Arizona Fall League Rosters Announced

[CaliforniaRaisin]

AFL rosters are supposed to be announced today. Haven't seen the seven players the Cubs are sending - so far, I've only seen the DBacks and Phillies' prospects who are going.

 

Jaxx manager Pat Listach will be one of Mesa's managers.

Edited August 22, 2006 by CaliforniaRaisin

[jaxxradio]

Listach will be joined by Dodgers Triple-A pitching coach (and a good friend of mine) Kenny Howell. A couple former big-leaguers on the coaching staff with a couple rich farm clubs?? Smells like a championship to me...

[Mephistopheles]

Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher, Donald Veal, Clay Rapada, Scott Moore, Felix Pie and Bobby Brownlie are my uneducated guesses...

 

Gio Gonzalez is going.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

They're also sending Gavin Floyd.

 

I'd be surprised to see both Veal and Gallagher go (especially Veal since it's his first pro season).

 

Definitely expect EPatt and Moore...maybe Pie, but he has played in the DR the past few winters. I would have thought Dope would have been a perfect candidate after injuries sapped most of his season but I don't think he'll be healthy enough.

[Mephistopheles]

Well someone has to send pitching. If they don't send Veal they'll probably send Ryan Harvey as their non AA/AAA player.

 

Oh and Mark Prior too

[the splendid splinter]

Fox will be going to the AFL, book it!!

[CaliforniaRaisin]

LHP Carmen Pignatiello - Iowa

RHP Grant Johnson - Daytona

RHP Lincoln Holdzkom - West Tenn

LHP Clay Rapada (good call, kc) - Iowa

C Jake Fox (good call, splendid splinter) - West Tenn

3B Scott Moore - West Tenn

2B Eric Patterson - Iowa

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Some nice pitching on the Mesa Solar Sox (full roster here) with the guys from the Cubs:

 

LHP Scott Elbert, LA Dodgers

RHP Phil Humber, NY Mets

RHP Kevin Slowey, Minnesota

Edited August 22, 2006 by CaliforniaRaisin

[Mephistopheles]

Well this leads me to an obvious omission from the Cubs top 25, Ill take Grant Johnson over someone like Lansford or Muldowney because if his stuff comes back hes a lot better. of course i said the same thing a year after we drafted Brownlie

 

Doesn't look like we'll have anyone in this years AFL top 25 unless Mark Prior decides to join....

 

Pence, Patton, F Martinez and Albers are also on the team.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

The AFL season starts on October 10th.

 

Kc, I wonder if Grant's slider will ever come back to it's pre-surgery levels.

[Mephistopheles]

I would think it would. IMO a shoulder injury would affect a 12-6 curveball more than a slider and an elbow injury would affect a slider more than the 12-6. At least that's an assumption I've come to.

[Laura]

Thanks for the list!

 

Glad to see Grant Johnson there. Looks like he's the >AA choice?

 

Those are my questions. And here's an aside: I know there's kidding around about Prior here, but just in case people were actually wondering based on comments in the Chicago papers about him pitching in Arizona in the off-season, Prior isn't eligible to pitch in the Arizona Fall League.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Looks like he's the >AA choice?

 

Yup. Makes sense, although I hadn't thought of him...I was thinking of Phelps or Fuld from Daytona.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

BA with all six teams' rosters in a much more user-friendly format. As they noted, way more pitching prospects than in past years.

 

Will be interesting to see with A-ball players the Cub will send to Hawaii.

[rawaction]

Wonder if Fox will catch or play OF. I assume they want him to get the work at C.

[goonys evil twin]

Wonder if Fox will catch or play OF. I assume they want him to get the work at C.

 

I didn't even know OF was an option. Are the Cubs thinking of moving him?

[ChiefsVoice]

BA with all six teams' rosters in a much more user-friendly format. As they noted, way more pitching prospects than in past years.

 

Will be interesting to see with A-ball players the Cub will send to Hawaii.

 

Any ideas when those rosters come out? Here are our players going to instructs:

 

Jesse Estrada, Fabien Jimenez, Mark Reed, Yusuf Carter and Kyle Reynolds. Matt Avery was also on the original list but had already signed up for and paid for classes to finish up at UVA so I believe he is going back to school instead of instructs.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Wonder if Fox will catch or play OF. I assume they want him to get the work at C.

 

I didn't even know OF was an option. Are the Cubs thinking of moving him?

 

He's played a couple of games in the OF recently (partly due to a lack of depth with the Jaxx), but he's listed as a C on the AFL roster. The Indians' Trevor Crowe, who's converting from OF to 2B, is listed as a 2B on the AFL roster.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

BA with all six teams' rosters in a much more user-friendly format. As they noted, way more pitching prospects than in past years.

