2019 Arizona Fall League Thread

[Luke-OH]

54 minutes ago, Spl51 said:

I was really hoping Kremer's fastball would be ticking up by now. Maybe he's just at the end of a long season. I just hope next year he takes a step forward.

Same, especially in shorter outings. He had a couple of starts late in the season where the velocity was good but it was down most of the season.

[AZRon]

https://www.mlb.com/news/major-league-baseball-tests-robot-umpires-arizona-fall-league

Yesterday, I was at the game played at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Here's what I noticed:
Slight delay by home plate umpire calling balls and strikes
Seemed that more strikes than usual were called on the following pitches:
  inside fastballs and breaking  balls; high fastballs; low breaking balls
The home plate umpire wore a device belted over his left rear hip, in a custom protective pouch (somewhere around the size of large cellphone or very small tablet)
A "civilian" attended the umpire between 1/2 innings (6th or 7th) to make an equipment change -- perhaps, a battery replacement
I was unable to spot any wires or an earpiece
There were no obvious batter/pitcher objections to any of the strike/ball calls

I do not know whether or not this is the same system that was tested this year in the Atlantic League.

I am strongly in favor of the MLB adopting this type of technology ASAP (as soon as practical/possible).
 

[AZRon]

I have been attending a few AFL games each season for several years now. Here's some of the changes that I've noticed:

A couple of pitchers from each team used to sit in the stands behind home plate and chart pitches -- no longer true

The number of scouts attending has gradually diminished

The age of those scouts has trended sharply younger

Fewer of those scouts are former professional players

Fewer of the scouts manifest speed guns and more tote other forms of technology

Speaking of the latter, yesterday, I had a brief conversation with a Giants scout as he was setting up his Edgertronic camera equipment and connecting the USB cord to his laptop. He stated that his system is capable of recording at 750 to 1000 frames per second. I'm aware that Edgertronic produces cameras with the capability of over 2000 frames per second.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/high-speed-cameras-spread-quickly-around-baseball/

 

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, AZRon said:

https://www.mlb.com/news/major-league-baseball-tests-robot-umpires-arizona-fall-league

Yesterday, I was at the game played at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Here's what I noticed:
Slight delay by home plate umpire calling balls and strikes
Seemed that more strikes than usual were called on the following pitches:
  inside fastballs and breaking  balls; high fastballs; low breaking balls
The home plate umpire wore a device belted over his left rear hip, in a custom protective pouch (somewhere around the size of large cellphone or very small tablet)
A "civilian" attended the umpire between 1/2 innings (6th or 7th) to make an equipment change -- perhaps, a battery replacement
I was unable to spot any wires or an earpiece
There no obvious batter/pitcher objections to any of the strike/ball calls

I do not know whether or not this is the same system that was tested this year in the Atlantic League.

I am strongly in favor of the MLB adopting this type of technology ASAP (as soon as practical/possible).
 

It just occurred to me that one reason the AFL has been so pitcher-friendly this year is that the electronic eye is calling more strikes than real umps do.  

[MurphDogg]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

It just occurred to me that one reason the AFL has been so pitcher-friendly this year is that the electronic eye is calling more strikes than real umps do.  

I don't think that is a big factor, the electronic eye is only in that one stadium.

[AZRon]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

It just occurred to me that one reason the AFL has been so pitcher-friendly this year is that the electronic eye is calling more strikes than real umps do.  

 

3 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

I don't think that is a big factor, the electronic eye is only in that one stadium.

Other than better pitching (or weaker batters), the most likely explanation is that many more games are being played at night.

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, MurphDogg said:

I don't think that is a big factor, the electronic eye is only in that one stadium.

Thanks, I’d forgotten that.    I note that 2 of the 6 teams play their home games in that stadium. Scottsdale has the best pitching in the league (2.95 ERA) and the second-worst offense (3.95 R/G), while Salt River has slightly below average pitching (3.96 ERA) and the best offense in the league (5.47 R/G).    I don’t have home/away splits, and 19 games isn’t enough to draw any conclusions anyway, so I can’t say that there’s evidence of the robo-ump being a factor.    

