The Arizona Fall League: a hitchhikers guide for Rockies fans

AFL Picture Album

I really enjoyed these.

Seeing guys you’ve only looked at on a stat sheet countless times suddenly come to life is downright refreshing.

I really enjoyed these.

Seeing guys you’ve only looked at on a stat sheet countless times suddenly come to life is downright refreshing.

Also, does Wheeler’s pre-stance and batting stance remind anyone else of Ryan Howard’s?

For those that still believe in this stat here’s an article on him.

“I felt good up there,” Arenado said. “I was kind of worried about the timing, but I saw the ball well and saw it deep. I put some good swings on the ball and took my hacks. The pitchers here are good, so you try not to get behind too early with these guys.”

Although he even admits the stat is dependent on someone in front of him.

“People are getting on base and giving me opportunities to drive people in — that’s all it is,” he said. “I’m trying to slow the game down with men on base and do what I do.”

recs

for those who haven’t been there yet:


The tribute to Kelli McGregor is really nice.

Once again Nolan Arenado drove in the go ahead run with a 1-for-5 effort. After leading the minor leagues in RBI, Arenado is also leading the Fall League with 11 RBI and is batting .367 for the Rafters. Joe Gardner pitched 2 innings and gave up 5 hits and 3 earned runs with 4 Ks. His ERA in the AFL is 6.75. Casey Weathers enigmatic season continues as he faced only 4 batters walking 3 in a row and striking out one, his ERA is 2.25.

On Thursday Parker Frazier was the headliner going 2 innings and allowing only 1 hit while striking out 3. His ERA is 1.29 in 4 appearances in the AFL. Nolan Arenado went 2-for-4 with an RBI and started a double play. Ben Paulsen and Tim Wheeler went a combined 0-for-7 with 3 strikeouts. More notes from the AFL provided by MLB.

Tim Wheeler went 2-for-5 with a double and RBI to raise his AVG to .250, meanwhile Nolan Arenado collects another RBI in a 1-for-5 effort that keeps him as the sole leader in RBI for the Fall League with 12. Wheeler is 5th in RBI with 10 even though he has spent most of the season leading off and hitting 2nd. Rob Scahill was aggressive in his first appearance of the AFL throwing 10-of-14 pitches for strikes, but gave up 2 hits, a run and struck out 1 in an inning of work.

The player of the night was Diamondback prospect Adam Eaton, the outfielder doubled and homered in the walkoff win.

In a game where the Rafters could only score 7 runs; Arenado and Tim Wheeler drove in a combined 6 RBI and currently stand 1st and 2nd on the AFL RBI leaderboard. Nolan Arenado homered for the first time and drove in 3 runs while going 3-for-5 in an effort that drove his AVG up to .375 and saw his OPS peak at .905. The most impressive part of his homerun was who it came against. White Sox prospect Terry Doyle has faced 28 batters in the Fall League, of which he’s only allowed one hit, the solo homerun by Nolan Arenado.

Tim Wheeler was struggling until the 7th inning when he doubled off the centerfield wall with the bases loaded scoring 3 Rafters. He then scored on an Arenado line drive (learn to memorize those three words). Meanwhile firstbaseman Ben Paulsen went 0-for-3 with a walk. Parker Frazier worked 2 innings and allowed a run after walking a batter, allowing a stolen base and then a base hit brought in the run. He gave up a total of 2 hits and struckout 1 batter, his ERA rose to 2.00 on the day.

Player of the game was Pittsburgh 2B Jarek Cunningham who hit 2 HR’s and a double driving in 5 runs. Cunningham hit the longest HR I’d seen in the AFL last week. It hit the second tier of the batters eye in centerfield at Talking Stick.

The Rafters were held to only 2 hits in a game that featured 0 Rockies, coincidence? I think not!

In Thursday’s matchup the Rafters lost 11-4 to the Saguaros, Tim Wheeler provided 1 hit and 1 RBI. Nolan Arenado was given the past two days off, and he’s deserved it. He is MLB’s top player in the AFL Top 5 list. Where it says:

(Nolan Arenado) is batting .632 (12-for-19) with 18 RBI with runners in scoring position

Joe Gardner pitched 3 scoreless innings striking out 4 and lowering his ERA to 3.86. He threw 30 of 48 pitches for strikes!

Tim Wheeler went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, he’s batting .250 on the season. Nolan Arenado went 1-for-4 dropping his AFL season AVG to only .408. Nolan snapped his 7-game RBI streak leaving 2 RISP or “Wiggies” as they’re affectionately known in 2011.

Tim Wheeler had an outfield assist, throwing out Chicago Cubs prospect Junior Lake trying to stretch a single into a double. At the plate Wheeler went 1-for-3 with a single and walk raising his AVG to .259 in the AFL. Ben Paulsen was 0-for-2 with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts, and a run scored.

Casey Weathers had his best performance of the elite Fall League in an inning of work. He struck out his first two batters before inducing a weak comebacker on the final out of his inning.

Scahill struck out a batter and allowed one walk in an inning of work. He was also called for a balk, but recovered to strike out the next batter. Casey Weathers pitched Friday not allowing a run lowering his ERA to a respectable 5.14 although he allowed 3 baserunners in an inning of work through 2 hits and a walk, he showed a glimpse of his potential by coming back to strike out the next two batters with the bases loaded.

 Meanwhile Nolan Arenado went without a RBI even though he batted 3-for-4 with 2 doubles. He’s batting .391 in the prospect-heavy AFL. Nolan led off twice and batted a third time with no men on base to avoid the RBI situations. His lone chance for ribbies he popped out to future Kevin Youkilis replacement, Will Middlebrooks. Arenado was also picked off of firstbase in the game. Meanwhile Ben Paulsen went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts and watched his own batting AVG dropped to .211 after Friday’s game.