WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

2008
VSL:  237/340/289, 135 AB, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 18 BB, 24 K, 6-8 SB

Played second and didn’t do much at the plate except for drawing a lot of walks.

2009
VSL:  410/500/492, 61 AB, 3 2B, 1 3B, 7 BB, 10 K, 4-10 SB 

Didn’t play much in his second VSL season; I’m not sure whether it was due to injury.  When he played it was mainly at second.

2010
VSL:  311/438/361, 180 AB, 9 2B, 40 BB, 24 K, 28-33 SB 

Hit for average and drew a ton of walks while splitting his time among the four infield positions.  As in previous years, he showed little power.  He stole a lot of bases for the first time, with a very good success rate.

2011
R:  262/438/338, 65 AB, 5 2B, 15 BB, 11 K, 9-11 SB 

Served as a utility player in the GCL, not playing a great deal at first.  After Yonathan Barrios got hurt and Ashley Ponce was promoted, he played semi-regularly, splitting his time between second and third.  He continued to walk a lot and hit for very little power, and did well stealing bases again.

2012
A-:  143/250/143, 7 AB, 1 K
A:  234/288/303, 188 AB, 9 2B, 2 3B, 15 BB, 30 K, 6-9 SB

Aponte replaced Jodaneli Carvajal at West Virginia in May and served as a utility player there the rest of the year, except for a cameo at State College when the Spikes needed a player.  He didn’t hit much and his walk rate dropped, which isn’t surprising, as higher level pitchers won’t be hesitant to challenge a hitter with no power.  The Power used him about equally at second, short and third.  He played about 40% of his games in left when the team had some injuries, and he made two appearances in center.

2013
A-:  181/253/264, 72 AB, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 BB, 15 K, 4-4 SB
A:  000/143/000, 5 AB, 1 BB, 2 K

Aponte didn’t get as much playing time as the previous year.  He got into just two games with West Virginia and otherwise served as a utility player for Jamestown, mainly at second and third.

2014
A-:  250/307/413, 80 AB, 4 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 7 BB, 21 K
A:  286/286/286, 7 AB, 2 K

Aponte went back to Jamestown, where he again got only limited playing time, mostly at third and some in the outfield corners.  He also again had a two game stint filling in at West Virginia.  Aponte actually hit for some power with the Jammers.

Aponte ranks behind Ashley Ponce on the organizational utility infielder depth chart.  It also probably hasn’t helped him that the team has added a lot of infielders through the draft and has several from Latin America coming up through the ranks.  If he returns in 2015, he’ll continue filling in as needed at the lower levels.