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AFL Reports: A’s and Reds
The Oakland A’s AFL report focuses on Grant Green. The video report looks at Green, James Simmons and Max Stassi.
I haven’t posted the Reds’ AFL video report on here. This might surprise you, but it talks about Billy Hamilton, along with Didi Gregorius and Donald Lutz.
And here are your Stars of the Day for Friday and Saturday:
Friday: Astros prospect George Springer had a perfect day, going 3-for-3 with a pair of homers and two walks. He went 20-30 during the regular season and after a homer on Monday, he has four homers and five steals this fall.
Saturday: I don’t often give a Star to a pitcher who gives up a run, but I’ll make an exception here. Robbie Erlin of the Padres gave up a run on five hits over four innings, but he didn’t walk anyone and he struck out eight. He’s now second in the AFL in strikeouts with 25.
AFL Reports: White Sox, O’s and Braves
Been a busy week, what with participating in our democracy and all. Let’s catch up, shall we?
The report on the White Sox featured Trayce Thompson. The video report focused on Thompson, Carlos Sanchez and Andy Wilkins.
The Orioles’ report featured Jonathan Schoop, while the video report’s focus was on Schoop, Clay Schrader and Chris Petrini.
And, finally, the report on the Braves centered around Nick Ahmed , while the video report focused on Edward Salcedo, Ahmed and Cory Rasmus.
And a quick catch up on Stars of the Day:
Monday: Chris Owings of the Diamondbacks. The D-backs’ No. 5 prospect went 3-for-5 with a double, homer and 3 RBIs.
Tuesday: Nick Franklin of the Mariners. The M’s No. 3 prospect went 4-for-5, with two doubles and 6 RBIs.
Wednesday: Logan Darnell of the Twins. The left-hander went four innings, allowing no runs on one hit while walking none and striking out five in his first AFL start.
Thursday: Rymer Liriano of the Padres. The Padres’ No. 1 prospect went 3-for-5 with two doubles and 3 RBIs.
AFL Report: Royals
Since last we spoke, we’ve missed two team reports:
Here’s the Royals report, focusing on Whit Merrifield.
The video report hones in on Orlando Calixte and Brian Fletcher.
And here’s the Padres report, which features top prospect Rymer Liriano.
Their video report talks about Liriano, Cory Spangenberg and Nate Freiman.
Quick Star of the Day from Friday, again an in-person account, though the choices from the Surprise-Phoenix game are somewhat limited.
But I’ll mention the opposing shortstops. The Braves’ Nick Ahmed had just one hit, but it was a home run. The UConn product, Rising Stars participant and the Braves’ No. 10 prospect, is hitting .326 this fall after a solid first full season in the Carolina League. But the Star goes to the other shortstop, the one for Surprise. Luis Sardinas is No. 7 on the Rangers’ Top 20. Just 19, Sardinas had a fine full-season debut, hitting .291 with 32 steals in the South Atlantic League. In the AFL, he’s hitting .364 in 33 at-bats. He went 3-for-4 on Friday and continues to impress scouts. Doesn’t seem fair, for a system that already has Elvis Andrus in the big leagues and Jurickson Profar knocking on the door soon, does it?
AFL report: Red Sox and Mets
Thursday’s AFL Report was on the Boston Red Sox, focusing on Bryce Brentz, the system’s No. 4 prospect (No. 70 overall).
The video report features Brentz, Michael Almanzar and Brock Huntziger.
Today’s report is about your New York Mets, featuring outfielder Darrell Ceciliani. The video report focuses on him and fellow outfielder Cesar Puello, the Mets’ No. 6 prospect.
Got two Stars of the Day for you, one from Wednesday and one — witnessed in person! — from Thursday.
For Wednesday, I’m going to go with T.J. House of the Indians. This is the second Star of the Day nod for the lefty and for good reason. He’s been solid this fall. On Wednesday, he went four shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out four. For the fall, he has a 1.59 ERA and .175 BAA over 17 IP. It’s been a pretty good way for House to cap off a successful 2012 season that saw him spend much of the year in Double-A.
For Thursday’s Star, I have to go with a guy I saw. Kevin Jensen has been mentioned here before, too, named the Star of the Day for last Thursday. I threw out some fun stuff from our friends at Trackman about how Jensen was among the leaders in 
hardest, and farthest, balls hit in the AFL. Well, he was at it again on Thursday at Salt River Fields. The Marlins’ outfielder went 3-for-3 in the game, driving in driving in a pair and scoring twice. His second hit was a laser triple to center field that hit the batter’s eye (without knowing the ground rules of the place, I thought at first it was gone). In his next at-bat, he crushed a ball out the opposite way. Not sure what Trackman would have to say about either, but they’d have to register somewhere on the hard hit balls list, I’d wager. I’m told that Jensen is more of a mistake hitter than anything else (he did strike out over 160 times in 2012 and his Double-A numbers weren’t great), but boy, he’s not missing any mistakes here so far this fall. He currently stands second in RBIs and SLG and he’s third in OPS.
