Arizona Fall League Watch

[RockSports17]

Well, I'll update things periodically on how our Tiger players are doing. Here's who is heading there so far:

Tigers | Sanchez to AFL
Fri, 7 Oct 2005 21:21:15 -0700

Detroit Tigers P Humberto Sanchez will play for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, according to Ben Hill, for Tigers.MLB.com.

Tigers | Woodyard to AFL
Fri, 7 Oct 2005 21:21:11 -0700

Detroit Tigers P Mark Woodyard will play for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, according to Ben Hill, for Tigers.MLB.com.

Tigers | Peterson to AFL
Fri, 7 Oct 2005 21:18:26 -0700

Detroit Tigers P Adam Peterson will play for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, according to Ben Hill, for Tigers.MLB.com.

Tigers | Kirkland to AFL
Fri, 7 Oct 2005 21:18:21 -0700

Detroit Tigers 3B Kody Kirkland will play for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, according to Ben Hill, for Tigers.MLB.com.

Big one for me is Kirkland. Going to be interesting to see how he does.

[RockSports17]

Two more people I found going to AFL.

Tigers | Kelly to AFL
Fri, 7 Oct 2005 21:13:24 -0700

Detroit Tigers IF Don Kelly will play for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, according to Ben Hill, for Tigers.MLB.com.

Tigers | Espinosa to AFL
Fri, 7 Oct 2005 21:08:11 -0700

Detroit Tigers OF David Espinosa will play for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, according to Ben Hill, for Tigers.MLB.com.

Kelly will be interesting to see.

[RockSports17]

Update:

Well so far this season the Mesa Solar team is off to a 1-4 start.

Some decent stats from Humberto Sanchez in his only start so far he pitched for 4.0 innings giving up 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, and struck out 7. Very impressive.

Peterson not doing that great. He already has 1 loss and a 5.40 ERA so far. In 3.1 innings he has given up 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 HRs, and struck out 4. A silver lining is that he hasn't walked anyone, and hopefully he picks things up.

Woodyard has yet to pitch.

Kelly in just 4 games has gone 4 for 15, with just 3 RBIs. Quite a poor performance so far.

Kirkland has only played 1 game so far going 1 for 3 getting a SB and a Run.

Espinosa in 3 games so far has hit 5 for 13 with a good .389 batting average. Also has 3 RBIs, 2 Runs, 1 SB, and has a .385 OBP.

Next game has already started: Oct. 11 @ Peo Javelinas 1:05 PM

Update to come soon on how the Tiger players did.

[RockSports17]

Update:

Mesa beat Peo Javelinas on Oct. 11th by a score of 9 to 3.

Espinosa played DH and hit 2 for 4 getting 1 R, 1 RBI.

Kelly played SS and hit 2 for 5 with 1 R.

Kirkland played 3B and hit 2 for 4 with 1 R and 1 RBI and struck out twice.

Peterson pitched in relief and had one strikeout, one walk, and giving up one hit.

Thoughts: I was most impressed with Espinosa. Like to see him keep it up.

Next game is Oct. 12th @ Surprise @W 1:05 PM. Update to come tommorow.

[RockSports17]

Update:

Mesa lost to Surprise on Oct. 12th by a score of 10 to 1.

No Tiger players played.

Next game is Oct. 13th vs. Surprise @ 1:05 PM. Update to come tommorow.

[RockSports17]

I'll be updating the stats every week now.

[RockSports17]

Updating, some players are realy playing well in the AFL.

Link

DETROIT -- Kody Kirkland continues to make the most of his limited playing time with the Mesa Solar Sox. The third baseman has hit safely in every game in which he has received an at-bat, picking up his first homer of the season on Saturday against Phoenix.

Kirkland and five other Detroit prospects are continuing their 2005 campaigns with the Solar Sox. Here's how they fared during the week ending Oct. 27:

OF David Espinosa -- The former first-round draft pick is in the throes of a slump, with hits in just two of his last 19 at-bats. His average has fallen more than 100 points and now stands at .261.

SS Don Kelly -- Kelly collected four hits in 20 at-bats during the week, with the highlight being a two-run double on Tuesday that propelled the Solar Sox to a 7-5 victory over the Peoria Saguaros.

3B Kody Kirkland -- Kirkland picked up three hits in six at-bats this past week to raise his average to .389 over 18 at-bats.

RHP Adam Peterson -- The 26-year-old right-hander pitched the ninth inning in a pair of Mesa losses, shutting down Phoenix on Saturday before allowing two runs -- one earned -- on a hit and two walks on Tuesday.

RHP Humberto Sanchez -- The Bronx-born right-hander turned in a mediocre start on Wednesday, allowing three runs on three hits and four walks while striking out five in 4 1/3 innings. Sanchez's 20 strikeouts lead the team.

RHP Mark Woodyard -- Woodyard has yet to find his footing in the AFL as the 26-year-old has allowed at least one run in all four of his appearances. On Tuesday, he allowed three runs in one inning. Two days later, the right-hander yielded another run in 1 1/3 frames.

Kirland, Peterson, and Sanchez are pretty impressive. Thought Espinosa would be doing better, but pretty satisfied with the other players.

[RockSports17]

The Mesa Solar Sox remain just a couple games out of first place in the American division, but that's not what concerns the Tigers. What is of concern of course is how the half dozen Tigers on the team are progressing through five weeks in Arizona.

Humberto Sanchez has remained the most pleasant surprise of anyone the Tigers sent to the team. Sanchez had one start the past week, pitching five shutout innings for Mesa, though he still didn't get a victory. Sanchez now has the best ERA of any of the starters on the team (2.82), and also leads the club in strikeouts with 25. His control and stamina have still been slight concerns - he's never pitched more than five innings, and he leads the team with 12 walks - but the Tigers are much more likely to focus on the good that has come, namely his ability to consistently retire some of the best hitters in all of minor league baseball.

Mark Woodyard's troubles in the AFL have been detailed, and he never even got the opportunity to make amends in week five, as he never made an appearance over the course of the week.


The news was better when it comes to Adam Peterson, who made a pair of appearances, shutting out the opposition in both. All told, in three innings, Peterson gave up two hits and two walks while striking out four. Those stats bring his season ERA down to 5.11, and he'll look to improve on that in his final week, as with four games remaining he still has a chance of making one more appearance for the Solar Sox.

Moving to the position players, things have been moving along at about the same pace. David Espinosa has continued his second half downswing, as his splits have now fallen to .250/.319/.328. That leaves him with an OPS of just .647, which is down from .862 at the half way point. Needless to say, Espinosa isn't winning over many with his production.

Don Kelly saw his offensive numbers pick up a bit, bringing his average up to .264. But that came with no extra base hits once again (he has just two doubles while playing every day for Mesa), and committed yet another error, his fifth. He still leads the team.

Finally, Kody Kirkland got a chance to get a few more at bats, but didn't quite take advantage of them. Kirkland kept his average (.323) and on base percentage up (.400), but his power numbers fell off, as his slugging percentage took a huge dip. Kirkland has a double, a triple and a home run on the year, and while his rate slugging fell to .516 from .700, it's still a respectable production level for Kirkland.

The Tigers will hope to post a good final week to pull up the group as a whole and close the season out on a high note.

Link

Espinosa is a shame. Kirkland is same ole Kirkland. Sanchez seems to be one to watch. (Even though I'm not huge on minor league players until they get some playing time in the majors and I can see how they do there.)