Twins AFL Report (Week 2): Carr Shoves, Sabato Racks Up Doubles

[Steve Lein]

Twins hitters continued to struggle as whole in the second week of baseball out in the desert, but one of them did at least show a pulse while another clubbed his first AFL home run. A pitcher also delivered his second excellent outing in as many starts.

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (photo of Aaron Sabato)

Game Results:
Monday, 10/9 | Glendale 2, Mesa 0
Tuesday, 10/10 | Peoria 17, Glendale 4
Wednesday, 10/11 | Glendale 1, Surprise 16
Thursday, 10/12 | Scottsdale 9, Glendale 6
Friday, 10/13 | Glendale 7, Scottsdale 8 (10 innings)
Saturday, 10/14 | Glendale 2, Salt River 7

Runs continued to be hard to come by for Glendale, as they again finished the week 1-5 and were outscored by a total of 57-to-22. The pitchers were very hit-and-miss after a strong first week, and the hitters continued looking for their breakout. The Desert Dogs enter week 3 with a record of 2-10, and need to get significantly more run production to turn their AFL fortunes around.

C Andrew Cossetti
Week: 0-for-10, R, BB, 5 K (3 games)
Overall: .059/.200/.235 (.435 OPS)

Cossetti played in three games during the week, serving as the catcher in two of them and as the DH in the other. He batted cleanup in one game, and eighth twice.

In Monday’s game against the Mesa Solar Sox, he was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning and scored on a triple from the next batter to put Glendale ahead 2-0 in their lone win of the week.

In Wednesday’s contest, he drew a walk in the eighth and ended up stranded on third base, though not that it would have mattered with his team down 14-1 at the time. In his final game of the week, he was 0-for-4 with a strikeout in their extra-inning loss to Scottsdale.

In his two games as the catcher, teams continued to run on him and were 6-for-6 on the week in their stolen base attempts. He also had a throwing error on one of those attempts.

OF Kala’i Rosario
Week: 1-for-15, R, HR (1), 2 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K (4 games)
Overall: .063/.189/.188 (.377 OPS)

Perhaps the Twins highest rated prospect playing in Arizona this season, Rosario continued to try and find his footing in week 2. His batting line won’t impress anyone again, but he at least made his lone hit of the week count, with it going for his first home run in Thursday’s loss to Scottsdale.

It came with his teammate Aaron Sabato on base, and brought the Desert Dogs within one run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Rosario continued to split time in the corner outfield spots, playing three games in left field, and one in right. 

Besides the game with his home run, Rosario was 0-for-11 in his other three games, drawing two walks and striking out four times. 

1B Aaron Sabato
Week: 5-for-19, R, 3 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 8 K (5 games)
Overall: .182/.289/.364 (.653 OPS)

The Twins big righty actually had a decent week in comparison, collecting multiple hits in two of his five games on the week. He played first base three times, and DHd twice while batting in the middle of the Glendale lineup.

He was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI in each of Tuesday's and Wednesday's games, providing the only RBI for the Desert Dogs on Wednesday when he doubled in the third inning. This hit put his team ahead 1-0 at the time, but that would be it in a game they lost 16-1. So he again was the sole reason his team wasn’t shut out in a game for the second consecutive week.

Sabato added his third double of the season in Saturday’s loss to Salt River and will continue to try and cut down the K’s and turn a double or two into home runs in week 3.

LHP Jordan Carr
Week: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (1 start)
Overall: 0-0, 1.13 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, .222 BAA, 0 BB, 4 K (8 IP)

The lefty made his second start of the AFL season in Thursday’s home game against the Scottsdale Scorpions. While it wasn’t another shutout effort, it was another excellent outing in which he completed four innings.

His lone run allowed came on a solo home run in the third inning, which made the score 4-1 Desert Dogs at the time. He retired the side one-two-three in the first, worked around a leadoff single in the second by getting three consecutive groundouts, and stranded a pair of hitters he hit with pitches in the fourth.

He was again very efficient, needing just 48 pitches to complete four innings, with 32 of them going for strikes (66%). Just one inning after his day was done, the Desert Dogs fell behind for good 7-4, so another win eluded him for his efforts.

RHP Malik Barrington
Week: 1/3 IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K (1 appearance)
Overall: 0-0, 33.75 ERA, 3.75 WHIP, .333 BAA, 3 BB, 2 K (1 1/3 IP)

Barrington saw action in just one game during the week, and it’s an outing I’m sure he would rather forget as quickly as possible. but he wasn’t the only pitcher at fault in a brutal 17-4 loss, and 11-run sixth inning for the league-leading Peoria Javelinas.

