Winter Ball Update: Tabata's starting to hit

Time for another look at the winter ball stats.

Jose Tabata's got his OPS up to .729 and he just hit his first homer. He seems to be slowly coming around since his slump that followed his hot start. Jorge Cortes is hitting well in Venezuela, but he's almost 30 and been in the minor leagues since 1998. Luis Cruz is coming around in the Mexican League and showing some nice plate patience. Ronny Paulino is mauling in the Dominican with four homers in 25 at-bats. Shelby Ford continues to be the only thing worth watching in Arizona, flashing some nice power (7 of his 20 hits are for extra bases including 3 homers). Brian Friday, Steve Pearce, Jim Negrych and Jamie Romak are still putting up ugly lines. Negrych is impressive in that his OBP is 40 points higher than his slugging.

On the pitching side of things, Kyle Bloom is dominating in Hawaii, Evan Meek is putting up some nice numbers in Mexico, and Romulo has thrown three nice innings in Venezuela. And try not to look at the other guys.