Arizona Fall League -- Javelinas Win Championship

[wibadgers23]

You must be easily amused.

[sbrylski]

You must be easily amused.

I guess you could say that.

[wvpowerblkwel]

Have any of you guys followed Cole Gillespie in the AFL? Check him out.

[JohnBriggs12]

Ok, so the excuse for Butler is he's working on secondary pitches. I thought the AFL was more to identify who the true prospects were by matching up each teams better prospects than it is for working on different things. That's what the instructional league is for isn't it?

 

If Butler is indeed working on secondary pitches (that obviously aren't very good), how many other pitchers in this league are doing the same thing and therefore can anyone make anything of a hitters performance?

 

Frankly, I don't quite buy the he's "working on pitches". I think it's more it's Arizona where offense rules and he's facing a lot of good hitters and frankly, Butler is a marginal prospect compared to most in this league.

[TooLiveBrew]

Ok, so the excuse for Butler is he's working on secondary pitches. I thought the AFL was more to identify who the true prospects were by matching up each teams better prospects than it is for working on different things. That's what the instructional league is for isn't it?

 

No, it's not an excuse. It's what he's doing. The AFL is for whatever the players & organizations determine. To say you'd weed out the true prospects is like saying you can see the 'real ballplayers' just from the small sample of Spring Training.

 

 

Frankly, I don't quite buy the he's "working on pitches".

 

Well, you're wrong then, because he is.

 

 

I think it's more it's Arizona where offense rules and he's facing a lot of good hitters and frankly, Butler is a marginal prospect compared to most in this league.

 

I think you're definitely right that AZ & facing a lot of good hitters isn't easy, but you should probably look around at the AFL pitching stats in general before rushing to assumptions. There aren't many guys pitching to good results, even though stats/results are out of incredibly tiny samples, & not really reliable at all. The league ERA at the moment is 5.22.

[Mass Haas]

Not sure that Rob Wooten expected to pitch Wednesday, as the Javelinas held a 6-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th.

 

But when Dodgers pitcher Kenley Jansen had a rocky start to the inning, Wooten was called upon needing only one out, but allowed two inherited runners to score as well as two of his own to take the 7-6 loss.

 

Jonathan Lucroy singled and walked in five trips, and no opponent attempted a steal. Taylor Green was 0-for-2.

 

Regular season finale Thursday, then a day off before facing Stephen Strasburg in the nationally televised (MLB Network, MLB.com) championship game Saturday afternoon.

 

Phoenix Bottom 8th

• Pitcher Change: Kenley Jansen replaces Kyle Bellamy.
• Grant Desme strikes out swinging.
• Josh Bell doubles (9) on a fly ball to center fielder Trayvon Robinson.
• Nevin Ashley pops out to shortstop Carlos Triunfel.
• Shawn O'Malley walks.
• Darin Mastroianni hit by pitch. Josh Bell to 3rd. Shawn O'Malley to 2nd.
• Coaching visit to mound.
• Matt Angle singles on a sharp line drive to right fielder Jordan Danks. Josh Bell scores. Shawn O'Malley scores. Darin Mastroianni to 2nd.
• Pitcher Change: Robert Wooten replaces Kenley Jansen.
• Coaching visit to mound.
• Danny Espinosa singles on a line drive to right fielder Jordan Danks. Darin Mastroianni scores. Matt Angle to 2nd.
• Corey Brown doubles (6) on a fly ball to right fielder Jordan Danks. Matt Angle scores. Danny Espinosa scores.
• Chris Marrero singles on a ground ball to center fielder Trayvon Robinson. Corey Brown scores.
• Grant Desme called out on strikes.
   
  

[colbyjack]

The AFL is funny. When a player does well, it's hard not to get excited about it. When a player doesn't do well, particularly pitchers, we all point to the fact that the league favors offense and that in large part, it is still a developmental league.

 

Jim Callis of Baseball America always points out that stats in the AFL, both good and bad, shouldn't be scrutinized too much, because they really don't mean anything.

[Mass Haas]

Tom H. on all the Brewer AFL'ers

Only Zach Braddock saw action in today's game

Once again, Tom H:

 

Brewers prospect Zach Braddock finally had a bad relief outing in the Arizona Fall League today, allowing four hits, four walks and six runs in one-third of an inning. That's too bad because it was the final day of the AFL season and that one bad outing will skew Braddock's stats, ballooning his ERA from 0.94 to 5.25. So, when assessing Braddock's AFL performance, remember he pitched great until one bad outing at the end ruined his numbers.

