M’s Announce AFL rosters
The Mariners selections for the Arizona Fall League were announced today, and the M’s have loaded up the Peoria roster with some serious talent. Representing the M’s:
SS Carlos Triunfel
OF Dustin Ackley
1B/OF Joe Dunigan
RHP Phillippe Aumont
RHP Josh Fields
RHP Anthony Varvaro
LHP Nick Hill
Usually, a team will send one or two mid-level prospects and a bunch of fillers. The arms, especially, are usually not very interesting, as teams don’t want to tax their prospects after a full minor league season. But since the M’s have a bunch of guys who have missed time this year for various reasons, the AFL is a nice landing spot for them to get some extra work in before the winter hits.
It will certainly be interesting to see follow – for an M’s fan, you can’t ask for a better group of prospects to check in on down in the AFL.
Dave threw this one up before I got a chance, so here’s what I had typed up:
The decision [to send Ackley] isn’t really all that surprising, as the major league deal for Ackley puts a bit of a rush job on his development. The curious thing is that he’s still being listed as a first baseman, which would get his bat in the lineup certainly as he only would be competing with Russell Mitchell and Dayan Viciedo for the spot, whereas in the outfield he’d be competing with Jordan Danks, Lorenzo Cain, and Ryan Strieby. It’s probably nothing more than a paper move, so expect him in center with some regularity.
The other big deal will be the return of Triunfel, who hit .298/.339/.394 in 104 at-bats last year in the league. Finding a spot for him on the infield shouldn’t be too difficult for the Javelinas, though Dunigan in the outfield is going to be some work.
The pitching staff will probably go with Hill in the rotation as there aren’t a whole lot of big names being sent to Peoria, save Mark Rogers, whom Zduriencik is already familiar with. The other pitchers will be in a bullpen capacity, with Fields and Aumont making up for time lost earlier in the year.
Summary: Good group. Really good group.
I think Dunigan is going to play first for Peoria.
When I look at that list the future looks very promising.
I’m not familiar with the Arizona Fall League. If there is an excess of players at a particular position, do they simply rotate playing time equally, play out of position or ride the bench?
Sorry for the dumb question, but does going to the AFL essentially eliminate a player for a September call-up?
Not specifically interested in these guys, but more a general question…
Nope. The League doesn’t start until October 13th.
Sometimes they play off position, sometimes they start when they reliever normally or vice versa, sometimes they work on things they wouldn’t during the regular season. It’s extra time they’re getting in usually for experimentation or because they were otherwise unable to play much over the course of the season. It’s not extraordinarily talented a lot of the time because teams generally don’t like to send top pitchers down there because it’s an extreme hitter’s league, but the rules state that a team can only send one player in advanced-A or below, so the talent level is usually close to MLB ready, or quad-A in some cases.
With all these AA guys going, are they making a statement about some of the “AAAA” guys in Tacoma?
Any word on the guys going to Venezuela?
So, given the lower level of talent that other teams usually send to the AFL, then we should expect the M’s prospects to dominate, yes?
Wow, I relocate to AZ about then. This’ll be great. I’ll let you know if I see anything interesting.
Stone reports that Strasburg will be pitching for the Phoenix team.
Hawaii is probably next up, as they start at the end of September. The M’s will probably send a few third-tier guys there. Venezuela starts the day after the AFL does, but it usually takes a little time to get sorted out who will be playing and when.
And yes, Strasburg, AFL.
Maybe, maybe not. Carp, Moore, and Tui are the only interesting position players, and Carp has already toured Venezuela once and could likely do it again. Plus, if there are any pitchers on staff, it’s easier to find spots starting in Venezuela for them than it is in Arizona.
In the context of M’s minor-leaguers, that’s an all-star team….
Jay, I thought the Hawaii fall league was disbanded due to budget issues.
Should be an exciting year for fall baseball down here in Arizona! I’ll send updates as they pertain to posts from what I see in person.
Hmm, Southwest sells $84 one-way tickets from Virginia to Phoenix, so I will indeed make another trip this year to the Peoria Sports Complex..I had been on the fence about going to some AFL games but the roster has changed my mind.
On further review, it looks like the contract was never renewed. The budget didn’t kill it this time though, that was 1997. I swear I just saw BA or someone make reference to it.
I hope Hill does indeed start — I look forward to seeing how that works out. Dunigan over Liddi because he’s older?
Dunigan over Liddi because the White Sox are sending Dayan Viciedo. Dunigan needs more work anyway. Liddi could turn up elsewhere I guess, but I’d put better odds on Tui going to Venezuela.
Jay, I do not know if you can answer this but who do you think has more upside Hill or Robles.
Robles has touched the mid-90s, usually sits in the low-90s, is just twenty-years-old, and has an average change-up already.
Hill, by comparison, is four years older, throws in the high-80s, touches 91 rarely, gets by on good sink, great mentality, and has an assortment of pitches that he gets by on that should keep him starting.
Hill is much more likely to achieve his potential as a #3/4 starter than Robles is to start commanding his pitches better, fix his breaking ball, and stay in the rotation. Hill is a pretty low risk right now with a medium to good reward. Robles has a better overall reward, but a fairly high probability that he never gets to that point.
Thanks for the info Jay. It is exciting to speculate on what Robles could be if he puts it all together.