MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com-SURPRISE, AZ – Naturals shortstop Jeff Bianchi went 1-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored as the Surprise Rafters, the Kansas City Royals’ co-op affiliate team in the Arizona Fall League, kicked off play Tuesday with an 17-4 drubbing of the Peoria Javelinas at the Peoria Sports Complex.


Bianchi played second base and batted second for the Rafters, who are one of six teams in the AFL.  The Rafters’ are managed by the Royals’ Advanced Class-A Wilmington skipper Brian Rupp and include prospects from the Royals, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, and St. Louis Cardinals organizations. 


Several Texas League players who played at Arvest Ballpark this past season are teammates with Bianchi and his fellow Naturals on the Rafters.  Cardinals’ prospects Daryl Jones and Gary Daley (Springfield) as well as Rangers’ prospects Marcus Lemon and Brennan Garr (Frisco) all appeared in Tuesday’s opener.  Ike Davis (Mets) was the lead offensive generator for the Rafters, going 4-for-6 with six RBI, while Ian Kennedy, a promising Yankees’ right-hander who has seen some major league time, got the win for Surprise.  Bianchi was the lone Royals’ farmhand to appear in the game.


David Lough, Ben Swaggerty, Blake Wood, and Aaron Hartsock are the other Naturals representatives on the Rafters, and Wilmington pitcher Brandon Sisk and third baseman Mike Moustakas are the Royals’ other two delegates.  Moustakas was the Royals’ first-round selection (second overall) in the 2007 draft, and Sisk is, like Swaggerty, a left-handed relief prospect.  Both Sisk and Moustakas are reasonable bets to begin the 2010 season in a Naturals uniform. 


Those players are not the only current and former Naturals donning a uniform this winter.  Other players see action with fall and winter league teams located in Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.  Outfielder Jose Duarte is one of those players, returning to Leones de Caracas in the Venezuelan League.  In four games thus far with Caracas, Duarte has three hits in eight trips to the plate.  He’ll once again be teammates in Caracas with former Naturals infielder Mario Lisson, who has yet to appear in a game as Leones is off to a 2-2 start.  Catcher Manny Pina, who was on the disabled list and never suited up for the Naturals after being traded on September 3rd from the Rangers’ organization, is 3-for-6 in two games with Tiburones de La Guaira (La Guaira Sharks), also in the Venezuelan Winter League.


La Guaira’s roster also includes former Naturals’ infielder Juan Richardson, recovering from injuries sustained very early on in the 2010 season, which Richardson spent with the Lincoln Salt Dogs of the American Association after being released from Triple-A Omaha after spring training.


Venezuela and Mexico are the only winter leagues that have begun thus far.  The Dominican Winter League begins next week, and the Puerto Rican Winter League begins November 12th.  All the international winter leagues wrap up later in the winter with the top winter teams from the Latin American countries competing against one another in the Caribbean Series, an elimination-style tournament.  The series runs during the first week of February and is televised nationally on the MLB Network, providing fans a great chance to see minor league players on a big stage in an electric atmosphere of international competition.  

Check nwanaturals.com weekly for updates on Arizona Fall League action as well as other Naturals playing winter ball.  The Arizona Fall League plays six games per week, wrapping up with a Championship Game on Saturday, November 21st, while some of the winter leagues continue play into the month of December.

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