Article: AFL Recap Week 2: Bullpen Promise

[Steve Lein]

The Minnesota Twins club in the Arizona Fall League, the Scottsdale Scorpions, went 2-4 on the week to put their overall record at 4-5.

 

Bullpen arms from the organization had a stellar week, one catcher continued to hit and another continued to showcase his defense, and all of Adam Brett Walker’s skills were displayed.

 

Read on to check out how each prospect did in week two of the 2015 Arizona Fall League season!(links provided to each player’s overall stats by clicking their name)

 

Adam Brett Walker – 4 games, 5-17 (.294), 2 R’s, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 8 K’s.

 

Walker started the week off with a game that could be considered a microcosm of his hit prospect profile, going 2-5 with a solo home run and two RBIs in Monday’s 10-6 win against the Mesa Solar Sox. The home run came in the eighth inning and provided an additional insurance run. In his first three at-bats of the game however, he was 0-3 with three strikeouts, two of the swinging variety.

 

In the rematch with Mesa on Tuesday, Walker drew a walk in the fifth inning, and moved station-to-station around the bases to score a run from third on a single. He struck out swinging in his final two at-bats to finish 0-3.

 

Walker was hitless again in Thursday’s 5-4 loss, reaching base once in five plate appearances by drawing a walk in the fifth inning. He struck out swinging in his final two at-bats again.

 

Walker’s final game of the week provided some redemption, going 3-5 with three singles against Peoria on Saturday. All three of the singles were line drives into center field. He struck out swinging once.

 

Stuart Turner – 2 games, 1-7 (.142), 1 R, 2 BB’s, 4 K’s.

 

Turner started at catcher and batted ninth in two games for the Scorpions this week.

 

On Tuesday, Turner drew a walk in his first at-bat, and scored on the Clint Frazier home run that followed. He singled in the seventh inning but was stranded, and struck out twice on the day.

 

In Thursday’s 7-6 loss to the Surprise Saguaros, Turner was 0-4 with two strikeouts. In the sixth inning Turner drew a walk, but was erased at second base on a steal attempt.

 

In the third inning, Turner gunned down a runner of his own, catching Minnesota native Michael Reed at second base. That’s 3-5 catching runners on steal attempts for Turner in three games.

 

Mitch Garver – 2 games, 4-10 (.400), 2 R’s, 2 RBI, 2 K’s.

 

Just like Turner, Garver made two starts at catcher on the week. He batted ninth in Monday’s 10-6 win, and eighth in Friday’s 10-1 win, going 2-5 in each contest.

 

On Monday, Garver singled in his first at-bat and later scored on a double from Mike Gerber. His single in the eighth inning scored Christian Arroyo after Walker’s home run to add another insurance run.

 

In the blowout win on Friday, Garver drove in a run with a single in the six-run third inning for the Scorpions as they blew the game open.

 

In the seventh, his picked up his second single of the day and came around to score on a Frazier single for the 8-1 lead.

 

Nick Burdi – 1 game, 1 IP, 0 R’s, 1 H, 0 BB’s, 1 K, 0.00 ERA.

 

After not getting into any official action in the season’s first week, Burdi pitched the final inning of Wednesday’s blowout loss.

 

The lead-off man picked up an infield single, but Burdi induced a four-six-three double play to the next hitter to bring up Yankees catching prospect Gary Sanchez, batting third in the Surprise lineup. Burdi sent him down swinging to end the inning on a high note.

 

Trevor Hildenberger – 2 games, 2.0 IP, 0 R’s, 2 H’s, 0 BB’s, 2 K’s, 0.00 ERA.

 

Hildenberger made two appearances on the week, pitching in the games on Monday and Friday.

 

With the first game of the week tied at 3-3, Hildenberger worked around a one-out double to pitch a scoreless fifth inning.

 

On Friday, after surrendering a leadoff single, Hildenberger mopped up the 10-1 victory by striking out the last two hitters of the game in the ninth inning.

 

 

Jake Reed – 2 games, 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB’s, 3 K’s, 0.00 ERA.

 

Reed also saw his first official action of the AFL season, appearing in the same two games as Hildenberger.

