Los Prospectos: A Winter League Update on Evan Gattis
While most of the elite prospects end their season in the Arizona Fall League, a number of intriguing minor leaguers fly to Venezuela or the Dominican Republic for some work in the Winter Leagues. Many of these players are returning to their countries of origin where they can see relatives and friends on a regular basis. They have the opportunity to play in front of their people in an environment enriched by their culture. These Latin American players get to see familiar sites, eat the meals that they were raised on, and hear the music and language that had constituted the sounds of life until they turned sixteen. The North American players, on the other hand, get an opportunity for a brand new baseball and life experience. After spending much of their baseball playing lives in places like Odessa, Texas and Omaha, Nebraska, they now find themselves in locations like La Guaira or the Isla de Margarita.
All of these players, whether from the States or the Caribbean, are taking advantage of these Winter League games to continue their development. Over the next several weeks I plan to track some of the top prospects in the Winter Leagues. Below is an extended look at Evan Gattis who continues his rise in Venezuela.
The comeback story of this twenty-six year old slugger is well known. Listed as 6’4” and 230 pounds, Evan Gattis is from Forney, Texas but is adding another chapter to his career with Aguilas del Zulia. On October 23rd, Gattis hit a go ahead homerun to complete a ninth inning comeback against the league rival Leones del Caracas, in Caracas. The Lions have 20 championships in their storied history dating back to the early fifties, while Gattis’ Aguilas have five titles, all since the 1980s.
Aguilas was down 5-1 with two outs in the ninth before storming back to win 8-5. The lively crowd was standing as Gattis came up with the Aguilas down 5-4, two runners on, and two outs. One pitch after fouling a ball off his back leg, He crunched an inside fastball for a long homerun to left that sent the Aguilas fans into a frenzy. As Gattis approached home plate and his awaiting teammates he was authentically pumped and excited. As the inning continued on he could be seen in the Zulia dugout with a big grin.
In 13 games for Aguilas, Gattis has a slash line of 0.327/.397/.694 with four homeruns and six doubles over 49 at bats. This of course comes on the heals of an abbreviated 2012 season spent mostly in the Southern and Carolina leagues where he hit 18 homeruns over 74 games while batting .305 with a .389 on base percentage and a .607 slugging. Gattis played one game in left field and has otherwise served as a designated hitter for Aguilas. In the minors he more or less split his time in 2012 between catcher and left field.
Evan Gattis, with his barehanded hitting, size, and mug, conjures up images of what one would imagine as the original, raw, old school power hitter. He looks like the kind of man that would thrive in a hunter-gatherer society. According to some accounts, in Venezuela Gattis has earned the nickname White Bear. Come spring, International League pitching will be hard pressed to take him down.
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