Astros Arizona Fall League Stats: Week 2-ish

Since the Arizona Fall League had an off day on Sunday, there is no recap. Instead, Wallee Wright weighs in with his observations on the offense, defense and relief pitching on the Salt River Rafters crew after almost two weeks of play (and casually name drops Tony LaRussa). He will have another post coming out later today looking at Mark Appel and the other Top-100 prospects on the team.

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Minnesota Twin tenth-ranked prospect Eddie Rosario, one of three team-ranked centerfielders along with Byron Buxton and nineteenth-ranked Max Kepler, has passed Andrew Aplin for the Salt River Rafter and Arizona Fall League lead in batting … Rosario is slashing .417/.421/.444 to Aplin’s .409/.435/.682 after Saturday night’s four appearance ohfer – I suspect Andrew was still hurting from Friday night’s errant foul ball. Rosario does not exhibit any power, and has struck out seven times and walked only once in thirty-seven appearances … but Eddie has been very effective once on base, stealing six of seven bags. Kepler has been a non-factor, slashing only .211/.375/.211.

After a very slow start Rio Ruiz is beginning to assert himself in the Salt River Rafter lineup … Rio is now slashing .267/.353/.333 after thirty-four appearances with two doubles, three RBI, four walks and seven strikeouts. Tyler Heineman has made the most of his token appearances to date, slashing .400/.571/.400 … in seven plate appearances Tyler has two doubles, and two walks against a single strikeout – Tyler is playing second fiddle to the D-Backs attempt to find a position for seventh-ranked ‘Zona prospect C/1B Peter O’Brien, plus playing time for Miami’s Chad Wallach and Colorado’s taxi squad member Chris O’Dowd.

Peter O’Brien has not hit often, only six hits in forty appearances, but five of the six are for extra bases, including three dingers that may not have reached earth at this writing … unfortunately the National League game also includes a fielding aspect, and Peter has four fielding and throwing errors to date – though as a catcher he has far more opportunities to commit an error than most others. I asked Diamondback Chief Baseball Officer Tony LaRussa how they intended to use O’Brien, considering they owe catcher Miguel Montero $39MM over the next four years and have All-Star Paul Goldschmidt of The Woodlands installed at first base … he replied that with O’Brien’s bat they ‘would find a place’ – I’m guessing that place is with an American League team unless they eat a bunch of salary with Montero.

After going hitless in his first game, a game in which he played a superb second base, Joe Sclafani has picked up a hit apiece in each of his last two games … Joe is another ‘Taxi Squad’ member, meaning he only gets to suit up on Wednesdays and Saturdays – it is worthy of note that his two hits are a double as a third baseman and a homerun as a left fielder, giving him the oddest of slash lines at .200/.273/.600 and two RBI. Joe also has a walk, a strikeout and one stolen base … the Rafters have nine double plays as a team thus far, and in his only appearance at second base Joe started three of them and was in the middle of a fourth. By way of contrast, consider this: Trevor Story, Colorado’s eleventh-ranked prospect, has played six games at short and two at second and has committed four errors; the Rox’ Taylor Featherston has played two games at short and three at second and has committed two errors; Miami’s Austin Nola has played three games at second and one at short … combined these three have participated in only five double plays in eight games while at second base.

Mitch Lambson has appeared in four games in relief to date, and has pitched better than his numbers … Mitch has given up three hits, one of which was a dinger, leading to two earned runs in five innings over four appearances. He has struck out seven in those five innings and walked three … Mitch has a 3.60 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, while all three hits off him have come with two out in the inning. Our other Astro reliever, Tyson Perez, has proven more hittable giving up five hits in six innings over his four appearances … but unlike Lambson, Tyson has not given up a run and has struck out six while walking only one – a 0.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP.

Note to Mr. Luhnow: To these unsophisticated eyes the most impressive reliever on the Rafters thus far has not been an Astros farmhand, though he is a Texan. Drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2012 in the 23rd round out of Texas Tech as a 2B/3B, six-foot, 180-pound Reid Redman was released or traded to Miami after his one season of rookie ball … in five innings over four games he has very quickly and quietly accumulated a Win and two Holds, giving up one hit, and no walks while striking out four – that’s a 0.00 ERA and 0.20 WHIP, and to these untrained eyes it’s no fluke, I believe he’s going to be special.

~ Wallee Wright ~