Arizona Fall League Recap: Surprise Busts Out the Lumber
By Jason Burke
Friday ended up being a quiet day around the Arizona Fall League with the night game being cancelled due to inclement weather, and the afternoon game between the Glendale Desert Dogs (Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates) and the Scottsdale Scorpions (Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins) being postponed due to rain.
Did I say a quiet day? The heavy-hitters from Surprise changed that, belting three homers, with the Mesa squad matching that total. In the end it was a lopsided affair with the Saguaros beating the Solar Sox 20-6, dropping Mesa to 0-4.
Kansas City Royals #5 prospect Bubba Starling stole the show early with a pair of Bubba Bombs (if his home runs are not already called this, that needs to change) off of Angels right-hander Ryan Etsell in the second and third innings. Starling would finish the contest 3-for-5 with 2 RBI and a walk. Mike Ohlman of the St. Louis Cardinals organization would add a home run of his own in the 7th inning, his first of the Fall League.
In total, Surprise had four batters in their lineup record three-hit days with Patrick Wisdom (Cardinals) and Yadiel Rivera (Brewers) each putting up four RBI afternoons. The leadoff man, shortstop Ramon Torres (Royals) went 4-for-7 with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. While Texas Rangers outfield prospect Lewis Brinson only recorded one hit, that hit was an RBI triple in the fourth. Brinson also drew three walks.
On the Mesa side, the Cubs #19 prospect Jeimer Candelario recorded a 5-for-5 outing with two round-trippers, three doubles and four RBI on the afternoon and is batting a crisp .800 through three games after a 3-for-4 game on Wednesday. The two home run outings from Candelario and Starling puts them in a seven-way tie for the Arizona Fall League lead atop the home run leaderboard. The most interesting part of that leaderboard is that six of the seven players recorded both of their home runs in the same game, a feat that was only accomplished seven times all last season.
On the mound, only three of the 12 pitchers used worked innings without allowing a run. Two of those belonged to the Mesa staff, oddly enough. Alan Busenitz from the Angels’ system walked one and struck out one in the 6th, while Rays right-hander Brad Schreiber allowed a hit and struck out one of his own in the 8th. Connor Sadzeck, a righty from the Rangers, was the most impressive statistically, pitching two shutout innings, allowing a hit a walk while striking out four.
There will be no game action today. Instead, the Bowman Hitting Challenge will take place at Salt River Fields at 6:35 local time with one representative from each Major League team. Oakland’s Renato Nunez and Houston’s A.J. Reed are just two names that pack plenty of power, along with JaCoby Jones of the Tigers organization, whom we mentioned yesterday. The full list of participants can be found here.