[bobmc]

18 hours ago, AZRon said:

I have been attending a few AFL games each season for several years now. Here's some of the changes that I've noticed:

A couple of pitchers from each team used to sit in the stands behind home plate and chart pitches -- no longer true

The number of scouts attending has gradually diminished

The age of those scouts has trended sharply younger

Fewer of those scouts are former professional players

Fewer of the scouts manifest speed guns and more tote other forms of technology

Speaking of the latter, yesterday, I had a brief conversation with a Giants scout as he was setting up his Edgertronic camera equipment and connecting the USB cord to his laptop. He stated that his system is capable of recording at 750 to 1000 frames per second. I'm aware that Edgertronic produces cameras with the capability of over 2000 frames per second.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/high-speed-cameras-spread-quickly-around-baseball/

 

@AZRon FTW!  Thanks for all of the details and observations - intriguing!  I await your analyses like I do perhaps @DrungoHazewood, @Frobby, @Can_of_corn, @Luke-OH and of course @Tony-OH.  A diverse melting pot of stats, history, futuristic punditry, opinions and "good old baseball intellect" awaits each of our hot stove dreams!  ⚾

[Chito]

From Keith Law's AFL scouting piece (he didn't mention any O's players):

Victor Victor Mesa signed with the Marlins last October for $5.25 million, and right now that appears to be money down the tubes, as he hit just .235/.274/.263 this year. He looks atrocious at the plate, and shows no above-average tools other than his arm. I saw him do nothing but strike out or ground out, and he doesn't even pretend to run out ground balls. Reports I had on him from his workout last fall appear to have been wildly optimistic -- if he's a plus runner, he left it at home before heading to Arizona -- and I had him way too high on my Marlins list at No. 2.

 

[scarey1999]

14 hours ago, Chito said:

From Keith Law's AFL scouting piece (he didn't mention any O's players):

Victor Victor Mesa signed with the Marlins last October for $5.25 million, and right now that appears to be money down the tubes, as he hit just .235/.274/.263 this year. He looks atrocious at the plate, and shows no above-average tools other than his arm. I saw him do nothing but strike out or ground out, and he doesn't even pretend to run out ground balls. Reports I had on him from his workout last fall appear to have been wildly optimistic -- if he's a plus runner, he left it at home before heading to Arizona -- and I had him way too high on my Marlins list at No. 2.

 

And interestingly enough, his younger brother who just turned 18 a couple of weeks ago, had a very nice little season in the GCL.  Very good numbers across the board for someone who was supposed to be the much lesser part of the Mesa bros package deal. 

[Frobby]

Dean Kremer pitched four scoreless innings yesterday, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out five.    He’s pitched to a 1.29 ERA and 0.71 WHIP in 14 IP in the AFL so far.    He might only have one more outing before the AFL regular season ends next Friday.
 

Alex Wells threw a clean inning in relief.    He has an 0.77 ERA and 1.20 WHIP to date in 11.2 innings.

[NCRaven]

Have to be pleased by the performances of McCoy, Wells, Kremer and Lebron.  Tempered by the small sample size for any AFL player.

[Balt-transplant]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

Dean Kremer pitched four scoreless innings yesterday, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out five.    He’s pitched to a 1.29 ERA and 0.71 WHIP in 14 IP in the AFL so far.    He might only have one more outing before the AFL regular season ends next Friday.
 

Alex Wells threw a clean inning in relief.    He has an 0.77 ERA and 1.20 WHIP to date in 11.2 innings.

All four of the Orioles prospects pitching in the AFL have done about what I think the Orioles expected when they were sent there.  What I wonder is whether the coaching on Sunrise Saguaros is doing something special as the team's pitchers are pitching well as a group. Worth noting that the Saguaros pitching coach is currently listed as a scout in the Texas Rangers Organization but my hunch is he may be taking on a different role for the Rangers given the experience he is getting in the AFL

[Frobby]

With 7 regular season games remaining, the Surprise Saguaros at 15-7 lead the AFL West Division by 4 games and their magic number is 4.     They have the best record in the AFL.   If they make the AFL Championship Game next Saturday, it will be interesting to see if Kremer and Wells get any action.     In Kremer’s case, it probably depends on when his next start occurs.   If it’s on Sunday or Monday, he’d be available to start the Championship Game.    If it’s later, then he wouldn’t be available to start, but might still be available for relief.    The Saguaros have four starters who have been very effective, so there’s no telling who might get the nod at this point.   

[Frobby]

Nice article on Kremer’s performance in the AFL here:  https://www.mlb.com/orioles/news/dean-kremer-impressing-in-arizona-fall-league?t=arizona-fall-league-coverage