Stacy Long has the Arizona Fall League assignments, two days early this year: Pitchers Heath Rollins, Matt Gorgen and Paul Phillips and infielder Cody Cipriano now play for Montgomery. Catcher Nevin Ashley was with the Biscuits until late July. The oddball is shortstop Shawn O'Malley, who's at high-Class A Charlotte with Ashley.
O'Malley makes sense. He just went down with an injury, so they're probably going to try and get him as may PA's as possible. This is especially important for him, as he's only been switch-hitting since he was drafted 3 years ago, but has been improving. I don't think many people have noticed that he is second among Rays minor leaguers in OBP (.386)and SB (40), behind only Desmond Jennings in both categories, and is tied with Jennings for most walks with 58. And I've only heard good things about his defense as well, but with Brignac and Beckham already at SS for this organization, I could see O'Malley moving over to 2B and, if he can cut down on the strikeouts, becoming a Luis Castillo-type guy, which is actually quite valuable.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a full understanding of what exactly this means... Will those guys leave their teams and head to Arizona before the season ends? What other players will be going? A little background/history of AZ Fall League would be helpful for a layperson.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of Alex Cobb disturbs me. -Rome
ReplyDeleteThe AFL begins Tuesday, October 13 so players will remain with their current team through the regular season. The league runs for roughly six weeks. Each team usually sends about 6 guys, and there are 6 AFL teams. I don't know which other players will be there, but I know Washington announced that Stephen Strasburg will be.
ReplyDeleteI spend the two hours before lunch and at least half an hour after writing a preview and they announce the AFL guys around 4-5... ugh... I think we need to start a Cork-like "This Year Ago On RaysProspects" thing, cause this stinks. /end rant, sorry
ReplyDelete@ Collective Troll, what KG said. No, this is a post-regular-season league for at least 6 players from the Rays organization. Big break between the end of regular minor league ball and this, as KG says it doesn't start until 10/13. See my (somewhat useless) Preview below. The only one who confuses me a little is Rollins, I assumed the switch to RP was to control his innings, but apparently not. Perhaps (or not) Stacy can shed some light on why this appears to be Rollins' long-term plan?
ReplyDeletewhere would you think the diffuculty level of the AFL might rank in comparson to A+,AA,AAA?As what does it compare to the most?
ReplyDeleteCan you listen to the Arizona Fall League games on line?
ReplyDeleteAs to level, since most are AA and AAA players, that's about what it is. Probably more towards AAA as the orgs don't send really bad players since they only have 6 spots. It's often guys who missed time during the year due to injury that they want to get more time in against decent competition.
ReplyDeleteAs to listening online, couldn't last year, don't know yet if they will be on this year. I would kind of doubt it, but we'll just have to wait and see. Since these teams aren't tied to a particular org, there really isn't anyone trying to promote them. For ex the Princeton Rays have an owner and act as a business, so they promote themselves like any other business. But an AFL team is just a combination of players from 5 different organizations, so there isn't anyone really to gain by promoting. Since MLB organizes it, I suppose it's possible they could foot the bill for the broadcasts, but I would be suprised.
MLB Network had been rumored to carry the Arizona Fall League starting this season. That was part of the overall programming package they showcased when they debut the network. They state they were gonna cover Spring Training, Caribbean World Series and Arizona Fall League to name a few.
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