 

On Monday, Reed was relieved by Hildenberger for the fifth, after entering the game with two outs in the third inning, after starter Austin Kubitza’s day ended by giving up a three-run home run. Reed got a groundout to end the inning and faced the minimum in the fourth by striking out the leadoff man and inducing a double play after one out single.

 

Reed pitched the sixth inning in Friday’s win, bookending a tapper back to him on the mound with two strikeouts for a quick one-two-three inning.

 

Taylor Rogers – 1 game started, 4.0 IP, 4 ER’s, 5 H’s, 3 BB’s, 4 K’s. 9.00 ERA.

 

Pitching as a starter for the Scorpions, Rogers got the ball for- the game on Wednesday against Surprise.

 

He got through the bottom of the first with a one-two-three inning, striking out lead-off man Dustin Fowler, and worked around a one-out single in the second inning with two strikeouts and the runner being erased at second base on a steal attempt (not by Turner or Garver).

 

In the third inning, Rogers got into a bit more trouble. The lead-off man doubled to left field, moved to third on a groundout, and then scored on a single for the Saguaros first run of the game. Rogers would pick up another strikeout, and escape the inning with runners on first and second, by getting Gary Sanchez to ground out.

 

It got worse for Rogers in the fourth inning however, as a single and walk put runners on for Aledmys Diaz from the Cardinals organization, who launched his first home run of the AFL season and gave his team a 4-0 lead. Rogers walked the next man he faced, but with a crafty lefty pickoff move, caught the runner attempting to steal. He finished the fourth and his day by getting a pop-out to second base.

 

QUICK HITS:

 

- Twins relief prospects combined to pitch 5.1 scoreless innings on the week, allowing just four hits while picking up six strikeouts.

 

- Behind their pay wall, Baseball America posted their Minnesota Twins 2015 Draft Report Card on Thursday. They selected Travis Blankenhorn as the best pure hitter, Kolten Kendrick as the best power hitter, and Logan Wade as the fastest baserunner. Tyler Jay was noted throughout the pitching comments for his fastball, slider, and command. Also discussed is how the failure to sign second round pick Kyle Cody, a starter from Kentucky, hurt the Twins ability to get creative with their signings.

 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss the performances during the week!

 

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[Monkeypaws]

AB Walker - my theory.

 

He is gonna be good. He's been on a continuous learning curve. He's never repeated a level, yet he seems to end up at the top of the old fashioned HR and RBI tables at every stop.

 

Once he has seen it all, and has made his adjustments, he'll probably still K a lot, but I think the good will outweigh the bad: dat power.

[Tibs]

I don't know how pitching in the Arizona Fall League works, but don't we want Nick Burdi throwing in more than one inning the first two weeks?

[Seth Stohs]

 

I don't know how pitching in the Arizona Fall League works, but don't we want Nick Burdi throwing in more than one inning the first two weeks?

 

He did actually pitch one other inning in a game the previous week but it was rained out so there is no box score for it.

 

I know AB Walker had an RBI double in that partial game as well.

[Steve Lein]

 

I don't know how pitching in the Arizona Fall League works, but don't we want Nick Burdi throwing in more than one inning the first two weeks?

 

Also, there's a lot of pitchers on the rosters (21 on the Scottsdale team), and they all essentially get a fair shake of the action.

 

That means 1 start each week for starters, and a game or two for relievers usually. Just how it works, and gets them a bit more action against some better competition.

 

Reed got 12.2 innings last year, Zach Jones got 11.1 for reference.

 

 

 

 

[Tibs]

 

Also, there's a lot of pitchers on the rosters (21 on the Scottsdale team), and they all essentially get a fair shake of the action.

 

That means 1 start each week for starters, and a game or two for relievers usually. Just how it works, and gets them a bit more action against some better competition.

 

Reed got 12.2 innings last year, Zach Jones got 11.1 for reference.

Yeah, that's kinda what I figured. I also forgot about the game that was rained out. Thanks guys

[nater79a]

You mentioned Logan Wade as the fastest baserunner in the 2015 Twins draft report card. I'm assuming you meant LaMonte Wade?