With the score 6-2 heading into the sixth inning, Barrington got the call from the bullpen after the first four hitters of the inning were walked by his teammate. Not wanting to make that teammate feel too bad, Barrington proceeded to walk the first three of his own hitters, before picking up a strikeout for the first out of the frame. He then allowed a two-run double and two-run single before the manager could get another Twins arm ready.

Hopefully, Barrington is back on the mound early this week to wash this one off, and possibly get a couple of appearances on his ledger with better results.

RHP A.J. Labas
Week: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K (2 appearances)
Overall: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, .182 BAA, 2 BB, 4 K (3 IP)

Labas got the call from the bullpen in two games on the week, picking up a hold in Monday’s shutout win over Mesa, and finished the game on Thursday against Scottsdale.

He was the first reliever summoned on Monday and pitched a scoreless inning. Getting the ball to start the fifth inning, he allowed a leadoff single but worked around any further damage by picking up a pair of strikeouts. He threw 13 pitches, with 12 going for strikes, including four swinging.

Against Scottsdale, he pitched the top of the ninth inning with his team down 9-6. He did allow a two-out single but again limited any damage by picking up a strikeout with the runner in scoring position. He threw just two called balls in this nine-pitch inning, so pounding the strike zone was his calling card this week after a less-than-efficient (but scoreless) outing in his first appearance.

RHP Ben Ethridge
Week: 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K (1 appearance)
Overall: 0-0, 10.80 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, .167 BAA, 0 BB, 1 K (1 2/3 IP)

Ethridge got into action in just one game this week, and it came in relief of Barrington in their big loss to Peoria on Tuesday. The Javelinas had built a 14-2 lead when he entered with a runner on base and one out. He hit his first batter and coaxed a flyout before surrendering a three-run homer to account for all of Peoria’s scoring. After another hit batter, he finally stopped all the bleeding by getting a lineout, but this one was over.

LHP Zach Veen
Week: 2 1/3 IP, 6 H, 7 R (3 ER), 1 BB, 1 K (2 appearances)
Overall: 0-0, 10.80 ERA, 2.70 WHIP, .444 BAA, 1 BB, 2 K (3 1/3 IP)

Veen’s first appearance of the week corresponded with Barrington and Labas’ as he was the first of Glendale’s relief corps to enter that would turn into the lopsided loss. He came on in the middle of the fourth inning after Glendale’s starter had allowed a homer and a single that made the score 2-0. Veen allowed a single of his own before inducing a double-play ball to keep the score there. Back out for the fifth inning, his defense let him down, and perhaps started the rest of the collapse, when the right fielder dropped a fly ball. This error led to none of the four runs he was charged with being earned but also caused the inning to be extended in time for Peoria to break it open with a three-run homer to end his outing.

Called upon on Saturday for the fifth inning of a 3-2 game, Veen got two quick outs on infield pop-ups, before a single, double, and another three-run homer turned into a 6-2 lead for Salt River. He at least closed his week with a strikeout to end on a positive note. 

Please feel free to ask questions and discuss the prospects playing in the AFL this week!

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[pierre75275]

Good Grief, those are some pretty dismal numbers to start. Hopefully they can pick it up.

I wonder if our hitters faced our pitchers which would fair better?😜

[Tiantwindup]

This has to be one of the weakest set of minor leaguers we have sent to the AFL and, sadly, it’s showing in their performance thus far. 

[FlyingFinn]

Rosario is moving down in the prospect rankings. Yikes!

[big dog]

Keith Law has a piece in The Athletic on his recent week at the AFL and some players that caught his eye. No Twins were mentioned. He bemoaned the dismal state of AFL pitching overall.

[Trov]

So far not a very good showing.  I was not expecting a ton from any of them but not giving me much hope so far.  

[roger]

Thanks for pointing out that Ethridge hit a batter.  Was scratching my head while looking at his line, 2 ER, 1 Hit and no walks.

Don't know much about Carr, although see he had a nice summer while at Cedar Rapids.  Is he a legit prospect who may be in a Twins rotation two or three years from now?  See he was almost 24 when the Twins drafted him out of college, so he will be older when/if he makes it.  I know that will have an effect on some of your prospect rankings.

[FlyingFinn]

29 minutes ago, roger said:

Don't know much about Carr, although see he had a nice summer while at Cedar Rapids.  Is he a legit prospect who may be in a Twins rotation two or three years from now? 

He's pitched a lot of good games in the minors. The issue - velocity. So many of these guys are successful in the minors but the lack of high velocity doesn't lead to major league success. I often wonder if some of these lower velocity guys would actually adjust and be able to pitch in the majors and yet they are never given the chance. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this with Carr.

