Arizona Fall League

[markedman5]

Another. dinger for Hiura

 

[markedman5]

And another

 

https://twitter.com/mlbazfallleague/status/1056276385012973568?s=21

[Eye Black]

Keston Hiura just hit his fourth home run (and now 22 RBIs) in the Arizona Fall League. He is really in a good hitting grove right now with a lot of baseball scouts and front office personnel paying attention. I don’t think it is crazy to think he will vault his stock into a consensus top ten prospect in baseball by the end of the fall league season.

[markedman5]

Peoria 2B Keston Hiura (@Brewers) follows his three-run homer with an RBI double. The former NCAA batting champion is hitting .347. The Javelinas lead Salt River 7-0. B4. #afl18

 

AFL twitter account

[Eye Black]

From Eric Longenhagen: “23 [RBIs]. More importantly, made a strong throw to complete a 6-4-3.”

[Lathund]

Been part of 3 double plays today and thrown a runner out at the plate on a relay from the OF. Nothing I've seen from scouts has given me reason to worry about his defense, as long as the arm stays healthy. After all the knock on him was never that he was a poor defender, but that he was an unknown as a defender due to having DHd for most of his college career. He's young, athletic and a very good hitter; bascially anything short of looking like Jose Martinez in the infield would have been good enough. The fact that he seemingly looks like, at worst, a below average 2B after barely more than half a season there is good news.

 

Also 4 scoreless for Bubba Derby in that game.

[OnaBadger58]

Hiura's HR yesterday.

 

Hiura's HR today (111.6 mph).

[DHonks]

Been part of 3 double plays today and thrown a runner out at the plate on a relay from the OF. Nothing I've seen from scouts has given me reason to worry about his defense, as long as the arm stays healthy. After all the knock on him was never that he was a poor defender, but that he was an unknown as a defender due to having DHd for most of his college career. He's young, athletic and a very good hitter; bascially anything short of looking like Jose Martinez in the infield would have been good enough. The fact that he seemingly looks like, at worst, a below average 2B after barely more than half a season there is good news.

 

Also 4 scoreless for Bubba Derby in that game.

 

Is that true? I thought he only DH’d for one year

[reillymcshane]

My main concern with Keston thus far has been he's shown more swing and miss issues than anticipated. In the AFL he has struck out 15 of 50 ABs. His numbers as a pro have been around 20%, which isn't terrible, but it's not great. Heck, Yelich is has a career K rate of about 20% - and I'm not complaining about him.

 

No matter, with his sweet swing, I would love to see a little more contact and a bit of a bump in the walk rate.

[JohnBriggs12]

My main concern with Keston thus far has been he's shown more swing and miss issues than anticipated. In the AFL he has struck out 15 of 50 ABs. His numbers as a pro have been around 20%, which isn't terrible, but it's not great. Heck, Yelich is has a career K rate of about 20% - and I'm not complaining about him.

 

No matter, with his sweet swing, I would love to see a little more contact and a bit of a bump in the walk rate.

 

My brother was in Arizona last week and saw Hiura get the golden sombrero. Making contact is tougher than ever but for a guy with such an advanced hit tool, it's a bit concerning, unless he's using the AFL to get a bit more lift. I hope that doesn't mean he sacrifices contact too much. As a pro during the regular season he has 204 hits and 140 K's. I think we'd all take that.

[Eye Black]

To put that 111.6-mph exit velocity on Hiura’s home run yesterday into context, only 5 home runs during the current MLB postseason have been hit harder and just 11 total balls in play this entire postseason have come off a bat at a greater velocity.

[markedman5]

3 more hits for Hiura today

[Jenkins5]

3 more hits for Hiura today

 

Think his wrist & hand are healed now. Some overreacted a bit when struggled after returning from that injury but hands & wrist issues will always take time to recover & find groove again. When you have a guy thats bat speed is explosive, timing will be off. Think he was still around .330 prior to injury.

 

With this showing, I’d not be shocked if he is top 10 prospect in baseball. He is showing all the tools you hope he would. Ks are higher than normal but hard to believe that will ever be a big issue for him & his offensive game. My guess is they have him working on something like as mentioned launch angle.

[Fear The Chorizo]

3 more hits for Hiura today

 

Think his wrist & hand are healed now. Some overreacted a bit when struggled after returning from that injury but hands & wrist issues will always take time to recover & find groove again. When you have a guy thats bat speed is explosive, timing will be off. Think he was still around .330 prior to injury.

 

With this showing, I’d not be shocked if he is top 10 prospect in baseball. He is showing all the tools you hope he would. Ks are higher than normal but hard to believe that will ever be a big issue for him & his offensive game. My guess is they have him working on something like as mentioned launch angle.

 

If he doesn't open 2019 with the big league brewers himself, there won't be 10 other prospects who aren't on opening day mlb rosters in front of Hiura in those rankings following spring training. He is a special hitter...

[Jenkins5]

Think you wait until at least June for sure. Save the eligibility. Be interesting to see what they do for a placeholder. Don’t think you pay Schoop 10 million to do so with hopes he bounces back to trade later.

[Eye Black]

The Fall Stars Game rosters were announced. The game is Saturday (Nov. 3) at 7 P.M. CT on airing on MLB Network and streaming at MLB.com.

