Photo by Jim Higgins

I promised that I would recap what I saw last week at the AFL, so here is Part 2 of my impressions of the AFL.

• The person who impressed me the most last week was SS Brandon Crawford of the Giants. Combine this with the rumblings that the Giants are more interested in signing a backup for him as opposed to someone to compete for the starting job and we could have the first fashionable sleeper of 2012. In two games last week, Crawford hit the ball with authority and played good enough defense that he could stick with a solid spring.
• Another SS that had a good week was Seattle’s Nick Franklin. Franklin stole the show offensively and defensively at the Rising Stars game, which he needed given the lost season he had in the minors in 2011. Seattle is obviously a team in need of offense and if Franklin can start off strong in the minors I could see him getting the call early in 2012.
• Another Mariner that impressed was Danny Hultzen. The guys I went to the Rising Stars game arrived wanting to see what Gerit Cole would do and left talking about how dominating Hultzen was. I’m not going to begin to try and estimate what Hultzen’s ceiling is, but the lefty could be another pitcher fast-tracked for the majors. He is worth keeping an eye on.
• Speaking of Cole, his start on Saturday was horrible. And while the AFL is usually rough on pitchers, it seems amplified this year given the poor defenses backing these pitchers up. The important thing for Cole is his velocity was there.
• I spent a lot this trip looking at players I can build my keeper league team with and besides Crawford and Franklin, another guy I’m keeping an eye on is Texas IF Mike Olt. The bat looks like it is pretty close to MLB ready and the power is definitely there.
• Lastly, those who have been looking at Royals OF Wil Myers should be happy with the performance he has turned in this fall, especially given his struggles during the season. Myers played a decent RF when I saw him and he seems to be regaining confidence in his bat. The trade of Melky Cabrera has to be a positive sign that the Royals want to cash in on their young talent soon and I wouldn’t be surprised if Myers gets called up about the same time Eric Hosmer did last year.

I may or may not write up one more piece on the AFL but I do feel that I’ve shared almost all of what I wanted to. If you have any further questions about any of the prospects at the AFL, let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to respond.

I plan on writing up my thoughts in more detail but I wanted to share some thoughts from what I saw during my first trip to AFL games yesterday.

Game 1: Scottsdale at Surprise

• Nothing more needs to be said concerning Bryce Harper – he hit a monster of a HR yesterday and really seems to have adjusted to the level of competition he is facing. I saw him a few months ago when he played the Bowie Baysox and he was still adjusting. He seems like a different player now.
• First impressions aren’t everything, and that’s a good thing for Mike Trout. He had 3 K’s yesterday as part of an 0-for-6 day. I have two more chances to see him so hopefully he’ll get on base.
• Pitchers have it rough – there were 3 errors in this game and 5 in the second game I saw. While there were some good defensive plays, you have to wonder if these kids are tired from all the baseball they’ve been playing all year.

Game 2: Peoria at Salt River

• I was excited for this game because it was my only chance to see Peoria, made up of players from the Padres (my favorite team). I will see the best Padres in the Rising Stars game on Saturday, but this was my shot to see the guys who won’t be in Saturday’s game.
• Keeping with the Padres, I wonder what they will do with Jaff Decker. He played DH for Peoria and that seems to be his best fit. I wondering if he will be traded at some point.
• The 5 errors in this game were all by Peoria. Their defense was terrible as they dropped balls on routine grounders and missed cutoff men on throws. Add in the fact that Seattle’s Cody Scarpetta started the game by giving up 7 ER while only recording 1 out, you have to wonder if something was going on behind the scenes.
• I’m impressed with Nolan Arenado. If he wasn’t already owned in my keeper league he would be a guy I would be targeting, especially since the Rockies need a 3B next year.
• I don’t know much about Mets 3B Jefry Marte but he is now on my radar after a 2-for-3 night with a HR and 2 RBI. Again, it was only one game (see my note on Trout above) but with 3B being so thin last year, it’s time to start looking under every rock before someone else makes a decent find.