[Steve Lein]

1 hour ago, Trov said:

So far not a very good showing.  I was not expecting a ton from any of them but not giving me much hope so far.  

It is certainly a different group from what they sent a year ago! Though I don't really know whom would have been equivalent to Julien or Martin this season. Julien inexplicably spent all of 2022 in double-A, but almost all the players who had success with Wichita this year ended up playing with the Saints. Seems to be triple-A is not a place the Twins tap for players to send.

I liked the choices of Sabato and Cossetti based on their 2022 seasons or where they were at on the ladder. The challenge for Rosario was also a good idea, hopefully he can find his stroke. 

[Steve Lein]

1 hour ago, big dog said:

Keith Law has a piece in The Athletic on his recent week at the AFL and some players that caught his eye. No Twins were mentioned. He bemoaned the dismal state of AFL pitching overall.

I read the same thing, and you reminded me to go nab this note he mentioned, and I would be all for:

"What I would love to see, and have suggested before (as have others), is for teams to use the AFL as a rehab spot for big-league pitchers who need more innings after the regular season has ended. [...] Given the sheer number of pitchers we have recovering from Tommy John surgery at any given time, the AFL’s spot in the calendar could allow some of those guys to pitch in games when the alternative is waiting until March. It would help the league, and help the pitchers and their teams as well." 

[jmlease1]

Really rough for Twins hitters. I don't want to read too much into this: while we've seen some players use the AFL as a springboard to bigger things, other players have gone down there and done little but still kept right along on their prospect course. But it's still disappointing to see really none of the hitters doing well.

[Seth Stohs]

8 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Rosario is moving down in the prospect rankings. Yikes!

Where? Why? 

(Or did I need a #sarcasm included... if so, my bad!)

[Seth Stohs]

5 hours ago, roger said:

Thanks for pointing out that Ethridge hit a batter.  Was scratching my head while looking at his line, 2 ER, 1 Hit and no walks.

Don't know much about Carr, although see he had a nice summer while at Cedar Rapids.  Is he a legit prospect who may be in a Twins rotation two or three years from now?  See he was almost 24 when the Twins drafted him out of college, so he will be older when/if he makes it.  I know that will have an effect on some of your prospect rankings.

The Twins signed him out of the USPBL (same day as Malik Barrington, and Jackson Hicks, and Ricardo Velez... July 21, 2021). 

So no, he'll likely never be on a prospect ranking. But, that doesn't mean he can't or won't get to the big leagues. First, he's left-handed, second, some video of his curveball makes it look legit. If he can add a couple of mph to his low-90s fastball, then maybe. Or maybe he can be the next Kody Funderburk. 

He's the kind that you just let keep pitching well and see where it goes. He's... in my opinion... the kind of minor leaguer you want to root for. 

[FlyingFinn]

54 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

Where? Why?

My own personal prospect rankings. He can move back up with some good weeks but I thought he would do better than this. The pitchers in this league aren't exactly the best the AFL has ever seen.

[twinstalker]

Twins farm system is the greatest.  Imagine if they hadn't gotten lucky with the lottery and had Jacob Gonzalez instead of Walker Jenkins.

[dougd]

Rosario does have two hits including a home run so far today.

[Blyleven2011]

Couldn't believe Sabato is out hitting Rosario and cosetti  , 

Pitching is getting opportunities  but not making the most of it ...

2 weeks in  and the Twins players need to shine ...

[The Mad King]

Thanks for these updates

[Doctor Wu]

11 hours ago, The Mad King said:

Thanks for these updates

I also appreciate these updates, even if the ones like today aren't very encouraging. Yikes! I certainly hope these players can show some improvement going forward. Even if it's just one or two players, but I can't say I even see anything impressive from any of these AFL players yet. 

[Steve Lein]

15 hours ago, The Mad King said:

Thanks for these updates

3 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

I also appreciate these updates, even if the ones like today aren't very encouraging. Yikes! 

Thank you for saying so! I have loved following this league closely for about 15 years now, and am happy to share my observations with you all!

[RpR]

1 hour ago, Steve Lein said:

Thank you for saying so! I have loved following this league closely for about 15 years now, and am happy to share my observations with you all!

An interesting bit of baseball!

[DJL44]

So, the pitching is terrible but the Twins prospects can't hit? Not a good sign.

[jkcarew]

Rosario coming around a bit. Now with 3 HR…tied (with many) for 2nd in the league.

[ashbury]

Looks like I picked the right year to skip making the trek down to the Phoenix area.