Arizona Fall League Leaders: Week One

I believe that Wallee has gotten the writing bug! He brings us a look at where things stand after the first week-ish of Arizona Fall League play. ~

There were no games scheduled in the Arizona Fall League yesterday giving us an opportunity to review the first five days of team, and Astro player, results. The Astro players are part of the roster for the Salt River Rafters, sharing time with prospects from the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins and Minnesota Twins. Due to the scheduling of other events at the Rafters home field, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, opening day was the only home field appearance for the team and its only loss … everyone may have been a little distracted by the NBA-style 20-second ‘pitch clocks’ installed behind home plate and on the face of the dugouts.

Nonetheless, after the close of play Saturday the Rafters led the Arizona Fall League East with a 4-1 record and have begun to put some distance between themselves and the team that beat them opening day, the second place Scottsdale Scorpions (3-2). The Mesa Solar Sox are the surprise last place team in the division at 1-3 … but they have had some weather issues in the far eastern Valley of the Sun and that might have affected the highly-touted Chicago Cubs-led Solar Sox.

No surprise is the AFL West leading Surprise Saguaros (3-2) who have also won all their road games but lost both home starts … the Saguaros and Rafters were ‘pre-season’ favorites to capture their respective divisions, and will finally meet tonight and Tuesday. Peoria is in second place at 2-3, and, while they are listed as 1-2 at home the fact of the matter is that they play no home games in Peoria - Surprise and Peoria share the Surprise facilities. The Glendale Desert Dogs (Coyotes) bring up the rear in the west at 1-3.

The Surprise (once again, this is a town not a statement) team leads the AFL in hitting after five games, hitting a robust .287 … Glendale and Peoria, with .283 and .282 respectively, follow the Saguaros. Your Salt River Rafters are fourth overall, but first in the AFL East, at .267 as a team followed by Scottsdale at .243 and Mesa (those poor Cubbies fans – loving it) bringing up the rear at a puny .225 as a team.

As predicted prior to the start of the AFL action, your Salt River Rafters are leading the league in team ERA with a stingy 2.60 followed, unsurprisingly given the major leaguers on their roster, by the Glendale Desert Dogs at 3.34 … Surprise, Scottsdale, Peoria and Mesa bring up the rear with the Mesa team ERA resembling a large hat size more than a pitching stat at 8.23 – what a mess on the far east side.

Some of the individual hitting leaders for the AFL, Rafters and Astros, respectively, are:

Average: C Justin O’Connor, Peoria (TB) .583; OF Andrew Aplin, (HOU) .500; Aplin.

OPS: OF Jesse Winkler, Surprise (CIN) 1.472; OF Andrew Aplin, (HOU) 1.300; Aplin.

HR: Four tied with two apiece including INF Brandon Drury and C/1B Peter O’Brien, both Salt River and (ARI); Drury and O’Brien two each; Aplin one.

BB: C/IB O’Brien, Salt River, (ARI) 6; O’Brien (ARI); C Tyler Heineman, 3B Rio Ruiz with 2 each.

SO: OF Edward Salcedo, (ATL), OF Bubba Starling, (KC) both Peoria, seven apiece; INF Taylor Featherston (COL) and INF Trevor Story (COL), six each; 3B Rio Ruiz, 5.

SB: OF Roman Quinn, Scottsdale (PHI) and Eddie Rosario, Salt River (MIN) three apiece; Rosario (MIN) 3; no Astro has stolen a base.

Here are the individual pitching leaders (at least two appearances or at least three innings) for: the AFL; the Rafters; and, the Astros.

Wins: Fourteen tied with one apiece; four Rafters tied with one apiece; no Astro has a win.

Losses: Fourteen tied with one apiece; RHP Archie Bradley, Salt River (ARI) one; no Astro losers.

ERA: Four tied with .000 with four innings pitched; LHP Jayson Aquino (COL); RHPs Mark Appel and Tyson Perez, .000 with three innings each.

WHIP: RHP Parker Bridwell, Glendale (BAL) and LHP Jayson Aquino, Salt River (COL) 0.25 in four innings pitched; Aquino (COL) 0.25; RHP Mark Appel, 0.67 in three innings pitched.

SO: RHP Chris Bassitt, Glendale (CWS) and LHP Ethan Stewart, Scottsdale (PHI) six apiece; RHP Jake Reed, Scottsdale (MIN), 5; RHP Tyson Perez, 4.

BB: LHP Ethan Stewart, Scottsdale (PHI) 5; Stewart, 5; LHP Mitch Lambson, 2.

~ Wallee Wright ~