You may remember him from such teams as the Chicago White Sox from 2005 to mid-2008, but he spent 2009 hanging around the Phillies farm system, and is currently a free agent - perhaps hoping his Dominican league efforts at getting hit by pitches will land him an offer.

Name	Team	HBP	Plate Appearances	HBP per PA
Pablo Ozuna	Estrellas de Oriente	2	22	0.091
Juan Richardson	Estrellas de Oriente	1	21	0.048
Hector Luna (LAD)	Aguilas Cibaenas	1	18	0.056
Josh Pressley	Estrellas de Oriente	1	11	0.091
Matt Tupman (KC)	Tigres del Licey	1	15	0.067
Matt Carson (OAK)	Aguilas Cibaenas	1	16	0.063
Jose Campusano	Gigantes del Cibao	1	9	0.111
Elian Herrera	Aguilas Cibaenas	1	10	0.1
Jamie Hoffmann	Leones del Escogido	1	16	0.063
Tony Abreu (ARI)	Aguilas Cibaenas	1	18	0.056

In the Mexican League, Heber Gomez is leading with 4 HBPs, with Roman Orantes chasing him at 3 HBPs. Neither of them is currently affiliated with a Major League club.

Name	Team	HBP	Plate Appearances	HBP per PA
Heber Gomez	Venados de Mazatlan	4	47	0.085
Ramon Orantes	Caneros de los Mochis	3	47	0.064
Javier Robles	Mayos de Navojoa	2	49	0.041
Refugio Cervantes	Tomateros de Culiacan	2	53	0.038
Abel Martinez	Mayos de Navojoa	2	58	0.034
John Mayberry (PHI)	Yaquis de Obregon	2	38	0.053
Said Gutierrez	Yaquis de Obregon	2	48	0.042
Daniel Fornes	Yaquis de Obregon	2	48	0.042
Francisco Arias	Mayos de Navojoa	2	60	0.033
Neil Sellers (PHI)	Yaquis de Obregon	2	57	0.035
Sandy Madera	Caneros de los Mochis	2	62	0.032

Lastly, we have the Venezuelan League - which so far has been the plunkiest league of all with a batter getting hit about once every 53.5 plate appearances. Adam Heether and Jon Jay have each been hit 5 times in Venezuala so far, and they play for the same team. No word yet on whether Hugo Chavez plans to cease those plunks for the government any time soon. Heether is a Brewers minor leaguer, and appears to have played at every level of their organization except the majors - and at every position. Jon Jay is a Cardinals minor leaguer who got hit 12 times for AAA Memphis in 2009. Also notable is Brendan Katin, with 3 plunks in just 31 plate appearances so far - he's been hit 40 times at various minor league levels for the Brewers system.

Name	Team	HBP	Plate Appearances	HBP per PA
Adam Heether (MIL)	Leones del Caracas	5	68	0.074
Jon Jay (STL)	Leones del Caracas	5	71	0.070
Ezequiel Carrera (SEA)	Navegantes del Magallanes	4	70	0.057
Dennys Abreu	Bravos de Margarita	3	33	0.091
Luis Gonzalez	Caribes de Anzoategui	3	58	0.052
David Paisano (TEX)	Tiburones de La Guaira	3	49	0.061
Brendan Katin (MIL)	Aguilas de Zulia	3	31	0.097
Daniel Dorn (CIN)	Caribes de Anzoategui	3	45	0.067

Labels: Winter ball