Having to take two weeks off work for sinus surgery and recovery gave me the opportunity to catch three AFL games this week I otherwise would have missed. I have three more games on my work schedule plus another half dozen possibilities before the season is over so more detailed capsules will be forthcoming.
October 10th: Peoria at Glendale.
Keston Hiura, Brewers, 2B. Hiura is considered to have one of the highest offensive profiles in the minor leagues with question marks galore on the remaining aspects of his game. Hiura received more major league game action during 2018 Spring Training than any other Brewers farmhand and combined with the 2017 AZL season I’ve seen him more than a dozen times. Hiura has a good eye at the plate; his walk totals (36 in 123) games should not be taken as an indicator otherwise, being confident at the plate reflects more on balls in play than free passes. He walked in his first PA then beat out a grounder to short for a single in his second. I had him at 4.38 to first which is average for a right handed hitter and matches most online reports. His grand slam later in the game was a thing of beauty. Camelback Ranch is one of the larger parks in the Cactus League; it’s 410 to dead center. Hiura hit a line drive with cleared the wall just to the left of the batters eye and landed two thirds of the way up the grass berm. I know the ball travels here but that was a legit no-doubter. Defensively he made a nice stop on a ball to his right but had trouble with his footwork transitioning to the throw with the result being a wounded duck which the runner beat pretty easily. From conversations had during the spring I’m not sure the Brewers know what the best place is for him. He’ll likely play second full time at AAA this year and hope things play out naturally for 2020.
Evan White, Mariners, 1B: Six foot three first baseman with no power, not a good profile. He could probably play just on his defense alone which is considered elite but the Mariners seem committed to Robinson Cano moving to first next season and is signed through 2021. White needs a full season of AAA (at least) so there’s no urgency now; maybe he hits 20 bombs in the PCL next season in which case the problem would resolve itself.
Braxton Davidson, DH, Braves: A 6’3" version of Dan Vogelbach. This dude is "large." And not a prospect, not sure why he’s here.
Cristian Pache, Braves, CF: Had three line drive hits. Couldn’t get a watch on him. Fishes for breaking balls down and pulls off with his top hand but he certainly didn’t appear to have problems with stuff in the zone.
Estevan Florial, Yankees, CF: So here’s the thing, when Brett Gardner was here a dozen years ago I wasn’t a fan, didn’t think he’d be much more than a fourth outfielder. The guy’s played eleven seasons now, eight of them as a regular, save to say he’s exceeded all expectations for his career, probably even his own. I don’t like Florial, didn’t last year and in the two views this year. He’s entering his fifth minor league season at age 21 and last year’s injuries aside has fallen behind on the development curve. I think he’s here to be showcased.
October 11th: Surprise at Glendale.
I was at a Rangers/Royals instructs game in the morning and got a text that Vladimir Guerrero Jr was not in the lineup for this game. I went anyway but really didn’t get into it since I had to leave early to get my daughter from school. I did get to see a couple of former Rangers AZL guys, Tai Tiedemann and Joe Barlow. Both had clean innings and both got hit around later but seeing as both are A ball guys not much of a surprise here.
Cavan Biggio, OF, Blue Jays: Got a bad makeup report on him earlier in the week, hit a pop up to short center which nearly dropped, Biggio took three steps out of the box and stopped. Did the same thing today, seems like one of those guys whose name on the back of the jersey is more important than the one on the front. I get the Eastern League MVP and all but this guy’s not really a prospect. Reminds me of Koby Clemens, Roger’s oldest, will beat around the minors for eight years playing three or four different positions but never getting a real shot.
Steven Sensley, Yankees, 1B: Have to admit not knowing this guy, 12th rounder in 2017 from LSU. Looked good around the bag and hit two rocket line drives to right, one an out, one a base hit. Had a pretty good season at Lo A Charleston but struggled when promoted to Hi A Tampa. On my watch list for next year.
October 12th: Glendale at Surprise.
Junior in the lineup. There were a couple of interesting players in this game (Julio Pablo Martinez, Will Craig, Nate Pearson to name a few) but I’m going to only talk about two here, Vladito and Luis Robert.
