Arizona Fall League Report 10/4
So I had the chance to watch the Mesa Solar Sox yesterday, a team which included some of the Reds minor league prospects. The Sox also has some Tigers, Cubs and Indians prospects on the team.
They took on the Phoenix Devil Dogs, which included the Dodgers, Dbacks and A's prospects, among others.
Yesterday there were three Reds minor leaguers that saw action .
Bubba Nelson - Bubba really wasn't fooling anyone. Had a couple of punch outs, but in general was just serving up some fastballs right down the middle. He was the first guy out of the pen, lasted two innings and was stuck with the loss. Gave up 3 runs, walked a few and gave up a monster home run to the A's Daric Barton. His breaking stuff wasn't overtly impressive. Gun had him in the low 90s with his fastball.
Chris Denorfia - Denorfia also swiped a base, although I'd credit that to the pitcher having a terribly slow windup. Two batters before the RF swiped a base off the same guy; no doubt that Chris was paying attention to the pitchers inattention to the runner. He played LF, had a few balls hit his way, and looked pretty routine out there. Looked better at the plate than either of the other two starting OF's for Mesa.
Kevin Howard - Howard was playing third last night - which was a little peculiar. I saw him last year in the AFL, and he played nothing but 2B the entire time. Had only one hard hit ball at him, and he fielded it well. If you've never see this kid play, he's an interesting prospect. He's fairly tall, and really skinny. It looks, using only my eyes, that he's put on a few pounds of muscle this year, but not much. He looks just like a tall scrawny awkward kid who can ball. Has a quirky stance/swing as well. He's a patient hitter, taking DanO's take one strike credence to heart, and he had one solid line drive hit.
Didn't see Votto, Hanigan or Luke Hudson, although I did see them warming up Allan Simpson in the bully, only to sit him later.
Some other notes.
A Reds blast from the past David Espinosa was the Solar Sox DH, and he had two hits himself, both doubles in the gap. Looks like he's figured out how to play, a few years too late for the Reds.
Daric Barton and Stephen Drew both hit poster shot home runs. Drew had three hits, and the Dodgers RF Kemp nearly hit for the cycle.
Cubs Pitcher David Aardsma has one nasty slurvvy breaking pitch. The Sox catcher was really scuffling trying to fish it out of the dirt. But he has a really fast (98mph) heater that is really flat and the Dogs just waited and tattooed that pitch with regularity. He didn't stay in the game long.
