Your 2011 Arizona Fall League Thread -- Latest: Bradley in Rising Stars Game Sat, 7:10, MLB Network

[Mass Haas]

Jim over at Bernie's Crew has documented the list first out in the blogosphere, so kudos to him with our thanks.

 

Here's the link, feel free to discuss here.

 

This thread will provide your daily updates once the AFL season begins October 4th.

[And That]

Guess they've determined that Jungmann has pitched enough this year.

[SoCalBrewfan]

Jed Bradley, though...I like it. And the growing legend of Santo M continues to grow. Also it seems like a good sign that Kintzler is on the roster.

 

Also, I assume this means we can rule out Wheeler, KeDavis, Gennett from Mets PTBNL consideration?

[patrickgpe]

would have liked to see khris davis on the squad, hopefully it doesn't mean he is included in the mets trade. was suprised jungmann wasn't on it either, but i guess and that is right and they have determined he has thrown enough. looking forward to see what bradley can do.

[Mass Haas]

Adam McCalvy notes:

Zelous Wheeler and Brandon Kintzler are both "taxi squad" members, which means they will dress, work out and travel as all other players but will only be activated two days -- Wednesdays and Saturdays -- out of the six-day-a-week schedule.

[LouisEly]

You know things are going well in the organization when it is August 30th before anyone stars an AFL thread.

[Mass Haas]

Tyler Thornburg replaces Jed Bradley -- Adam with the details.

[CheezWizHed]

That is disappointing. Not adding Thornburg, but having to wait until next year for both 1st rounders to pitch.

 

When does the AFL start? Seems late this year? Or maybe its just my perception...

[DHonks]

i haven't looked this year, but the AFL players used to report around today. Usually the setup of clubhouses began the week before.

[Mass Haas]

When does the AFL start? Seems late this year? Or maybe its just my perception...

This Tuesday, 10/4.

[CheezWizHed]

Wow! Remember when the only real Brewer interest in October was the AFL?

 

Its been going on for a week and its crickets here. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[captkirk16]

Not only that, we got boys playing in PR and VZ. It is awful fun watching the playoffs and seeing the Brew Crew doing so well.

[YoungGeezy]

Since the minor League form has been dead for a little while here is an update as of today of the Brewers in the AFL

 

Pitchers

Thornburg 1-0 3G 3.38 ERA 5.1 IP 3 H 2ER 4BB 3K (Rough 1st outing but 4IP 1 H 0 ER 1BB 3K in last 2)

Meadows 0-0 4G 2.25 ERA 4IP 4H 1ER 3BB 0K

Medlen 0-0 1G 5.40 ERA 1.2IP 3H 1ER 1BB 1K

Scarpetta 0-0 2/1 G 2.25 ERA 4IP 3H 1ER 6BB 3K

 

Hitting

Gennett 6G 27AB .333BA 9H 2 2B, 2HR, 6RBI 3/5 BB/K 1/1 SB (One of the top hitters in league)

Schafer 7G 33AB .273BA 9H 2 2B 1HR, 6RBI 2/4 BB/K 1/2 SB

KE. Davis 6G 21AB .281BA 6H 1 3B, 0HR, 1RBI 5/8 BB/K 2/2 SB

Wheeler 4G 14AB .286BA 4H 2 2B, 0HR, 3RBI 2/4 BB/K 0/1 SB

[CheezWizHed]

Hopefully Ke. Davis shows enough here to get a AA promotion. I just have a feeling that he and Brevard didn't get along for some reason. He seems to have hit well elsewhere.

 

Also, JSOnline is reporting that Bradley will pitch after all. He will replace Thornburg. That might add a little more interest here. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[BrewCrewForever]

Really looking forward to checking box scores when Bradley pitches and hearing scouting reports from Keith Law.

[tstads20]

Jed Bradley made his debut in the AFL tonight and pitched a perfect frame.

 

Reports were that he hit 94 mph with his fastball, so nice to see a little velocity out of him in his first outing following an injury. That's about the most we can really take from 1 inning of work.

