2016 Arizona Fall League updates

[JDBrewCrew]

http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/roster.jsp?sid=l119&t=t_ros&cid=527

[igor67]

Diaz with a nice reward

[And That]

Who had Tayler Scott in the AFL pool?

[FVBrewerFan]

First three make sense. The choice of pitchers seems odd?

[TheCrew07]

Who had Tayler Scott in the AFL pool?

 

He's been a gas can but the organization must see something in him, I was quite surprised by him as well.

[jerichoholicninja]

It seems like the Brewers typically send nobody pitchers to the AFL. Maybe they don't want to risk anyone of value getting hurt.

[CheezWizHed]

I think they are looking closely at the innings increase on each pitcher from the previous year. They seem to send their best pitchers that have enough innings to use in the AFL before they hit the yearly limit. Most the time that isn't our better pitchers.

[ewitkows]

It seems like the Brewers typically send nobody pitchers to the AFL. Maybe they don't want to risk anyone of value getting hurt.

 

 

They sent Hader last year.

[recte44]

It all has to do with innings limits, I'd guess.

 

Sent from my XT1526 using Tapatalk

[Never Outhustled]

The Brewers use the AFL to evaluate which relievers should be added to the 40 man roster. Jacob Barnes pitched well in the AFL last year, and was added to the 40. That's turned out to be a wise move.

[Mass Haas]

ARTICLE: Tom Haudricourt caught up with minor league hitting coordinator Jeremy Reed, now with the big league club for a week, to discuss the AFL bats.

[adambr2]

Maybe this a dumb question, but are lower level minor league guys in the AFL typically at a competitive disadvantage, since you've mixing in mostly with AA and AAA players? Like, would it be pretty much expected to see Phillips and Nottingham put up better offensive numbers than Diaz in the AFL?

[MrTPlush]

Maybe this a dumb question, but are lower level minor league guys in the AFL typically at a competitive disadvantage, since you've mixing in mostly with AA and AAA players? Like, would it be pretty much expected to see Phillips and Nottingham put up better offensive numbers than Diaz in the AFL?

 

In theory yes one should expect guys more advanced in the minors to fair better in fall/winter leagues vs. the guys in the lower minors. There are exceptions of course both ways. It is better to look at specific performances for hitters in my opinion. Some days they are facing lower level guys just there to build innings(like the guys we sent) and the next day they are facing a Josh Hader.

[1992casey]

I'd say that the bottom line is that the sample size is so small that we're not going to learn much from the box score stats. What's important is that the coaches are pleased, and we may or may not hear details in that regard. Of course, we're allowed to get excited when a player has a big game. But I wouldn't get too concerned if stats don't shake out to look all that good.

[Mass Haas]

Phillips, Isan Diaz, Nottingham, Uhen, Spurlin, Tayler Scott to AFL

 

Joining them is 24-year-old RHP Javier Salas (10th round, 2014), 51 walks in 66.2 innings in 2016, so hopefully set to correct that.

 

BrewCrewBall report

[Mass Haas]

Not sure how this Fall League Bowman Hitting Challenge works, but here are some Isan Diaz swings (more here, too).

[Mass Haas]

Not sure how this Fall League Bowman Hitting Challenge works).

 

Baseball America fills us in a bit.

[And That]

The Salt River Rafters and their contingent of Brewers prospects begin play tonight, game's at 8:35 CDT.

 

Nottingham and Phillips in the starting lineup:

 

Box Score

 

Game Day

 

Peoria Javelinas 7, Salt River Rafters 7, 11 innings

 

Tie baseball.

 

Uhen 95-97 with his fastball in his first inning, which was clean. Second inning, velocity down a little and control seemed to evade him as he's pulled after 1.1 innings. 3 hits, 1 HR, 2 runs, 1 walk, 2 Ks.

 

No other Brewers farmhands pitched.

 

Rafters offense:

Nottingham: 1-5, RBI, K

Phillips: 0-3, 2 BB, K, SB, 2 R

 

Salt River in the late game again tomorrow, 8:35 CDT. Javi Salas is the probable starter.

[And That]

Salt River Rafters 6, Scottsdale Scorpions 4

 

Box Score

 

Game Day

 

Rafters remain undefeated after 2 games. Only two Brewers participated in this one.

