Arizona Fall League Report 10/4 - Nelson, Denorfia & Howard in action

I removed the non Arizona Fall League discussions into a separate thread for further discussion. Let's keep this thread limited to AFL talk, please.

11/9: Joey Votto has managed a pair of singles and an RBI and Kevin Howard is 1-for-5 in a Mesa-Surprise 5-5 tie late in the game. The Solar Sox have tied the game in the top of the ninth.

UPDATE: While Votto ends the contest two for five, Howard promptly stroked a two-run single in the top of the tenth, leading to a 7-5 Solar Sox win.

Two to play.

11/10: Joey Votto gets to play two games in a row! Thought taxi squadders couldn't do that.

Anyway, Joey's capitalized, ripping a single and ground-rule double, walking, driving in one, and scoring two. Kevin Howard's one for four, and Mesa pulls out a 6-5 win in a seven-inning contest.

Luke Hudson started for the Solar Sox, but gave up three bombs- Pittsburgh's Brad Eldred, the White Sox' Chris Young, and the Red Sox' Brandon Moss. Four earned in three innings as Luke ends his AFL campaign with an ERA of 5.68.

Bubba Nelson came on to pitch the sixth and served up Eldred's second gopher ball of the game. He's got an ERA of 6.59, and four bombs in 13.2 innings.

David Espinosa's three-run homer, his second, has given Mesa half its runs. Davey's hit .282 in this AFL season, okay but not anywhere near as good as Howard or Chris Denorfia.

Howard has officially taken the AFL batting title with a .409 average (reaching base in all 24 games he played in), outpacing the Dodgers' Matt Kemp at .383 Angels' Kendry Morales and Howie Kendrick, both at .380.

Chris Denorfia was nominated for the Dernell Stenson award, but didn't win.

The Solar Sox finish the 32-game season at 15-17.

Final statistics:

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/a...d=milb&cid=555

Simpson certainly impressed, allowing just one earned run in fourteen innings with fourteen Ks, but given what's been said about Todd Coffey, I wonder if he won't be "tired" come spring training.

Nelson was up and down. Four homers in 13.2 innings inflated his ERA to 6.59, and he walked eight in that stretch. 2006 is his year to rise up or fall off the radar.

Hudson was generally unimpressive, pitching really well only once out of six starts. He walked only six in 25.2 innings, but gave up 33 hits and four homers.

Certainly there are a heck of a lot of line-drive singles in the AFL that don't go that way in the big leagues, but Kevin Howard hitting .409 should cement his opening the season at AAA. (Of course, Brian Peterson hit something like .380 last year after a .300 season in AA and still ended up in the same spot, looking up at Dane Sardinha striking out.) Hopefully Howard's defense is better than his error total indicates.

Chris Denorfia is ready for the big leagues and has to be considered a major favorite to make the Opening Day roster.

Joey Votto wasn't able to get his slugging going, but he did appear to cut down on his strikeouts. Problem was that his walks disappeared as well. 2006 will show us what he's really got, too, as he prepares for AA.

Ryan Hanigan never really got going, making several passed balls along the way. He played much of 2005 at first base, not catcher, so you have to wonder if a full-time positional switch is in order for him as the Reds figure out his 2006 placing.

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/spring/

Fall League wrapup

The Arizona Fall League's regular season came to an end yesterday. The team featuring the Reds' prospects, the Mesa Solar Sox, finished 15-17, two games behind Surprise in their division. Surprise will play Phoenix for the championship tomorrow.

Though the Reds' representatives had their ups and downs, it's fair to say no one's stock improved as much as Kevin Howard's. The infielder from the University of Miami hit .409 (tops in the AFL by 26 points) with a 1.032 OPS in 25 games while striking out only nine times in 98 plate appearances. Howard can play second or third base and should have worked his way into legitimate contention for a roster spot in spring training.

Among the other Reds, Chris Denorfia hit .333 (.991 OPS) with seven doubles, three triples, three homers and 24 RBIs in 23 games, putting a perfect cap on a breakout season. I'd be stunned if he isn't with the major league team on Opening Day as a backup outfielder.

The other two Reds position players, first baseman Joey Votto and catcher Ryan Hanigan, didn't get nearly as much playing time or have nearly as much success. Votto hit .250 in 10 games and Hanigan hit .216 with one RBI in 13 games.

Among the pitchers, reliever Allan Simpson led the way. He went 4-1 with a 0.63 ERA in seven outings, allowing nine hits and one earned run in 14 1/3 innings. His counterparts on the mound had considerably more trouble. Bubba Nelson posted a 6.59 ERA in nine games and Luke Hudson went 0-1 with a 5.68 ERA in six starts. One encouraging sign for Hudson: he walked only six batters while striking out 20 in 25 1/3 innings.

I would be shocked if Hudson was on the opening day roster in 2006. Naked pictures of DanO? ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NC Reds

I would be shocked if Hudson was on the opening day roster in 2006. Naked pictures of DanO? ;)

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I'd say he gets one more chance to impress as a reliever, then he hits Waiverland USA. Or we could trade him to somebody in spring training for Reggie Taylor. Who says he doesn't have value?