Seattle Sports Insider

Arizona bound

8 Mariners off to the AFL

Posted by

10/11/17

Eight of the best Mariner farmhands have reported to Peoria and "Played Ball!" yesterday and will again today, in the Arizona Fall League. Who are they and what do they have? Read on, read on.

Kyle Lewis (of course): Returning from his blown knee, Lewis had what must be called a so-so return. Playing in 49 games overall, 11 in the Arizona Rookie League and 38 in Modesto at A+, Lewis didn't show the booming bat that he had during his rookie campaign, prior to the knee exploding. In A+, he was .257-.329-.412. Despite the knee injury, a .155 ISO in the Cali League isn't much to laud. He K'ed at a 24% rate, not bad, but only hit 10 XB's in 38 A+ games, bad. Let's chalk up this season to injury recovery and look forward to a big bounce in AA next season. Would be great to catch a whiff of that in the AFL. Remember, Lewis is commonly rated as our #1 Prospect. Let's see it.

Braden Bishop: Great CF glove, great wheels....and now a pretty interesting bat, after a swing change. In Modesto, he was .296-.385.-400 last season, before his bump to Arkansas. There he whacked at a .336-.417-.448 pace, All the while he flashes CF leather. Bishop may start the year in Arkansas, but could ST himself into the regular Tacoma CF gig. I would bet dollars to donuts that he gets some Safeco action next season (assuming a MLB injury bug). This guy is right up Dipoto Alley. Great contact (K'ed in just 10% of 145 AA PA's), decent eye (10% BB), can run and can pick it. If his bat doesn't fall backwards, he's a 4th OF, anyway. And he could be a + type guy to have in CF.

Eric Filia: Filia just sort of went nuts last season, getting 105 Modesto starts in RF and a dozen at 1B. Looks like he will get regular 1B time in Peoria. After a rookie season (Everett) of .362-450-.496 (with 39 BB's vs. 19 K's), he hurt Cali League pitching to the tune of .326-.407-.434. OK, that is in the desert, and he only hit 5 HR's, but he had 28 2B's and 65 BB's vs. 45 K's. In 861 professional PA's, he's only K'ed 64 times. And we're talking 2017, not 1917. Guys tend to K now, if you haven't been paying attention. I'm sure that Matt's concern is that MLB flamethrowers will just bust the bat out of his hands, and that's worth being worried about. But I am really eager to see Filia against better pitchers. If the M's are looking to give him more 1B time, then they must think he can carry a 1B bat. Will be watching this kid eagerly. He was a 20th Round pick and could be a huge surprise.

Joe DeCarlo: DeCarlo made the transistion to catcher last season, moving over from 3B. He repeated the Cali League, OPS'ing .762 (down from .833 the year prior). He had never played C in the pros, yet still threw out 25% of baserunners. He's going to get the bump to Arkansas, certainly. I hope he continues to get some 3B/1B time, as I really like the idea of a BU catcher who is flexible enough to help you in the field. Chris Gimenez does that and he's hung around the bigs for 9 seasons. DeCarlo has some pop, he's hit 10, 14 and 13 HR's over the last three seasons. he would be a great story were he to make it to Seattle in a couple of seasons. Have no clue about his pitch framing, but clearly the M's think he has some backstop chops.

Art Warren: Warren was one of the guys we moved from a '16 MiLB starter to reliever, which is where he was in Everett during his '15 rookie season. As a bullpen guy he K'ed 12.9/9 in '15 and 9.3/9 last season. Eveidently he can bring it, especially in shorter stints. He walks guys, 3.7 per, over his professioanal career, but he doesn't let guys go yard on him. He's given up only 7 HR's in 180+ pro innings. 5 of those HR's came in desert launching pads. Will be fun to watch his K rate and HR rate in Arkansas next season. Not a best bet, but sort of interesting.

Max Povse: Povse will certainly be in the mix to be MLB bullpen spaghetti next season. He struggled in brief appearances in Seattle last season, giving up 9 hits in 3.2 innings. In fact, he struggled to some degree in AA and AAA, with a combined 1.43 WHIP. That was a downer after 1.0 AA WHIP in AA the year prior. I thought Povse was sort of a best bet going into '17, but he needs to reestablish himself a bit. Let's see hiim get started in Arizona.

Darin Gillies: Gillies has a decent AA bullpen season, but he didn't match his '16 WHIP of 0.93. He was at 1.29 for Arkansas last season, with 7 K's/9 and nearly 4 BB's. Will bet he starts the seson in Arkansas again. The M's must like him, as he's sort of not one of our great prospects. Not much more to say than that.

