New Fall Thread: Ackley OBP .563
After an amazing 5-walks-against-5-different-pitchers game the other day (http://www.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l119&t=g_log&gid=2010_10_25_...), The Talented Mr. Ackley follows up with 2 more walks the next day, giving him 9 walks in his last 3 games (vs. 2 K in the same stretch). For the fall season, 11 BB vs. 6 K, on base 18 times in 7 games (32 PA). He has 7 H, 3 of which are XBH (2 dbl, 1 HR).
Leads the league in OBP and 3rd in OPS: .333/.563/.571/1.134 . At the plate, he's almost just toying with the minor leaguer pitchers at this point.
He has 1 error in the field and seems to be making all the plays.
Where do folks put the odds on Ackley at 2b on Opening Day 2011?
Meanwhile . . .
A semi-encouraging outing for Maikel Cleto, who has struggled. Cleto went 3.0 IP with 0 R, 1 H and 4 K. But 4 BB. No radar gun data from this outing, but in his first outing his FB was consistently 96+, peaking at 99, and curveball 81. So there's a lot of potential there if they can figure out what to do with it. The AFL is his first shot above A-ball, where he struggled at High Desert, so this is all work-in-progress stuff.
Josh Fields may be finally finding some consistency as a pro after his holdout and then a forearm injury set him back. In the AFL his line is:
4 G, 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Recall that Z could have tossed Fields back and gotten a compensatory draft pick, but he decided to sign him. So, he's effectively a Z-crew first-round pick as well as a Bavasi pick.
Another pitching story is scrap-heap pickup Jarrett Grube, who washed out of the Rockies system, ended up in an indy league, and was signed by the Ms in June. It's safe to assume that Grube is nothing special (as a 28-yr-old in AA, he was solid, but why wouldn't he be?). Anyway, in Venezuela, he's Cy Young, with 18.1 IP in 3 starts, a 0.98 ERA, 14 K and 0 walks. I don't expect anything to come of it, but you never know.
Back on the hitting side, perhaps a mild surprise is Nate Tenbrink, the former Kansas State Wildcat who played mostly 3b on his way up the ladder, but now seems to be viewed as a OF (as opposed to Alex Liddi, who is playing 3b every day in Venezuela). Tenbrink has a .308/.341/.462 line with 2 BB and 3 K in 10 G. His eye at his two regular-season stops: 22 BB:33 K in High Desert and 38 BB:54 K in West Tenn.
Tenbrink is actually the same age as Michael Saunders, and also LH, for whatever that's worth, but obviously a year or more behind him on the development curve. Though Tenbrink strikes out a fair amount less than Saunders, he would not have near the defensive value.