First, Robert. He was DH today and Wednesday and played RF on Thursday. When I read Pipeline’s description of him I felt like I was searching for a used car on Craigslist. What you see on paper is nothing compared to the actual product, what you’re buying is a 2017 Mercedes and what shows up in your driveway is a 2004 Hyundai. In Baseball America’s Carolina League prospects chat some of the reviews on Robert is he’s a fourth OF who will have some defensive and base running impact but little offensively. There were also makeup concerns which I also witnessed. First the good; he is fast. I got him on a ground ball single to short at 4.09 which is a high 7. He also stopped running on a ground ball to third which ended up being a fielding error, Robert was safe because of that, not because he hustled down the line. He had a couple of routine fielding plays in the game Thursday but nothing which would have displayed route running or arm. On Wednesday, a strike was called on him because he was late getting into the batter’s box. I’ve seen umpires bang pitchers for balls because the clock expired but that was the first time I’ve seen a strike called. He pulled himself out of the game yesterday after his second AB in the fourth, haven’t seen any reports of injury as of now.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Blue Jays, 3B
As things stand now I will see him at least three more times before the season ends so this is just a blueprint statement and nothing more.
First, the build. The six foot height seems legit, the weight, not so much. I ballparked him at 225 although I did hear a couple of opinions that were closer to 240. He’s also soft, very jello like in the upper thighs/butt. He is more proportionate though than some pictures/videos would indicate, his shoulders are wider than his hips.
He had five PA’s and three fielding plays.
PA1: Jam shot pop fly single to right, landed on the foul line, thrown out by eight feet trying to stretch into a double, RBI. He may have gone to second thinking the throw would go home, it being the first inning it wasn’t a bad play.
PA2: Trademark line single to center, RBI. He didn’t square it but just like in the first inning just enough strength/bat speed to get the job done.
PA3: Tapper back to the mound, first base side. Pitcher fielded and made the play unassisted. Once the pitcher fielded the ball Guerrero slowed down and crossed the bag at 5.57. If he ran straight through and I conservatively knock off a second that’s a 4.57 which would make him a 3 runner, maybe a tick under. That’s not good.
PA4: Arizona single to left. The ground here is rock hard, a topped groundball which hits the dirt in front of the plate could bounce all the way to the outfield like a popup and that’s the case here. In Spring Training in Dunedin Florida it’s a 6-3 out, here it’s a base hit. I had him at 4.64, allowing for the turn which would knock of maybe two tenths we’re again in the 4.5 range which is a well below average 3.
PA5: Bases loaded in the ninth, another tapper back to the mound, also to the right side, this time it was a 3-1.
Fielding1: Runner at second, he was playing in, maybe two steps behind the cut-out. Chopper right to him, came in a couple of steps, caught the ball in perfect position, waist high with glove palm up and throwing hand on top, looked runner back and soft throw to first for the out.
Fielding2: This one was weird; he played it like he was on a synthetic surface. I don’t know if any of the Blue Jays affiliates play on turf but he reacted without thought like he knew what he was doing. Ground ball one step to his right, he crouched into a back-hand fielding position and waited for the ball to come to him. A bad hop it’s an error, ball took a clean hop right into his glove. He straightened up to throw but because he was flat-footed had to crow hop, throw was high but on time.
Fielding3: Two hopper to his left, fielded cleanly, had to pivot to throw and made a sidearm toss straight into the ground, Will Craig dug it out of the dirt for the out, saving a potential throwing error.
Miscellaneous: He seems to be having a lot of fun, teammates seem to like him, I saw him a couple of times talking with the third base umpire while fielding balls between innings. There was a play at third where the runner slid in and they got tangled up, Guerrero reached down and grabbed the guy under the arms and lifted him up into a hug. The other runner extended his hand as a thanks, Guerrero slapped him five with his glove. Good stuff.
The world resumes normalcy on Monday, I’ll see him again hopefully next Saturday and will start the data gathering fresh. More on him once the season is over.
