Arizona Fall League Recap: 10/7/23

Arizona Fall League breakdown from Chris and Beck from October 7th games.

Hey everyone! Hope your offseason is starting off well. Beck and Chris will be with you everyday this Fall Leauge, breaking down everything you need to know from the previous day! Today’s writeup is free and features 22 player writeups. Moving forward, the writeups will be for subscribers so to get an edge in your dynasty league, sub below and get access to all of this:

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Beck has Salt River, Scottsdale, and Surprise covered for you. Chris has Peoria, Mesa, and Glendale.

Salt River

Jase Bowen, 1B, PIT, 23

Bowen had six total bases in the contest in a three-hit effort consisting of a single, a double, and a triple. He had three batted balls over 100 mph and could have easily walked away with a five hit night with a little BABIP luck. He’s made the sheet a few times this week and is third in total hits through the first six games.

Ivan Melendez, 1B, ARI, 22

The former Golden Spikes winner made the sheet for the first time this week with a single, a double, two runs, two RBI, and a walk. He had just one hit entering last night’s contest and has had a difficult time getting anything going. In his first 15 at-bats he’s struck out eight times, an issue that plagued him throughout the year, while slashing .200/.368/.267.

The AFL is a great opportunity for Melendez to work on plate discipline, but I get the sense that he’s pressing in his club’s Spring Training facility. He hit the ball hard last night with his hits leaving the bat at 99.5 mph and 106.1 mph, but the impact isn’t really the question in his profile.

Justice Bigbie, OF, DET, 24

Recurring guest Justice Bigbie collected a pair of hits on hard-hit balls while scoring two runs and driving in another. He added a walk for good measure. I don’t think I have to tell regular readers what the deal is with Bigbie, but for anybody joining us for the first time: Bigbie had a bonkers regular season and stands to be a big time AFL helium guy with a strong desert campaign. He hasn’t been particularly superlative thus far with a .200/.429/.333 line, but he has walked six times to just one strikeout.

Jaden Hill, RHP, COL, 23

Hill had a quiet night in the box score, surrendering a run in his one inning of work as the result of a walk and his own throwing error. He ultimately took the loss for the Rafters on a night where both teams combined for 29 total runs.

If you were just watching gameday this would have been a perfectly inconspicuous appearance, but Baseball Savant tells a very different story. Hill sat 98.4 with his sinker while dominating the top pitch velocity leaderboard for the evening. His secondary stuff wasn’t working particularly well, with both the changeup and slider generating just one whiff on eight thrown, but the pure gasoline is cause for intrigue. It’s a shame he’s in Colorado’s system and will ultimately have to contend with Coors.

Sterlin Thompson, 3B/OF, COL, 22

Stuffing Thompson in here last because I’ve written about him all week. He had another two-hit night on Saturday, one of which being a triple that left the bat at 104.6 mph, to pair with a walk, a run, and an RBI. He sits in sole possession of second place in hits through 6 games with 9. He’s yet to hit a home run.

Scottsdale

Davis Daniel, RHP, LAA, 26

Scottsdale and Mesa had a much quieter evening than Salt River and Peoria, and Davis Daniel deserves some of the blame. He fired a scoreless four innings while striking out five and ceding just two baserunners, one via free pass and one via seeing-eye single.

Davis is the rare AFLer who saw MLB action in 2023. He joined the Angels in September and had three pretty solid bulk relief appearances totaling 12.1 innings, wherein he allowed three earned runs and struck out nine. He struggled with command but ultimately wasn’t punished. There could be a back end of the rotation viability or a bulk reliever role in his future.

Oh, and his major league debut came on his 26th birthday. He threw three scoreless that day. I thought that was cool.

Robert Hassell III, OF, WAS, 22

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know who to write about on the offensive side of this contest. Scottsdale generated just four hits and 8 total baserunners in a contest that yielded just one run between both teams.

For his part, Hassell pitched in a single and a stolen base. He struck out once. It's nice to see him getting the wheels turning when he’s on base, but he’s still not lighting the world on fire so far.

Oliver Dunn, 2B, PHI, 26

I haven’t written about Dunn yet, with good reason. Last night was just his second AFL appearance! In his small 6 AB sample, Dunn has managed two hits, two walks, three strikeouts, and two stolen bases.

He was originally selected in the 11th round of the 2019 draft and later snapped up by Philadelphia in the 2022 Rule 5 draft. He had an awesome season for Reading, slugging 21 home runs and stealing 16 bases in 21 attempts en route to a .271/.396/.506 line, but it’s hard to see how he factors into the infield picture with the Phillies any time soon. They’ve got their 4, 5, and 6 locked up with Stott, Bohm, and Turner with very little wiggle room to carry an additional infielder, though Dunn’s presence at the AFL signals there could be intrigue at some point in 2024.

Surprise

Jacob Hurtubise, OF, CIN, 25

I had to triple-check to make sure, but there has never been a Jacob Hurtubise mention on the Dynasty Dugout. Welcome to the site and the sheet! He had a two-hit evening, both singles, walked, and scored a run in Surprise’s 7-2 victory over Glendale.

He was originally a 39th-round pick by the Mariners, so to see him come so far is awesome. Something clicked for him in 2023, as he OPSed .961 in AA and AAA after OPSing just .693 at AA last year. He added six home runs and 45 stolen bases in 54 attempts. It’s possible we see him as a 4th or 5th outfielder type in Cincinnati at some point.

Peyton Wilson, 2B, KCR, 23

Wilson went 3-5 on the evening with two singles, a double, a run, and two RBI. He’s pushed his OPS to .974 with six hits in 16 ABs.