 

Here is a listing of the MLB.com top 100 prospects participating in the game:

 

West

1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, Blue Jays

30. Keston Hiura, 2B, Brewers

39. Keibert Ruiz, C, Dodgers

44. Luis Robert, OF, White Sox

45. Estevan Florial, OF, Yankees

68. Cristian Pache, OF, Braves

 

East

8. Forrest Whitley, RHP, Astros

17. Taylor Trammell, OF, Reds

37. Carter Kieboom, SS, Nationals

55. Andres Gimenez, SS, Mets

58. Peter Alonso, 1B, Mets

80. Jon Duplantier, RHP, D-backs

[markedman5]

Another rope to right center for rbi double

 

[Eye Black]

Per Emily Waldon:

 

In an unusual move, #Brewers Aaron Wilkerson was added to Mesa, although the rest of Milwaukee is with Peoria.

 

Wilkerson pitched the 9th inning today for Mesa and did not give up a hit or a walk.

[DHonks]

Not sure it’s totally unusual. Sometimes teams plan to swap out a player with another part way through the season (like the year for Hardy-Hall). When I worked in the AFL, there were some “trades” where a team had an opening for a player but none of the 5 clubs sent an extra player to fill the roster spot. The other 25 MLB clubs got asked if they wanted one of their taxi squad kids to fill the open roster spot on the other team.

[KeithStone53151]

Not sure it’s totally unusual. Sometimes teams plan to swap out a player with another part way through the season (like the year for Hardy-Hall). When I worked in the AFL, there were some “trades” where a team had an opening for a player but none of the 5 clubs sent an extra player to fill the roster spot. The other 25 MLB clubs got asked if they wanted one of their taxi squad kids to fill the open roster spot on the other team.

 

It's not like these games count, it's all about developing young players. It seems a bit unusual to split up Brewers but this explanation seems logical in this case.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Not sure it’s totally unusual. Sometimes teams plan to swap out a player with another part way through the season (like the year for Hardy-Hall). When I worked in the AFL, there were some “trades” where a team had an opening for a player but none of the 5 clubs sent an extra player to fill the roster spot. The other 25 MLB clubs got asked if they wanted one of their taxi squad kids to fill the open roster spot on the other team.

 

It's not like these games count, it's all about developing young players. It seems a bit unusual to split up Brewers but this explanation seems logical in this case.

 

If the goal is to develop young players, wouldn't that make it odd that Wilkerson is there to begin with? The only thing I can figure is that they want to get his innings up so he can be one of the pitchers on the San Antonio Shuttle next year.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Not sure it’s totally unusual. Sometimes teams plan to swap out a player with another part way through the season (like the year for Hardy-Hall). When I worked in the AFL, there were some “trades” where a team had an opening for a player but none of the 5 clubs sent an extra player to fill the roster spot. The other 25 MLB clubs got asked if they wanted one of their taxi squad kids to fill the open roster spot on the other team.

 

It's not like these games count, it's all about developing young players. It seems a bit unusual to split up Brewers but this explanation seems logical in this case.

 

If the goal is to develop young players, wouldn't that make it odd that Wilkerson is there to begin with? The only thing I can figure is that they want to get his innings up so he can be one of the pitchers on the San Antonio Shuttle next year.

 

They may have had a player # requirement and didn't have any younger/truer prospects that they felt needed more innings and were ready to face quality competition, too. It's great using the AFL to develop youngsters, but it needs to fit withing individual player needs. There's actually a good chunk of AFL players who are what I would consider to be some combo of "expiring prospects" that likely profile as AAAA roster filler. Wilkerson's profile is very similar to 1-2 Brewer pitchers sent to the AFL on a consistent basis each year, so it's not really a surprise. He could be pitching to try and get himself a contract overseas for all we know, because he sits pretty low on the depth chart for Brewer arms moving forward.

[Roderick]

Well at least it won't be as hard getting starters to fill out the AAA roster in San Antonio compared to Colorado Springs.

[Madhawk23]

Another good game for Olczak last night. 2 IP, 1H, 0R and 5K's. Is this a kid that we could expect being a contributor in the pen in the very near future? Continues to put up good numbers at every stop.

[reillymcshane]

Another good game for Olczak last night. 2 IP, 1H, 0R and 5K's. Is this a kid that we could expect being a contributor in the pen in the very near future? Continues to put up good numbers at every stop.

Olczak was outstanding at Biloxi last season, and he's pitched pretty well since getting drafted in 2015. However, as a college arm, you would expect him do well in the lower levels of the minors. No matter, it was a bit of an eye-opener when he dominated at AA last year. He only gave up one HR in 58 innings - which is amazing (and probably unsustainable). It really got him on a lot of people's radar.

 

I have read that he has a good fastball/slider combo - but don't know that much about his repertoire. Perhaps others in the know could add some info.

 

Olczak turns 25 in less than two weeks, so he's not that young - but he's also not some 30 year old veteran using his guile to get the kids out. If he keeps things up at AAA, a visit to Milwaukee won't be far behind.

 

Personally, I think the development of relief pitchers has really been overlooked in the past by Milwaukee, so it's great to see a new generation of arms coming up through the system (Barnes, T. Williams, etc.). Sure, many of these guys will flame out. But others will succeed, and give us some quality bullpen arms for several years (and at a decent price).