Arizona Fall League Observations from Wallee Wright

Wallee Wright weighs in with his observations on the three Top-100 players on the Salt River Rafters team in the AFL and how their brief AFL seasons have unfolded thus far. SSS (small sample size) Warning.

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Much was made by MLB.com about the composition of the Rafters given the number of Top-100 players (3) and individual team Top-20 players (12) ... but the three Top-100 players (Byron Buxton, Archie Bradley, and Mark Appel) have each come to the AFL with serious questions about either their health or their skills. To date only Mark Appel has demonstrated he is the player the MLB rating service believes him to be ... both Buxton, MLB-100 overall numero uno, and Bradley, Top-100 number nine, have been substantially below average relative to their current AFL company.

Buxton has demonstrated 385-foot power when he lifts one to the outfield, but this is an infrequent occurrence to date ... and since everything he hits is in line with the 6-4 hole these fly balls are just exciting outs to the deepest part of the yard. Byron has been given as much opportunity as anyone on the squad, playing in eight of the eleven games to date ... but his .229/.289/.257 slash and two errors in the field do not bode well for the young man (20) retaining his lofty ranking - and that may lift the load off Byron's back and free him to perform to his potential. As I've mentioned before, he could use a few more pounds ... he makes Dexter Fowler look like one of those SNL characters wanting to 'pump, pump you up' - and he steals bags with about the same frequency as Dexter, just one to date, though Byron has only been on base eleven times in his eight outings.

Bradley was a very late cut by the D-backs, having made the MLB marketing trip to Australia to play the Dodgers to start the season ... some have suggested the late cut got into his head as he struggled in AAA, was sent to the Rookie Arizona League for rehab, then only moved back to AA to finish the season. Archie has had control difficulties at all levels after A-ball, but a lively fast ball and decent breaking stuff has given him a high strikeout rate to offset this issue ... until now. In three starts and seven innings work Bradley has compiled a 10.29 ERA and 2.57 WHIP to go with six walks and six strikeouts ... each start has been the same with first inning control issues resulting in Archie making a hitter's pitch in a hitter's count - then compensating for that problem by grooving a pitch earlier in the count in the second and third innings. If the issues are with his head and not his arm or mechanics, this experience in the AFL is not doing anything to cure the problem.

Meanwhile Appel has been lights out ... .000 ERA and 0.71 WHIP to go with eight strikeouts and three walks in three starts and seven innings - hard to improve upon that. Maybe now we can put that awful California League experience behind us ... and Mark can move up in the MLB Top-100 from number 41.

~Wallee Wright ~