Archive for the “Arizona Fall League” Category

The Arizona Fall League is set to begin in a little more than a week on Tuesday October 4th.  The Cardinals currently have 7 players listed to head to Arizona to play on the Peoria Javelinas.  The teams will play for 7 weeks finishing up in mid-November.  Cardinal players currently on the roster include:

• RHP Keith Bulter (QC/PB)
• RHP David Kopp (SPR/MEM)
• LHP Tyler Lyons (PB)
• LHP Justin Wright ( GCL/QC/PB)
• 1B Matt Adams (SPR)
• SS Ryan Jackson (SPR)
• OF Oscar Taveras (QC)

We’ll continue to cover the players daily performance though afternoon posting may be diminished as we wind down at Future Redbirds. Once the league is over, I expect FR will go dormant till December when we’ll roll out our top 20 prospects list.  During this time we’re also working on some articles for other endeavors that we’ll share details about as the works are published.

The Cardinals are sending 7 players to the Arizona Fall League this fall (which is also known as “Prospect Finishing School”:

1B Matt Adams

OF Oscar Taveras (will be second youngest player in the league)

SS Ryan Jackson

RHP Keith Butler

LHP Justin Wright

RHP David Kopp

LHP Tyler Lyons

The Cardinals picked up minor league RHP Maikel Cleto from Seattle.

Cleto was originally signed out of the Dominican Republic by the New York Mets.  By all reports he has a power arm.  He made appearances both as a starter and a reliever, but projects more as a reliever.  He pitched in the AZ Fall League this offseason.

Last season at high A High Desert, he struck out 7.3 per 9 and walked 3.9 per 9 innings.

Honestly, his stats do not overwhelm, but adding a power arm to the farm is always a good idea.

After the jump are a few videos of Cleto.

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I took the AFL stats and ran a quick FIP calc for all the pitchers on the Surprise Rafters.  The chart uses a league modifier of 3.2 and is not tailored to actual AFL performance. It also treats all walks the same.

It’s important to remember that (1) there are serious sample size issues so don’t read much if anything into the stats regarding actual performance and (2) the AFL is considered a hitters league.  I’ve also included 2009 stats as a frame of reference and/or trip down memory lane.

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Surprise 7, Phoenix 4

• Tyler Henley was 1-for-4 with a double.
• Daryl Jones was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

I missed a game over the last few days — calamity!

Surprise 11, Peo Saguaros 9

Surprise: 15-16, 2nd

• Tyler Henley was 3-for-6 with a triple.
• Gary Daley allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk.  His AFL ERA stands at 8.03 — it’s been a rough fall for Daley.
• Adam Reifer struck out one in a scoreless frame.
• Scott Gorgenzola struck out 1 and walked 1 in a scoreless frame.

Surprise 6, Peo Javelinas 4

• Daniel Descalso was 2-for-5.
• Mike Parisi pitched 5 innings allowing just 3 hits and 1 ER.

Surprise 9, Mesa 2

• Daniel Descalso was 0-for-4 with a walk.
• Daryl Jones was 1-for-5 with 3 strikeouts.
• Bryan Anderson was 0-for-3 with a walk.

Surprise 5, Peo Javelinas 4

• Daniel Descalso and Daryl Jones both laid an 0-for-4 goose egg.

Surprise 2, Scottsdale 4

• Bryan Anderson was 1-for-3 with a walk.
• Daryl Jones was 2-for-4.  If you’ve been paying attention to the box scores, I’d like to highlight something that I think is really noteworthy.  I’m not one for reading much into the AFL stats because there’s so much variance.  I am encouraged to see DJ playing some CF.  I think it’s a mischaracterization to call him a corner outfiedler.  When I’ve seen him he’s had great range with an average or below average arm (setting aside some awesome throws I’ve seen from him).  So if you want to take away a positive this AFL season, be encouraged that DJ is getting time in center.

Surprise 8, Peo Javelinas 6

Surprise: 11-15, last

• Daniel Descalso was 1-for-3.
• Gary Daley recorded 7 outs and managed to escape trouble despite allowing 3 hits and a walk.  He struck out 1.