AFL Report: Astros and a Yankee Star
The Houston Astros are up next, with intrepid reporter Brian McTaggart writing about new manager Bo Porter’s visit to his prospects in the AFL.
As always, here’s the video report, focusing on Jonathan Singleton, George Springer and Jarred Cosart.
Now, a look at Tuesday’s Star of the Day:
The Yankees’ Slade Heathcott hasn’t had the easiest path as a professional. No. 5 on the New York’s Top 20, the former first-rounder has had some issues on and off the field. Injuries have really hampered him (2 shoulder surgeries) and his career high in at-bats is just 351. So he’s really trying to make up for some lost time with Scottsdale this fall. He certainly did that on Tuesday, going 4-for-5 with a double, two triples and five RBIs. He’s hitting .275/.408/.400 over 11 AFL games (40 ABs). He’s really enjoyed hitting from the leadoff spot, with a .471 average in four games. And yes, he was in that slot on Tuesday.
AFL catchup — Rays, Marlins, Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers…
As could have been predicted, I’ve fallen behind on AFL updates in recent days. I’d love to blame Sandy for that, but that wouldn’t be fair. So… let’s catch up on team reports and Stars of the Day, shall we? Oh, and stay tuned for news on the Rising Stars Game rosters, the exciting game being played at Salt River on Saturday (And I’ll be there in person to cover).
First, the team reports:
Tampa Bay Rays: Focuses on Tim Beckham
Miami Marlins: Focuses on Christian Yelich
Chicago Cubs: Focuses on Tony Zych
Los Angeles Dodgers: Focuses on Chris Reed
OK, now that we’ve got that out of the way, it’s time to hand out some Stars of the Day for action from Thursday, Friday, Saturday a
nd Monday.
Thursday: While there were some good hitting performances — Nick Franklin homered and drove in a pair for Peoria; Kyle Jensen homered and drove in two for Phoenix, Brian Goodwin went 3-for-4 with two doubles and Carlos Sanchez went 2-for-3 with a triple and 4 RBIs, both for Salt River. But I have to give the tip of the B3 cap to Tim Crabbe of the Reds. He tossed four hitless innings for Peoria, walking one and striking out two. That brought his AFL batting average against down to .182.
Friday: It really comes down to two hitters from the Peoria-Salt River game. Vinnie Catricala of the Mariners had a nice day, going 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBIs. But the Rockies’ Kent Matthes one-upped him a bit, going 3-for-3 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Matthes is now fifth in the AFL with his .596 SLG and tied for fourth with 10 RBIs.
Saturday: It was tempting to give a rare star to a reliever. Chris Martin of the Red Sox went two perfect innings and struck out 
four for Surprise. But it was too hard to ignore Tyler Botnick‘s day for Salt River. The Diamondbacks’ infielder went 4-for-5 with a double, four RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base. Those were the first four RBIs of the fall for Bortnick, who is hitting .296 for the Rafters.
And, finally, Monday: A couple of good candidates, including another homer from Matthes. Ryan Perry of the Natinals went five scoreless, allowing just one hit while striking out three. But the Pirates’ Kyle Kaminska was just a smidge better. He also went five scorless, allowing just one hit. But he struck out six to earn the Star. He’s on a one good, one bad start pattern. In the two good starts, he’s gone 10 IP, allowing no runs on just four hits and no walks while striking out nine. In the not as good starts, he still isn’t walking anyone — just one free pass allowed all fall — but he’s given up four earned runs on 13 hits over eight innings. Kaminska came to the Pirates at the trade deadline along with Gaby Sanchez. He hasn’t started regularly since 2009, so it’ll be interesting to see if the fact that he is starting in the AFL means anything in 2013.
AFL Report: Angels
Today’s report is on the Los Angeles Angels and how Kaleb Cowart (No. 1 on the Angels’ Top 20) and Bobby Cassevah have taken very different paths to be in the same place in Arizona.
The video report below focuses on Cowart, Travis Witherspoon and Randal Grichuk, all in that Top 20.