Wilson is a former 2nd rounder out of Alabama who was billed as a good athlete who has solid bat speed despite being relatively undersized at 5’8, 180 lbs. At 23, it’s hard to project a growth spurt, and he’s been just OK in his pro tenure, but there is opportunity for playing time in Kansas City that could come Wilson’s way eventually.

Wes Clarke, 1B/C/DH, MIL, 23

I’ll venmo a dollar to the first person to message me the word “tater” on Discord or Twitter just to prove you read this far. Clarke has been among the very best performers in the AFL so far, racking up 6 hits, including a triple and two homers in 16 ABs. He’s fourth in the league in OPS and third in RBI. He had a home run and two singles in a 3-5 night at the plate last night.

Here’s what I wrote on Tuesday about his potential future with the Brewers:

“He’s limited defensively but has had a great year in AA, clubbing 26 home runs in 503 plate appearances en route to a .241/.392/.498/.889 slash with a 17.7% BB% and 29.2% K%. He could factor into the Brewers lineup at some point in 2024 with Carlos Santana entering free agency this offseason and Rowdy Tellez submitting a disappointing season ahead of his second arbitration hearing.”

Adam Seminaris, LHP, MIL, 24

Seminaris had the best outing of any AFL pitcher last night, going 4 scoreless with seven strikeouts and just one hit allowed. He generated 13 whiffs in the effort.

He doesn’t stand out for his stuff with his sinker, living in the low 90’s, and he’s what scouts would affectionately refer to as a pitchability guy. He has a slow, loopy curveball from the left side that sits mid-70’s, a changeup with some fade, and a low 80’s slider. He had a tough year for Milwaukee, pitching his way to a 6.10 ERA split predominantly between AA and AAA.

Glendale

Ben Casparius, RHP, LAD, 24

Casparius had an incredible start to 2023 in High-A, in which he posted a 2.68 ERA in 37 innings with 44 strikeouts. The bump to Double-A was not as kind as he allowed a 6.62 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP while his strikeout rate dropped six percentage points.

Casparius had another strong showing in the Fall League, however as he tossed two more scoreless innings allowing just one hit and zero walks while striking out three. It was his second straight two-inning, no-hit outing with three strikeouts.  His slider is elite, the command needs to take a step forward, but keep a close eye on Casparius this fall.

Yeiner Fernandez, C/INF, LAD, 20

Fernandez spent most of his games catching this year in High-A, but also saw reps at first, second, and third base. In 99 games, he slashed .274/.360/.375 with six home runs and 23 extra-base hits. He has been seeing most of his reps at shortstop in the AFL though.

On Saturday, Fernandez collected two of the Desert Dogs’ five hits and also got on base via walk. He had Glendale’s only RBI of the game as well and brought his AFL average to .400 with a 1.300 OPS.

Mesa

Billy Cook, OF, BAL, 24

Cook was the difference in the game for Mesa in a 1-0 win in which he collected one of three hits on the night for the Solar Sox, but it was a big one, a solo home run in the ninth inning to walk it off.

In Double-A this year, Cook hit 24 home runs and stole 30 bases while posting a .251/.320/.456 slash line. It was a truly under-the-radar season that was not talked about enough. If Cook were 22 years old instead of 24, he would be a consensus top 100 prospect. The talent is here, and Cook is a fun player to watch.

James Triantos, 3B, CHC, 20

While Mesa only collected three hits in Saturday’s game, Triantos accounted for two of those, which included a double and a single. He has been on a heater in the first week of action and has a .500 batting average with a 1.230 OPS. Triantos might be the best pure hitter in the Fall League, making high-end contact, as shown by his 83 percent contact rate in 2023.  Power will likely always be the question mark, but Triantos is as good as a pure hitter as there is. 

Baron Stuart, RHP, NYY, 24

What are the chances that Baron Stuart is from Stuart, Florida? Well, he is, but that is aside the point. Stuart had the best outing of any of Mesa’s pitchers in a collective shutout in which he tossed two scoreless innings with a walk and four strikeouts. There likely isn’t any fantasy appeal here, looking at the long-term track record, but Stuart gets a shoutout for the solid performance on Saturday night.

Peoria

Jakob Marsee, OF, SD, 22

Every. Single. Day. Jakob Marsee cannot stop hitting. I’ll be honest I want to write about someone else, but Marsee earns a spot here every day a she continues to be the best hitter in the Fall League. 

On Saturday, he finished a home run shy of the cycle, collecting three hits and a walk and scoring three times. His triple was his only hard-hit ball of the night in 6 BBE, leaving the bat at 101.9 mph but he made contact on 89% of pitches he swung at. Marsee is currently hitting .571 with a 1.725 OPS. 

Chase DeLauter, OF, CLE, 22

Delauter is having an awesome AFL so far but has been massively overshadowed by Marsee’s performance. After all, DeLauter is hitting a measly .333 with a .894 OPS(yes, this was a joke). He only collected one hit on Saturday, but what is worth noticing here is that DeLauter had five batted balls that were all over 92.2 mph, including two greater than 102 mph. He hits the ball hard and makes a ton of contact, making him a potential fantasy stud.

Tyler Locklear, 1B, SEA, 23

Locklear smoked a home run on Saturday that left the bat at 109.1 mph while also having two more hard hits north of 97 mph. He collected three hits and drove in four runs in what could be a big spark heading into week two. There’s a path for Locklear to be in the majors early in 2024. 

Jacob Berry, 3B, MIA, 22

Berry is having a fantastic fall league being back home in Arizona. His overall performance has certainly not lived up to expectations of what you would hope of a sixth-overall pick. 

On Saturday, Berry collected three hits, including a double, and had three batted balls that were hard hit. He owns a .389 batting average and an OPS over 1.000 through six games. The AFL could be just what Berry needs to get his confidence back.