Arizona Fall League Recap: October 21, 2024
Chris and Beck break down down everything you need to know from Sunday's AFL action.
Just a single game of action on Sunday, and sadly, we have no games today in Arizona. So let’s all enjoy what we had Sunday and talk about all of the action. Beck and I have you covered.
Arizona Fall League Recap: 10/21/24
Scottsdale (Chris)
Termmar Johnson, 2B, PIT, 20
A putrid showing is how I would describe Scottsdale’s offense on Sunday, and it seems pretty clear some of these guys can use the day off on Monday. The Scorpions mustered just four hits on the day, and Johnson was one of the few bright spots. He tripled on a smoked ball in the right-center gap and showed good speed as I clocked him at 11.56 home to third. The slide or attempted slide was pretty ugly, but it did not matter.
Johnson reached base a second time via walk and stole two bases. He now has his OPS up over 1.100 on the fall in a much-needed big performance.
Derek Diamond, RHP, PIT, 23
Diamond is a 23 year old righty who the Pirates drafted in the sixth round of the 2022 draft out of Ole Miss. Spending the year in High-A Greensboro, Diamond posted a 4.80 ERA with a 1.32 WHIP while striking out just 20 percent of batters faced. The good news is the control is exceptional as he walked just 4.6 percent of batters and threw strikes at a 70 percent clip.
He tossed three innings of one-run ball on Sunday, allowing just three hits and one earned run, coming from a Garrett Martin home run. Diamond landed 66 percent of his pitches for strikes while generating an impressive nine whiffs on 24 swings.
Charlie Szykowny, 3B, SF, 24
A 2023 9th-round pick, Szykowny split the 2024 season between Single-A and High-A, where he slashed .295/.362/.451 with six home runs and 38 extra-base hits in 94 games. Having a strong 6’4”/225 lb frame, you might expect Szykowny to get to more power, but we could still see him tap into it despite his age.
While he did not do anything out of the ordinary on Sunday, Szykowny reached base twice with a single and walk. He has just 17 plate appearances so far, but has a home run and a .294/.368/.471 slash.
Salt River (Beck)
Tommy Troy, SS, ARI, 22
Well, Tommy Troy is back. He was off to a slow start through his first handful of AFL games but that’s no longer the case. He has nine hits in his last three games, six of which were of the extra-base variety. The former 12th overall pick could catch a lot of helium with a standout AFL performance, especially given how injury-riddled his regular season was, and is up to a .256/.302/.513 line after collecting just one hit in his first six games. He was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles on Sunday.
Robert Hassell III, OF, WSH, 23
There are no two ways around it; Hassell has had a fantastic all-around AFL so far. He’s second in RBIs behind just Zyhir Hope, he has a pair of home runs and two stolen bases through eight games, and finds himself in serious MVP contention. It’s his third trip to the desert, so some of this is to be expected – and he doesn’t have the benefit of being one of the younger players in the circuit anymore. He finished yesterday’s game with a home run and a stolen base in a 2-for-4 night.
Garrett Martin, OF, NYY, 24
Martin has been scorching hot through two weeks of AFL play. He’s up to a .333/.469/.750 line with five extra-base hits in seven games. Slugging hasn’t been an issue for him – his 6-foot-3, 215 pound frame generates plenty of pop – but his hit tool has been questionable as a pro. He has a career .213 batting average and 28.8% strikeout rate through his first 105 games, primarily in High-A. I’m excited to see him out there as he’s one of a handful of players I was unfamiliar with prior to the AFL. He hit his second home run of the fall on Sunday.
Caleb Durbin, 2B, NYY, 24
You can’t stop Caleb Durbin, you can only hope to contain him. He did his scrappy thing on Sunday and finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base. He’s coming off of an outstanding AFL campaign last year where he just missed MVP honors, though it’s been a slow start through two weeks this year. He had an interesting year primarily in Triple-A where he hit 10 home runs and stole 29 bases (32 attempts) while walking significantly more than he struck out. I think he figures in for some playing time with the Yankees next year, but unclear when and where exactly that’ll be.