The Arizona Fall League is now a week old, so let’s take a look at the week that was.
The Arizona Fall League is now a week old, so let’s take a look at the week that was.
Before we get going, let’s just go over what the Arizona Fall League is. The AFL is a prospect showcase league where each franchise loans a few prospects each to play along with other prospects to round out their seasons. The Giants host one of the six teams in the Arizona Fall League, called the Scottsdale Scorpions, so eight Giants have joined forces with players from the Phillies, Angels, Nationals, and Cardinals to play.
The Arizona Fall League tends to be a very offensive league, so that should be a hint on how to view these statistics, both for hitters and pitchers.
I’ll keep up these reports each week, coming up every Monday, until the end of the Fall League in early November.
Scottsdale currently sits in 2nd place after six games at 3-2 with a draw. The league is led by the Peoria Javelinas, who are undefeated at 5-0, but Scottsdale is the only team that has’t lost against them, with that draw coming between them on Opening Day.
Will Bednar
Weekly Stats: 2 G, 1.2 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 HR, 5 BB, 3 SO, 10.80 ERA, 3.00 WHIP
Welcome to 2023, Will Bednar! This is the first action that the Giants’ 2021 1st round pick has had this year, and so, on top of the offensive bias in the AFL, everything about his numbers should be viewed as a player basically rehabbing from injury. So, when he didn’t get out of an inning in his first game while allowing two runs, mostly on walks, think about him coming back from injury. Reports had his fastball at 92-94, which is slower than it was in his draft year, but again, consider that he’s just coming back from injury. Hey, he didn’t give up a hit though…
Reggie Crawford
Weekly Stats: 4 G, 1-14, 1 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HER, 0 RBI, 3 BB, 9 SO, 0 SB, 0 CS, .071/.235/.071
The Giants 2022 1st round pick is also coming off injury, and missed the second half of the season after a single High-A at-bat, but the so-called 2-way player is going to exclusively hit. And in one week, he had nearly as many plate appearances (17) as he had all season (19) between Low-A and High-A. Still, he got one hit in the first game he hit in, and three walks in the first two, but didn’t get on base at all in the final two games, so the stats don’t look great…especially in a hitter-friendly showcase. For what it’s worth, Crawford has also been exclusively a DH so far.
Jack Choate
Weekly Stats: 1 G, 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 HR, 1 BB, 4 SO, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP
Also coming back from injury is Jack Coate, the team’s 9th round pick in 2022, who hadn’t pitched since July 20th. Choate served mostly as a starter in the regular season, but only got into one game so far with Scottsdale, and it went well! We’ll have to see how Choate does as he gets more appearances, hopefully his next on Monday.
Marques Johnson
Weekly Stats: 2 G, 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 HR, 0 BB, 3 SO, 4.50 ERA, 1.00 WHIP
Johnson was a midseason trade pickup for the Giants, thanks to a July trade with Boston for reliever Mauricio Llovera, had a strong finish to the season with Low-A San Jose, but had a few struggles against the generally more experienced hitters in the AFL, though obviously short sample size applies here. Johnson’s strong finish to the 2023 regular season, however, makes him worth continuing to watch.
Seth Lonsway
Weekly Stats: 2 G, 4.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 SO, 6.75 ERA, 2.00 WHIP
25-year old Seth Lonsway played the full season, posting a 5.87 ERA in High-A Eugene, but got hit hard in his first couple of games in the AFL. The 6th round pick from 2021 could still even it out, but he’ll need to make more hitters miss.
Hayden Wynja
Weekly Stats: 1 G 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 HR, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0.00 ERA, 1.50 WHIP
The 6’9” southpaw Wynja can be imposing on the mound, and has put together a good first full season after signing an NDFA contract in 2022. It was a good first appearance for him as well, though he didn’t get some of the strikeouts his teammates would get.
Carter Howell
Weekly Stats: 3 G, 4-10, 5 R, 0 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB, 1 CS, 2 BB, 3 SO, .400/.500/.900
While the 2022 NDFA isn’t going to be among the most acclaimed prospects sent to Arizona, Howell played three of Scottsdale’s first four games, and did very well, with some of Scottsdale’s few extra-base hits. Howell had 26 doubles, eight triples, and ten home runs in 119 games between both levels of Single-A in the regular season, and has been very promising so far, even considering it’s an offensively-oriented league.
Zach Morgan
Weekly Stats: 3 G, 5-8, 2 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB, 0 CS, 3 BB, 1 SO, .625/.727/.625
Morgan has been covering half the catching duties for Scottsdale, and has been covering a lot of offense for Scottsdale, too. The 7th round pick in 2022 isn’t much lauded for his offense, but he’s getting a lot of hits and picking up walks, which is good enough. He is struggling with passed balls, with three so far in three games, but considering he’s catching pitchers he barely has had time to get to know, that’s excusable.
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