 

Brett Phillips played RF again and again had a productive day, going 1-2 with a 3B, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, K.

 

Javi Salas and somewhat surprisingly threw 3 scoreless innings, allowing a hit and two walks against 1 strikeout. When Salas is right (which hasn't been often this year, unfortunately) he gets ground balls, and he did in this game, inducing 5 ground ball outs versus 2 fly ball outs.

 

The Rafters are back in action on Thursday, and the game is being streamed on MLB.TV! Game time is 2:35 CDT.

[Greenleaf1]

Just turned on the stream quickly to see Diaz's first AB. Ripped one into the gap in right center for a double. Bat speed looked incredible.

[And That]

Salt River Rafters 5, Mesa Solar Sox 7

 

Box Score

 

Game Day

 

As Greenleaf mentioned, Diaz had a ringing double to the right center field gap in his first plate appearance. He would go hitless in his next four ABs, though he did generally square on the ball. He did not look overmatched at all, despite being the fourth youngest player in the AFL, and youngest on his own team.

 

Jacob Nottingham went 2-4 and struck out once. He was behind the plate for two wild pitches, take that for what it's worth. I saw one of them, I believe on what was Tyler Spurlin's second pitch of the game. He didn't have a great chance at it, as it bounced about a foot outside, but he didn't square his body up much at all, and tried to spear it with his mitt. I'd give him a pass due to Spurlin's delivery, but they were teammates all season in Biloxi.

 

Speaking of Spurlin, he's a side-armer with an especially low dip in his delivery, though he does throw harder than most side-arm/submarine pitchers. He was 90-93 with his fastball and mixed in curves and sliders. I only saw him pitch once or twice in Biloxi and didn't come away terribly impressed, but he looked good here. 2.1 innings pitched and nothing but a strikeout. 5 of his 6 in-play outs were grounders, not surprisingly. His delivery looks to me to be incredibly difficult to repeat.

 

I wanted to see Tayler Scott but did not get the chance. I never saw him at Biloxi either, unless I'm forgetting. He throws in the low 90s, maybe a tick faster than Spurlin. He went 2 innings, allowed 2 hits, a walk, and a run, with two strikeouts. Hope to see him before the AFL season is out as I'm still trying to figure out why the Brewers sent him to the AFL. Nothing against him, it's just a 24 year old signed off of an indy roster midway through the season who proceeded to put up very pedestrian numbers out of the pen isn't exactly someone whom you would think would pique the Brewers' interest enough to send him to the AFL. We shall see.

[MKE81]

I happened to catch the final 2-3 innings of the game and thought Nottingham was fine receiving pitches. He did block every ball (5 I think?) I saw in the dirt but even doing so he needs to work on dropping to both knees and squaring up. He tends to get down on one knee with the other still a little off the ground. He's still 2-3yrs away from the Brewers so plenty of time to correct something that's correctable. His arm seemed fine for a MLB starting catcher but I only saw one throw. He seems like he has the potential to be average defensively so as long as he continues to work hard at it to improve and his bat sticks he'll be just fine.

[And That]

Salt River Rafters 5, Peoria Javelinas 2

 

Box Score

 

Game Day

 

Brett Phillips goes 1-4 with a strikeout. As mentioned below, Isan Diaz hit his first long ball of the AFL campaign. He also struck out once in 3 ABs.

 

Diaz' OPS is at an even 1000 after 8 PAs. Phillips is at 906 after 13 PAs.

 

None of the Brewers' pitching contingent entered the game.

[adambr2]

Diaz 1 for 3 with a big fly.

[And That]

Salt River Rafters 9, Glendale Desert Dogs 4

 

Box Score

 

Game Day

 

The Rafters move to 3-1. Jacob Nottingham was the lone Brewer in the lineup. He went 2-5 with a double, RBI, and run scored. His average is up to .357, OPS at .786. Opposing base stealers were successful in both of their attempts against him. There were also two more wild pitches on his watch, though still no passed balls.

 

One of those wild pitches belonged to Josh Uhen, who was the only Brewer pitcher today. The Oshkosh native threw 2 innings, allowing 1 run (earned) on 2 hits and a walk, while also recording a strikeout.

 

The AFL has Sunday off. Salt River next plays Monday afternoon at 2:35 CDT.