Matt Festa: Festa was a 7th round pick in '16 and has had two pretty interesting pro seasons. He has a 1.23 WHIP as a 23-year old in Everett in '16, with 8 K's and 2 BB's per 9. Then last seasons he sort of smoked 'em. He went to the Cali League and had a 1.15 WHIP in 69.2 innings, with 2.5 BB's and 12.8 K's per 9! 12.8, and not in Rookie League. Really! Not kidding.! Festa is the AFL pitcher I am most interested in seeing. Was his '17 a fluke or did he find a wipe-out pitch? Would have to bet that he's in Arkansas with a bullet to Tacoma and points beyond if the wipe-out pitch theory is true.

OK, I know that some of you guys have much clearer views of these guys that I, but I thought a AFL Roster rundown, and some autumnal hope, would be called for right now, as October turns rainy and we once again lick our big league wounds.

I am most interested in watching Filia, Bishop and Festa, in that order. You guys?

Comments

Update

Bishop was the only M to play in yesterday's game, going 0-3 playing LF.

BTW, Alex Jackson was at catcher for the Javalinas yesterday. He hit 19 HR's between A+ and AA this past season, He caught in 56 games and DH'ed in 39. Not one appearance in the OF.

Today, Filia got the start in RF, not at 1B. 2-4, with a 2B and 3B. I like that kid more and more all the time.

Povse got the start and threw 3 innings, with 4 K's, 3 hits, 1 BB and 2 ER's.

Gillies was 1 inning, 2 hits, 1 ER.

Festa was 2 innings, 2 hits, 1 BB, 2 K's and 2 ER's.

Warren had 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 BB and 0 runs.

Filia does not carry a first base bat

Filia would be an outstanding CF bat, but he can't play it defensively. He's a corner OFer which is why they're also working him in at 1B. If everything worked out he could be Scott Hatteberg at 1st with better defense (so Erstad I guess) and there's some value in that. His swing is definitely not designed for power AT ALL, but his eye and plate coverage are outstanding. He just hits, man, but he's older (thanks to some injuries and a suspension from college for cheating). I love that the Mariners are trying to find ways to play him as a utility guy at non-glove positions. Somebody's gotta figure out how to get him on the field and see if his insane batting eye - which has always been like that - can produce legit results and keep him getting at-bats. I have a lot of hope for him, but it'll have to be the right situation.

Also, Kyle Lewis hit fine when they let him play the field. His hitting problems came up when they made him DH for most of a month due to continuing concerns about his healing knee. He is not cut out to be a DH. Some guys just need to play the field, and Lewis seems to be one of them. Getting him into the AZL was to let him continue to work off the rust and get back into the field, so hopefully that happens. He's still our best hitter, IMO.

Otherwise I basically agree with you, moe - it's an interesting collection of talent in a system that doesn't have a ton of that. Most of the players have very SPECIFIC applications though (certain bullpen roles, utility roles, platoon roles). Lewis is the one that needs to blossom into a star, but getting one of the lesser lights to shine brightly would be so helpful going forward.

Appreciated G

I figured you would chime in with the real inside skinny. Mid game today, Filia is 2-2 with a pair of RBI.

Hatteberg is interesting as a comp. Had a MiLB eye that generally aproached 1. Only 2 taters in his first two farm seasons. Developed some pop after that. Was never a .400 OBP guy in the minors. So Filia may have an advantage on him there, but may give up some in the pop territory.

Where are you on Bishop and DeCarlo?

DeCarlo's tough, Bishop's improving

I've been a fan of his since we drafted him but his ability to just get hits is limited. He walks enough, and gets hit by a ton of pitches, so his OBP is good, but in the minors I'd like to see him hit for more than .240 in hitter-friendly leagues. If he succeeds he's Greg Zaun with Iannetta's hitting profile. He's still 2-3 years away though as he works on this catching conversion, and I hope somebody can teach him to get this miracle called a single before he faces targeted pitching.

Braden Bishop I was down on, even openly derisive of on draft day, because I saw a bunch of him in college and the guy's swing was never gonna be ANYTHING. He was Charles Gipson or Oz Navarro, and I don't care how fast those guys are or how great they glove it, the chances of even becoming Peter Bourjos is a stretch.

So naturally Bishop changed his swing in one offseason to something I like more, and now he's hitting well and looking like a legit option as a glove CF who can be a threat on the bases and runs down everything in the OF. He's never gonna have a HR swing but now it's not just a nothing-but-singles prayer hack. The doubles power looks real to me, and that's all he needs with a glove like he has. Might be some Bourjos in him yet (or if you prefer, some righty-Dyson) and that's a good thing.

Double post

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Eric Filia

We live in Oakland now, and so went to see the Modesto Nuts play this summer as it's only a 90 minute drive or so. I had remembered seeing Filia play in ST this year, and so his name stuck out in the lineup. Every time he came up to the plate, he had a little routine before taking his first cuts. He had walk up music, and as he got into the box, he would hold his bat at both ends and do the same little shimmy-dance every time. The local crowd loved it and he'd obviously been doing it all season. He did it every at bat. He had kind of a grin on his face. My takeaway: the kid plays super loose.