 

Scarpetta had a forgettable night (0.0 IP, 7 ER), but Scooter had a 3-hit tonight in light of that. He just keeps on hitting, now at .417 with a couple homers and 5 walks in 8 games for Peoria. Nice to see a little pop out of him, but the word is he needs to continue to work on his defense. Lucky for him he has time as he's only 21 and Weeks blocking him.

[dadofandrew]

Scooter can hit. The silly things holding him back that they pick on him for, defense and baserunning, are things he'll get better at as he works his way to the bigs. As is, the kid can flat out hit, and for a middle infielder, take a gander at the bats you currently see...plenty of .270/.330 types.

 

I still wish they'd let him play SS a couple times a week.

[TooLiveBrew]

Hasn't the knock on Gennett's defense been that he's 2B-only in terms of big-league projections? I thought I read at some point this past season that he wasn't doing well even at second base.

All he's done is hit, though, and if someone like Rickie Weeks can work himself into a competent defender, then why not Scooter.

[Hammer]

Hasn't the knock on Gennett's defense been that he's 2B-only in terms of big-league projections? I thought I read at some point this past season that he wasn't doing well even at second base.

All he's done is hit, though, and if someone like Rickie Weeks can work himself into a competent defender, then why not Scooter.

I like Doug Melvin but it sucks that we have to constantly say stuff like "All he's done is hit, though, and if someone like Rickie Weeks can work himself into a competent defender, then why not Scooter."...

[DHonks]

Al, how is defense silly? We saw an inept defensive team this year. It must get better, although it can't get worse. Scooter needs to become adequate before he reaches MLB

[dadofandrew]

Players improve defensively, especially with repetition and time.

 

If you can't hit, you can't hit. The list of former players who topped at in A ball, or college, or AA that could not hit is a mighty long one. Lots of them could play a position just fine. Didn't matter, they couldn't hit.

 

A guy like Scooter has always been the best player on his team, and was able to play 2B or SS plenty adequately just with natural ability. Now, he'll learn, and get better. That's what the minors are for.

[DHonks]

Yes, players need to be able to hit. But defense is really the undervalued tool that evolved after OBP. Instead of adding runs to a team, it subtracts runs from the opposing team. A lack of defensive skills have held back others. Mat Gamel? Jack Cust?

[tstads20]

Here comes my goofy reply of the night, because while I agree defense is underrated, I also believe it's overrated as well.

 

Case in point: if we want to use an advanced metric like UZR/150, the Brewers were 12th best in the MLB. If we use regular old fielding %, they were 22nd.

 

If we want to use both those measurements for the Cardinals, who are currently in the World Series, as a team they are the 4th worst in baseball in each category, and bottom 5 or 10 in several others. If we want to look at pitching, the Brewers' staff was better than the Cards as well in just about every category.

 

So what's the point? At the end of the day, I think if there's one part of offense, pitching, and defense that can be hidden, it's defense. The Brewers 96 wins this season should demonstrate that well. Now that doesn't mean defense isn't important, I think we'd all prefer at least an average defensive team, if not above, but pitching and hitting can take you a long ways. Reds were stout defensively and poor pitching ruined their season.

[dadofandrew]

Run scoring and run prevention are each half the game, so pitching plus defense equals 50%, meaning at most, defense is 10-15% of the game. SL has two terrible defensive OF's, range-wise at least, and the "good one" throws like Juan Pierre.

 

The funny thing is, the Brewers are in the upper half of both UZR and DRS, yet many insist they are terrible...because they see it with their own eyes. That's the exact same argument they used in favor of metrics a few years ago, because they claimed the eye/scouting was biased.

 

An e-mailer told me the other day the Brewers were actual best in the majors at DE in the 2nd half of the season. I think DE is a junk stat myself, as it seems to correlate nearly 100% with LD%, but some use it.

 

Most every team in MLB, save the Rays, are within a couple wins of average defense. Add up all the above, I'd continue to build with pitching and offense, and focus on making the routine plays and hitting the cutoff man.

[Patrick425]

So, they don't do any broadcasts of these games anymore? I know that 4 or 5 years ago I was listening to an AZ fall game on my computer at work - Pat Sejak was one of the announcers.