 

Will be interesting to see with A-ball players the Cub will send to Hawaii.

 

Any ideas when those rosters come out? Here are our players going to instructs:

 

Jesse Estrada, Fabien Jimenez, Mark Reed, Yusuf Carter and Kyle Reynolds. Matt Avery was also on the original list but had already signed up for and paid for classes to finish up at UVA so I believe he is going back to school instead of instructs.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the instructs.

 

The Hawaii Winter League site says rosters will be announced in September but offers no date. I can think of a couple guys at Daytona who might go, not sure about Peoria, though.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Eric Patterson is one of 10 Futures Game participants who will take place in the AFL.

 

BA lists their 10 prospects to watch (more like 13) in the AFL in today's Daily Dish (no Cubs mentioned).

[CaliforniaRaisin]

More on Hawaii Winter Baseball from Baseball Prospectus:

 

Opening Day for the 2006 Hawaii Winter Baseball is October 1st, and the league will features four teams playing in two stadiums. For now, players will come only from the major leagues and Japan at about a 60/40 split, but Kurisu remains confident that other Asia nations, including Korea and Taiwan will participate in future years.

 

The league is an official recognized winter league by Major League Baseball, though participation is optional. While details could not be given at press time, Kurisu indicated that 21 of 30 teams are participating, and he expects many top players from the A and Double-A levels. "We are expecting top prospects," said Kurisu. "One of the things that is most pleasing to me is that in the 90s, we had many players who became major league stars--I expect that to continue."

 

Teams participating and official rosters are expected to be announced by September 1st, and while the exact level of talent is not clear yet, Red Sox Vice President of Player Personnel Ben Cherington, who sits on the league's Executive Committee, indicated that his organization will be sending four players from their A-level teams along with one member of their coaching staff. "It's a great opportunity for these players to go out and test themselves against better competition," said Cherington.

 

I hope the Cubs aren't one of the 9 teams not sending someone to Hawaii.

[Laura]

Scout.com has more on the AFL pitchers.

 

A starter all throughout his pitching career, the right-hander [Grant Johnson] was moved to the bullpen in late June and has appeared in 18 consecutive appearances from there. He is 6-5 with a 4.74 ERA overall this season in 89 1/3 innings for Class A Daytona of the Florida State League.

 

“His velocity is up to where we thought it would be, up to 93 [mph] again,” Cubs Director of Player Development Oneri Fleita said of Johnson. “We think he likes the bullpen role and it looks like he fits the role.”

 

Pignatiello, a curveball specialist whom the Cubs consider a situational pitcher against left-handers, was promoted to Triple A Iowa along with Patterson this past weekend, where he spent a good portion of 2005.

 

“He’s been there before,” Listach, the Jaxx first-year manager, said of Pignatiello. “He’s a left-handed specialist. He’s a great lefty-lefty guy because of that great curveball.”

 

“He’s [Lincoln Holdzkom] got a great body and is a real strong guy with a real good arm,” said Fleita. “We’ve got him throwing 100 percent again and in the low to mid 90s. We’re going to let him go to the Fall League and get a chance to get back some of those innings he missed over the course of this season.”

 

“He can be used to close some games. He can go three or four innings if I need him to, or be that closer we’re looking for right now,” Listach added.

 

Part of the reason the Jaxx are looking for a closer is because of Rapada. The sidearm southpaw saved 21 games for the team and had a 0.82 ERA and 45 strikeouts to 10 walks, but was promoted to Triple-A in June. ... He returned to action on Tuesday after missing over two weeks with what Listach said was a finger-related injury.

 

“I think he’d been out with an ingrown nail,” Listach said. “The guy’s a strike-thrower that went and got ahead of people for us. He throws strike one and then you have to hit his pitch after that. He’s one of those unorthodox sidearm lefties that’s finally having some success at Triple-A.”

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Thanks, Serena. I read that last night and was disappointed that it seems like Grant Johnson will stay in the pen.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Kurt (Chicago): Why do you think the Cubs left Donnie Veal off of the Fall League Roster? He tore it up in two leagues this year and seems to be on the fast track.

 

SportsNation Jim Callis: Most teams don't send their top pitching prospects to the AFL unless they need innings, usually because they were injured or signed late out of the draft. In Veal's case, the Cubs probably felt he had pitched enough this year.

[Laura]

I read someplace (and I'm kicking myself because I'm not sure where) that the Twins had been planning to send Adam Harben to AFL.