Week one of the Arizona Fall League is in the books. We'll start with the least important stat, and tell you that the Surprise Rafters are sitting at 2-4 overall right now. I can think of few things less important than the Rafters final record this year though, so lets move on to the prospects. All stats below are through Monday's games.
Beau Mills - 1B
Mills has only seen action in two games so far. He has a single in 7 AB's (.143), but has drawn three walks. Continuing a trend we saw in Kinston this year, Mills has also struck out four times. His OBP of .400 is certainly what the Indians are looking for, and the average will rise as he gets more consistent AB's.
Wes Hodges - 3B
Hodges has made a seamless transition from Buffalo to Arizona so far. He is hitting .353/2/6 in the four games he has played in. His OPS is an outstanding 1.118, and those two HR tie him for the early season lead. Its only 17 AB's, but its good to see Hodges pounding the ball in the AFL against some pretty decent pitching.
Josh Rodriguez - 2B
Rodriguez has played three games at 2B for the Rafters. He is currently 2-10 with no HR, RBI or extra base hits. Josh has walked three times, and is 0-2 in stolen base attempts. He has been on base every game he has played thus far, which is a good sign. The Indians need him to become the table-setter with pop he was in Kinston in 2007.
Chuck Lofgren - LHP
Ugh. Things have been ugly for Lofgren so far in the AFL. His first appearance looked like this: walk, walk, ground-rule double, single, walk, single, pop-out. Final line: 1/3 inning, 6 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, and took the L. His second appearance was a little better, as he got through an entire inning, but did give up a run on a walk and a hit. ERA so far...47.25.
Erik Stiller - RHP
Stiller has also been roughed up a little in his two AFL appearances, giving up 3 ER in 3 IP. All of those runs were in one inning though, and in his second appearance he threw two scoreless innings without allowing a baserunner. Stiller has also struck out 4 batters in his 3 IP.
Neil Wagner - RHP
Continuing the trend of one good, one bad outing in the AFL is Neil Wagner. In his first appearance, Wagner threw 1 1/3 shutout innings without allowing a baserunner, and striking out one. In his second appearance, he took the loss after giving up 3 ER in 1 IP, allowing 3 hits and walking two. Check out Wagner's AFL blog at http://aflindians.mlblogs.com/
Stephen Head - OF
Head started both games he was active (Weds and Sat, as per taxi squad rules). He made the most of his time, going 2-5 over the two games with a double and two walks and three runs scored.
Josh Tomlin - RHP
Tomlin replaced Tony Sipp on the Rafters Roster after Sipp elected to play in the Dominican Republic this off season. Sipp had already pitched in the AFL, so he felt a change to the Dominican league would do him some good. Tomlin seized the opportunity and threw 3 scoreless innings in his only start so far. He struck out 5 while giving up 2 hits and not walking a batter. Tomlin had a spot start in Buffalo last year while spending the majority of the year in Kinston, so it would be a good sign if the soon to be 24 year old had success in the AFL.
Still no word on whether or not Michael Brantley will be allowed to participate in the AFL. He continues to work out in Goodyear and will likely just go home for the winter if he isn't allowed to play in the AFL.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Arizona Fall League, Week One Recap
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6 comments:
Regarding Tomlin, I thought he was going to turn 24 in a few days, not 25. I view this as pretty important, because at 23 he would have been age appropriate for Kinston (where he did exceptionally well), but at 24 he certainly would be old for the league and I would discount much of his performance.
My understanding is that he was born in October 1984, is this information incorrect?
Tomlin was born October 19, 1984. He turns 24 in a few days. Per the Indians media guide.
Thanks, I was looking at the site report on 10/14 and noticed the statement about him turning 25. Sometimes the original stuff that gets published when a player is first drafted has an error, and then all of the other publications pick up that erroneous date and carry it to other sites and books.
I was concerned that perhaps I was looking at old information, and that a correction to his date of birth had recently taken place, making him older (and a lot less interesting).
Thanks.
Whoops, sorry about the typo on Tomlin's age. That, and math was really never my strong suit :)
No problem, and wasn't trying to highlight an error there. I have been in extensive discussions about Tomlin and his placement as a prospect, and an age change would make a big difference.
I recall past prospects (non Dominican) who had erroneous age postings when first drafted. Multiple publications pick this up from single sources, and it kind of takes on a life of it's own. I just wanted to make sure we were using the correct date, or else I was making erroneous assumptions concerning potential.
Counterfit and innacurate breeder documents (birth certificates, national ID cards etc) are commonplace throughout Central America and the Carribean. Whether intentional or not, lots of these players have problems with their true ages. If they are born in the U.S. though, the teams have a pretty high degree of confidence in the ages of the prospects.
I, like many others, consider age a primary factor when evaluating a prospect. So it was a significant error, and one that I am glad you caught!
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