And Wednesday’s Star of the Day is…
Someone from the Phoenix Desert Dogs, who absolutely pounded the Surprise Saguaros, 15-1. Honestly, I thought going for the two-point conversion after their second touchdown was a bit much… The Dogs, as I like to call ‘em, had two players with four hits. Brock Kjeldgaard of the Brewers went 4-for-6 with a pair of ribbies. But Tim Beckham of the Rays outdid him just a bit. The former No. 1 overall pick went 4-for-5 with a double, triple and four RBIs. Beckham has been working on his play at second base while making up for lost time and trying to restore his prospect status following a 50-game suspension this year.
AFL Report: Cleveland Indians
Are you kids on the Twitter? Well, then, I suggest you take a look at a handy list compiled of the players in the Arizona Fall League who like to “tweet,” as you youngsters call it. It’s fun for the whole family.
So is reading the most recent AFL team report. Today’s subject: Your Cleveland Indians (focus on T.J. House). And, as has been my custom, here’s the video report (featuring Ronny Rodriguez, Alex Monsalve and Shawn Armstrong):
As for the Star of the Day for Tuesday’s games, let’s give a big B3 cheer for…
Kyle Jensen of the Miami Marlins for his grand slam in what ended up a 7-7 tie between Phoenix and Mesa. Jensen’s had himself a fine AFL campaign so far, sitting fifth in batting average (.390), second in RBIs (10) and seventh in OPS (1.017). But I also wanted to use Jensen to highlight some cool stuff that the folks at Trackman are doing in Arizona. They measure all sorts of cool stuff, from good ol’ fastball velocity to fastball extension and breaking ball spin for pitchers to hardest and longest hits, including exit speeds for hitters. Why do I bring this up now? Because Jensen, at last check in, led the AFL in hard contacts at the plate. Of 15 contacts recorded off the bat by Jensen, 12 were deemed as hard contacts by Trackman (hard meaning 90+ mph). He has three of the top 20 hardest hit balls of the AFL, all three of which had speeds of over 106 mph. And as Trackman points out on that leaderboard, the MLB average on balls hit over 105 mph is .722, so Jensen is clearly doing something right.
AFL Report: Pirates
You can read all about the Pirates prospects in the AFL, featuring Vic Black. You can also watch the video report, which focuses on Black, Brandon Cumpton and Gift Ngeope. Black and Cumpton are currently on the Pirates’ Top 20.
And Monday’s Star of the Day goes to…
Chase Anderson of the Diamondbacks. The right-hander, ranked No. 19 on the D-backs’ Top 20, has flown under the radar because of injuries that forced him to miss nearly all of 2011. But he had a very solid 2012 season in Double-A and he’s kept it up in the Fall League. In his third AFL start on Monday, Anderson tossed four shutout innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out five. He now has a 2.79 ERA over 9 2/3 IP, with the league hitting just .152 against him.
AFL Reports: Hearing from the Rangers, Blue Jays and Rockies
Happy Monday everyone. Just wanted to catch everyone up on the team reports and accompanying video:
- Texas Rangers, with a focus on Luis Sardinas, No. 7 on the Rangers’ Top 20 (Video focuses on Sardinas, Kellin Deglan and Chris Mcguinness)
- Toronto Blue Jays, with a focus on Sam Dyson (Video focuses on Jake Marisnick, Deck McGuire and Kevin Pillar)
- Colorado Rockies, with a focus on Kent Matthes (Video focuses on Matthes, Corey Dickerson and Isaiah Froneberger)
And we have 2 Stars of the Day to hand out, for Friday and Saturday. First, Friday:
While the Marlins’ Kyle Jensen gets a tip of the cap for his 4-for-5 day at the plate for Phoenix (to go along with 3 RBIs), B3 has to go with another pitcher as Friday’s Star of the Day. Any 1-0 game in the AFL stands out and while Indians LHP T.J. House didn’t figure into the decision of Scottsdale’s win by that score, he certainly did his part. House went five hitless innings for the Scorpions, walking three and striking out four. He’s now given up one run on three hits over eight innings in the AFL, following a season that saw him finish third in the organization in strikeouts and fourth in WHIP, BAA and wins.
And now, from Saturday:
The scores from Saturday look much more like the Fall League we’ve all been used to over the years — one game 16-10, another 12-11. Kudos to the aforementioned Sardinas for homering and driving in four runs. But Saturday’s Star is awarded to Josh Prince of the Brewers. Prince, a former shortstop who made the transition to the outfield during the regular season, did what a leadoff man is supposed to for the Phoenix Desert Dogs. He went 3-for-3 with two walks, getting on base all five times he came to the plate. He scored two runs and drove in three, walking and scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. He also fell a home run short of the cycle. The only downside for the speedster who his hitting .433 in the AFL thus far is that he got caught stealing twice (once via pickoff).
Jonathan Mayo
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