 

Scottsdale Top 8th

• Pitcher Change: Zach Braddock replaces Andrew Oliver.
• Chase d'Arnaud walks.
• With Brandon Crawford batting, Chase d'Arnaud picked off and caught stealing 2nd base, pitcher Zach Braddock to first baseman Russ Mitchell to shortstop Cale Iorg.
• Brandon Crawford singles on a line drive to center fielder Dustin Ackley.
• Jose Tabata doubles (6) on a line drive to right fielder Casper Wells. Brandon Crawford to 3rd.
• Brandon Allen doubles (6) on a fly ball to right fielder Casper Wells. Brandon Crawford scores. Jose Tabata to 3rd.
• Thomas Neal walks.
• Coaching visit to mound.
• Buster Posey walks. Jose Tabata scores. Brandon Allen to 3rd. Thomas Neal to 2nd.
• Cole Gillespie walks. Brandon Allen scores. Thomas Neal to 3rd. Buster Posey to 2nd.
• Wilin Rosario doubles (3) on a line drive to left fielder Andrew Lambo. Thomas Neal scores. Buster Posey scores. Cole Gillespie scores.
• Pitcher Change: Robbie Weinhardt replaces Zach Braddock.
• Coaching visit to mound.
• Pedro Ciriaco flies out to center fielder Dustin Ackley.
• Chase d'Arnaud strikes out on foul tip.

Zach's pitch speeds are available via Gameday , 8th inning, click pitch-by-pitch.

 

Won't face Stephen Strasburg Saturday, very minor knee injury.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'll stay away from my opinion on TH or AW, but a paper that carries two beat writers really can't afford to send one of them to Arizona to cover things first-hand? Once again TH just digs through the boxscores, just like Maas Hass, except not as well.

 

As Patrick mentioned in post #181, stats in the AFL (good or bad) just usually aren't that meaningful. How have Butler's offspeed pitches he's been working on looked? Progression? Regression? How about getting some comments from scouts on Lucroy & his defense? Etc., etc. It's just frustrating imo.

[battlekow]

McCalvy has Mark Rogers on his AFL stint and overall season:

"I think I'm seeing a little bit of the fatigue from my first full season in three years, that's for sure" he admitted. "But in the meantime I'm learning a lot. There are some really good hitters down here, and they hit mistakes. You have to be able to pitch.

 

"It's definitely going to be something to build on for next Spring Training. The main thing is that I feel good, but at the same time I do feel like it's my first full season in three years. It's a long year. That everyday grind adds up."

 

...

 

"I know I can make it through a full season now with my arm feeling great, and that makes me really excited for next season," said Rogers, who could find himself in Double-A Huntsville this time. "I'm going to come in fresh and ready to go with a lot more experience under my belt. Compare that to last year, when it was a clean slate. This time I have a lot of confidence that I can come into camp and turn some heads."

 

...

 

"I believe that if you have this experience, it's going to make you better," Rogers said. "It's been a great year for me, and I don't want to look at it as anything else. I look forward to a full season ahead of me without a pitch count where I can just go play."

Amen.

[Mass Haas]

Here's a link to the AFL's home page.

 

At 1:35 PM Central on Saturday, there should be a video link there or directly at mlb.com to coverage of the AFL Championship Game, which will also be on MLB Network.

 

We should see Lorenzo Cain and Jonathan Lucroy starting (hopefully), might catch Taylor Green, Mark Rogers thought he might get an inning despite his AFL struggles.

[BrewCrewForever]

Really hope Lucroy and Cain start and play a good chunk of the game. Excited to see them in action.

[wibadgers23]

How can I watch this game if I don't have mlb network? Is there an option where I can pay a one-time fee and watch it online?

[wibadgers23]

Never mind, I guess it's free. Cain not starting, but Lucroy is.

[BrewCrewForever]

Sweet, should see plenty of Lucroy today with him starting.

[marty22]

Lucroy nails a would-be basestealer...hope to see a lot of that next year. That was a perfect throw

[miggs721]

Looks like we have a free-swinger on our hands next year...I'll still take that over Kendall...I don't know if any of you collect cards, but I can pick up a Lucroy RC orange refractor for $50, i have been out of cards for a while, I don't know if thats a deal or not

[wibadgers23]

Lucroy is actually known for being very patient at the plate (had more walks than SO's in '09). He was probably just a bit anxious with the bases load.

[trwi7]

Braddock coming in.

[BrewCrewForever]

There is no radar gun, but Braddock seems to throw hard.

[trwi7]

I was just going to say that. He really looked like he was throwing 93-95 even without a radar gun. He actually kind of reminded me of Parra in that inning.

 

Very nice inning, strikeout, ground ball single, bunt single, stolen bases, strikeout, strikeout.

[Mass Haas]

Down 4-3 in the 8th, Lucroy with a sharp one-out single before White Sox second baseman C.J. Retherford absolutely crushed one to left -- three more outs for a Brewer (Javelina) championship.

 

Makes me realize I miss baseball. That was cool to watch live.

 

EDIT: Javelinas are champions! Lucroy at the bottom of a huge pigpile on the mound at the end.

[trwi7]

Javelinas win!

[colbyjack]

Looks like we have a free-swinger on our hands next year.

 

I always warn people coming up with such conclusions after watching a young player in one game. As others have already noted, his patience is one of his best attributes based on the numbers he has posted so far during his minor league career.

 

It was exciting seeing him gun down that runner. I was hoping he would get a chance to throw out some base-stealers, and despite average arm strength that we've heard about before, it was clear that his transfer, release and accuracy were as good as advertised.

[ecjimg]

It was so nice to be there........felt like spring training! I was most impressed by the kid Wells, RF Detroit.

He quickly got to a J.Weeks hit that looked like a "for sure" double and threw a bullet to the 2nd baseman.