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Carlos Pena’s Rising Dominican Stardom

Thanks to my boy Ruffin Antuna (hoggy), today at Rays Anatomy we get a chance to see how the star of Carlos Pena is growing internationally. The Tampa Bay first baseman, who was always viewed as a future superstar as a minor leaguer, finally put it all together to have a monster 2007.

Pena hit a Tampa Bay record 46 home runs, knocking in 121 runs while getting on-base 41 percent of the time. Known as a slick fielder throughout his career, he added a powerful offensive repertoire to go with his usual steady glove. He set numerous team records, and was the rock in Joe Maddon’s lineup all year long.

This off-season has been a coming out party for the slugger, who has been hailed in his native country of the Dominican Republic for his efforts at Tropicana Field. For a small island nation that has produced boatloads of hall of fame talent, it is nice to see Pena recognized as one of the elite players from the DR.

Below are a few snippets from an article written by ESPN Deportes columnist Enrique Rojas (it’s all written in Spanish), as he talks with Pena while he prepares for his first game in the Dominican Winter League. The Rays first baseman is playing for the famed Tigres de Licey, one of the premier franchises of the league.

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Por Enrique Rojas

El inicialista Carlos Peña tomó prácticas de bateo con el resto de los jugadores de los Tigres del Licey antes del partido del miércoles, que marcó el inicio de la postemporada de la liga invernal de República Dominicaba, pero aclaró que no jugará en su país hasta que no firme un nuevo acuerdo con los Rays de Tampa Bay en las Grandes Ligas.

“Ese es el acuerdo que tengo con el Licey”, dijo Peña al programa “La Voz del Fanático” de Radio Universal 650 AM de Santo Domingo. “Inmediatamente firme con los Rays, entonces me integraré a la causa de los Tigres. Tengo fe en que ese proceso terminará pronto”, dijo. “Tenemos la meta trazada de ganar la corona y el Licey hará eso conmigo o sin mi”, agregó Peña.

Peña, de 29 años, tuvo la mejor temporada de su carrera en Grandes Ligas en el 2007, cuando jugó con los Rays por primera vez. El quisqueyano bateó .282 y estableció récords del club en jonrones (46) y carreras empujadas (121). Fue segundo en jonrones y cuarto en empujadas en la Liga Americana, donde además concluyó el año como segundo en slugging (.627), tercero en producción (1,037) y quinto en porcentaje de embase (.411).

También recibió 103 bases por bolas y anotó 99 carreras para un club que tuvo marca de 66-96 y ocupó el último lugar en la División Este del joven circuito. Su actuación le valió ser escogido el Regreso del Año de la Liga Americana y Jugador Más Valioso de Tampa Bay.

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The “Dissection”: What you are basically reading in those excerpts is Rojas talking about the wonderful year Mr. Pena had for Tampa Bay. You can see the numbers he put up, and Pena comments about how excited his is about his play this past season (we are too Carlos). Suiting up for your country in winter leagues is always quite an honor to players, and you will see established major leaguers (Miguel Tejada played nearly every year) on the diamond with lots of regularity.

The breakout year hasn’t taken over the slugger’s ego yet, as his comments above are still very humble. He also speaks of his arrangement with Licey, finally allowing him to play now that he is under major league contract with Tampa Bay. This type of setup is normal now, with teams giving leeway to players who wish to compete in winter leagues. While the squads have the ultimate veto power to remove their stars from rosters, for the most part they give free reign.

With news slow as 2008 rolls in, I figured this piece would add some spice and flavor to our blog. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and it is back to work for me starting tomorrow. Take care.  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 6:47 pm and is filed under Carlos Pena, Dominican Republic, Winter Leagues, Tigres De Licey, Devil Rays Blogs, Baseball Blogs, general sports, raystalk, Other Baseball, general baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.