Fall League Highlights:
- Two Atlanta prospects threw five shutout innings Tuesday for the Peoria Javelinas
- Max Fried struck out seven over three innings
- Touki Toussaint struck out four over two innings
- The Yankees removed Dillon Tate from the Fall League roster but nobody knows why. He is ranked as the Yankees 13th best prospect
Lenny and I chose to go see the Surprise Saguaros host the Salt River Rafters on Arizona Fall League’s opening day. Here is what we saw:
Yoan Lopez (ARZ) was given an $8.25 million signing bonus by the Diamondbacks in 2015, but it cost them a bunch more than $8.25 mil because the signing put them over the allotted amount, and into the maximum penalty range for the 2014-15 signing period.
The penalty:
- 100-percent tax on the pool overage
- Prohibited them from signing any pool-eligible player for more than $300,000 in 2015 and 2016
After a bad outing at Double-A Mobile in July of 2015, he disappeared before being tracked down by his Double-A club in Florida.
Then after several bad outings in June 2016, he quit his double AA team again, saying he was quitting baseball altogether.
He returned to the team in September 2016 and pitched out of the bullpen for Advanced Class A Visalia in 2017.
They say the switch will likely speed up his road to the majors,but his fantasy value will suffer.
Lenny’s Take:
- was supposed to be good when signed out of Cuba…
- I liked his mound presence and delivery
- His fastball had zip and as a reliever he will succeed
Andrea’s Take:
- I wouldn’t even consider owning Lopez based on the fact that he actually quit the minors twice.
- Hits stats as a starting pitcher are not impressive at any level and the chances of him becoming a closer anytime soon are almost zero.
- He faced five batters in the one inning we saw him. He allowed two hits and induced two ground ball outs and one fly ball out
Sandy Alcantara started 22 games at Double-A last season before he skipped Triple-A and pitched 8 ⅓ innings out of the Cardinals bullpen.
It isn’t clear what his role will be next year in St. Louis, but they are entering next season with a crowded rotation plus prospect Alex Reyes, who recently had his first bullpen session since undergoing Tommy John surgery in February, and plans to be fully recovered early next season
Andrea’s Take:
- It took Alcantara 43 pitches and 11 batters to get through two innings. He averaged about 96 mph, with pitches from 80 mph as high as 100mph.
- I saw very little movement, and even though I know he threw his secondary pitches, it would have been hard to tell if it weren’t for the change in velocity.
- He has a lot of work to do before he can be considered Fantasy Baseball relevant as he struggles big time to keep runners off the base paths
Lenny’s Take:
- Alcantara was a disappointment for two innings.
- He did not show much command and a great majority of pitches were thrown to the same spot, outside to lefties and inside to righties.
- He throws hard but did not show control of his secondary pitches
- At least 1-2 years away
Lenny thought 21-year-old St. Louis Cardinals prospect Jordan Hicks was impressive
- His fastball was heavy and had life
- He also showed a good slider but needs improved command
- Hicks becomes a good pitcher in two years (in relief or as a starter)
I loved what I saw from 23-year-old Minnesota Twins prospect Tyler Jay. It only took him 10 pitches to retire the side and seven of them were strikes. His velocity ranged from 76-94 mph.
Lucas Erceg (MIL) hit two doubles
Billy McKinney (NYY) and Tomas Nido (NYY) hit homers
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