The west coast of these United States of America has been left out of the baseball picture since last week with the elimination of the Los Angeles Dodgers. While west coast teams may be out of the headlines in major league playoff action, their prospects are catching the attention of their parent clubs in the Arizona Fall League.
To be more specific, Bay Area teams and the Seattle Mariners have several prospects with noteworthy performances in the AFL.
Time for some West Coast bias.
Let’s start with the San Francisco Giants. The Giants failed to make the playoffs after winning the World Series in 2014, but the team has a great foundation in place for another even-year title. Pitchers Adalberto Mejia and Raymond Black could help fill the void of some key departures for the Giants. Mejia is among the best pitchers in the AFL, throwing 9 2/3 innings with four earned runs and 10 strikeouts.
Perhaps the best prospect in the Giants organization is Christian Arroyo. Arroyo has carried over his offensive production from the regular season over to the AFL. He’s hitting .353 with a .368 on base percentage and .765 slugging percentage, including two home runs. Arroyo missed a month-and-a-half with an oblique strain early in the season but still managed to hit an impressive .304/.344/.459 over 90 games in the California League.
Other Giants to play well thus far are Mac Williamson and Austin Slater. Williamson, an outfield prospect, is hitting .455/.600/.455 in 11 at bats after Wednesday’s 0-for-3 with a walk performance.
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Let’s move on to the Oakland Athletics. Sean Manaea is dominating on the mound. Manaea was a key piece in the Ben Zobrist-to-Kansas-City trade and immediately brought positive returns for the Athletics, pitching to a 2.66 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings. He’s carried that performance into the AFL with eight strikeouts in eight innings. Yesterday, he got roughed up for three runs in four innings, but he’s still got an 8/1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Second baseman Chad Pinder is fourth in the league in slugging and he’s hit two home runs in 17 AFL at bats. Pinder has increased his batting average, OBP, OPS and home runs in each season since he was drafted in 2013, elevating his 2015 slash line to .317/.361/.486 with 15 home runs. Teammate Renato Nunez is tied for AFL lead with three home runs and is hitting .240/.296/.640 after going .278/.332/.480 with 18 home runs in Double-A as a 21-year-old.
Now to the Seattle Mariners prospects. James Paxton is pitching in the AFL to work on command of his secondary pitches and elevate his innings, considering he only pitched in 73 2/3 in 2015—most of those were with Seattle, where he had a 3.90 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 67 innings. The results have been encouraging, as he’s only allowed one earned run with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Third base prospect D.J. Peterson shook off a rough 2015 regular season—he hit a combined .223/.287/.344 with seven home runs between Double-A and Triple-A—to hit .417/.417/1.000 with two home runs through Wednesday.