Alright, I’m off to see more games today and will put my thoughts up tomorrow. In the meantime, if you have any players here at AFL you want more info on, let us know in either the comments section below, via Twitter or via Facebook.

By Jim

I apologize again for the long delays between posts, and in all honesty I meant to get this up last week. I spent a couple of nights last week at the Bowie Baysox, including an 11 K, 1 hit performance by Brian Matusz on Tuesday. But since I previously covered Matusz on this blog, I decided to talk about someone new this time.

On Friday night one of my league mates asked me to come with him to check out one of his prized prospects, the Pirates Pedro Alvarez. One of the most highly sought commodities in last year’s draft, Alvarez was taken second overall by Pittsburgh and has shown plenty of power in the minors. That power led to a promotion to Double A Altoona but since the promotion.Things haven’t come easy for Alvarez since that promotion though. While he continues to hit for power, Alvarez is struggling to keep his batting average above the Mendoza Line. Watching him in person against Bowie last Friday, it wasn’t hard to figure out why he is struggling to get the ball in play.

In his first at bat against Bowie’s Radhames Liz (who despite MLB experience has been known to struggle with his control), Alvarez hit the first pitch he saw right to the center fielder. There was no doubt the hit was staying in the park and there was no doubt the center fielder was going to catch the ball.

So with one pitch Alvarez was now 0-for-1 and his average dropped closer to that .200 mark.

The average would continue to suffer the rest of the night as Alvarez would strike out in each of his next 3 at bats before finally reaching base on a fielder’s choice in the 12th inning, finishing the night 0-for-5.

If Alvarez hopes to succeed at Double A or higher his plate patience needs a lot of work. While guys like Adam Dunn and Russell Branyan have made an impact by hitting a ton of home runs and striking out even more often, they also know how to lay off a bad pitch and draw a walk.

The other obvious flaw in Alvarez is his defense at 3B. He seemed to have limited range, especially to his left and I believe that if he is going to advance to the majors, he will need to be moved to either 1B or the corner outfield.

Alvarez still has all of the talent in the world but he also has a lot of learning left to do. In leagues where you can stash players on a farm or minor league roster, Alvarez is one of those guys you have to jump on if he falls to you. Just remember to have patience with him and wait until the last possible moment before you have to rely on him to lead you to fantasy glory.

By Jim

One of the great things about where I live is that I am 30 minutes from 2 major league teams and 10 minutes from the minor league Bowie Baysox. With Brian Matusz making his debut for Bowie tonight Derrick and I decided to catch the game.

I picked up Matusz in our league’s minor league draft because I had been somewhat familiar with his work in college but tonight was the first time I got to see him live in action.I knew Matusz was a big strikeout guy as he had recorded 75 strikeouts compared to 21 walks in 66 2/3 innings this year with Class A Advanced Frederick. At 21-years-old, the 6’5″ left hander proved ready for his promotion as he struck out 10 Reading Phillies in 6 innings, giving up only 1 unearned run, 3 hits and 1 walk in picking up the win.

Matusz opened the game by sitting the Phillies down in order, getting two ground outs the first base side along with striking out the second batter he faced.

Matusz ran into trouble in the second inning as he opened the inning by walking Kevin Mahar, giving up a single to Neil Sellers and advancing Mahar and Sellers on a passed ball before Jeremy Slayden singled in Mahar to put Reading up 1-0. Matusz quickly bounced back though as he got the next 3 batters out to limit the damage to only 1 run.

Matusz followed that up by retiring the next 10 batters he faced, 8 via strike out. According to the ballpark radar gun, Matusz never hit higher than 92 mph but the thing that was most impressive was his command of his off speed stuff. He repeatedly used his off speed pitches as his out pitches and Reading repeatedly swung at what he offered, even if it was in the dirt.

Obviously this is only his first start since moving up a level but if this is any indication of what last year’s first round pick for the Orioles is capable of, things are looking good. Often times it is hard to project how minor league pitchers will transition to the majors, and that transition may still be a couple of years away for Matusz, who Baseball America ranked as the Orioles’ No. 3 prospect, but if you are able to put him on a minor league roster for a low cost, this is the type of prospect you want to hold on to.