Arizona Fall League + Winter League Thread

50PoundHead

50PoundHead

Hessmania Forever
Three Braves' prospects played as part of the Scottsdale Scorpions team that beat the Mesa Solar Sox 7-4 on opening day of the Arizona Falls League.

Justyn-Henry Malloy in LF went 0-2 with three BBs.
Cal Conley at SS went 1-4 with a 2B/SB/and throwing error.
LHP Alex Segal went one clean scoreless inning with a K.

Here's the rest of the Scottsdale roster: https://www.mlb.com/arizona-fall-league/roster/scottsdale-scorpions

RHP William Woods who had two appearances with the big league Braves this past season was added to the Scorpions' roster last week. He was not in the initial five-man group the Braves designated earlier in September. He was a bit of surprise addition to the Braves' 40-man roster after the 2021 season and missed parts of the 2022 season due to an ankle injury.
 
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Scorpions win 12-5 on Tuesday.

Only Brave to see action was SS Cal Conley. 1/5, 1 2B, 2 K, 6 LOB. He now owns Satan's OPS at .666.

Hey mods, how do I change the title on this so it's an on-going Arizona Fall League and Winter League News and Updates page?
 
CJ9 said:
Austin Smith actually threw a scoreless inning yesterday and struck out two. He had a solid season in Rome - probably not a big time prospect but could be a bullpen guy to watch in a year or two.
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Missed him. Thanks for catching it. Smith supposedly has a big fastball, but I don't know much about him.

Not much to report on Wednesday's game. Malloy only Brave playing. 2/4, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K while playing LF. Scorpions lose their first game of the year to the dreaded Peoria Javelinas.
 
Braves all over the diamond in the Scorpions 5-2 win over the Mesa Solar Sox last night. The guy I've wondered about--Alan Winans--pitched 5 1-hit innings allowing an unearned run. Doing the research on Winans, he was the Mets' 17th-round pick (#500 overall) in 2018 after his senior year at Campbell (NC) University. Prior to Campbell, he had pitched two seasons at Bakersfield (CA) CC. Was used exclusively as a reliever by the Mets after being a starter for the most part during his two college stops. He put up pretty good numbers during his climb in the Mets' system, but the Gwinnett Braves claimed him off waivers from the Mets' AA Binghamton Ponies. He pitched in 14 games for the Braves at three stops (FCL, Mississippi, and Gwinnett) during the 2022 season mostly as a starter. Finished the year in Mississippi where he had his best statistical performance.

Only scouting report I can find on him is from a Mets-related site: https://www.amazinavenue.com/2018/6/7/17438214/2018-mets-draft-profile-rhp-allan-winans . Here's another synopsis from a Mets-centric site: https://metsminors.net/allan-winans-potential-minor-league-rule-5-target/ Doesn't appear to throw extremely hard, but his control numbers are very good. At age 27, it's a bit of a surprise that he's in the Arizona Fall League, but he's picking up innings and he may be auditioning for a spot on the 40-man. Braves often go counter to previous use patterns with guys and moving Winans back from the bullpen to the rotation may be another example of that.

Anyway, here's the wrap-up.

The aforementioned Winans: 5 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 Fielding Error.
Woods, 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Malloy 0/2, 2 BB
Conley 1/4, 1 2B, 2 K, 1 E
 
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Missed a day. Here are the Braves' performances from Friday in the Scorpions' 10-6 loss.

Conley: 2/5, 1 2B, 1 K
Malloy: 2/3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB

Saturday's 13-11 loss (Braves all over the place again)

Malloy: 2/4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K. Now hitting .400 with 1.142 OPS

Pitching (outside of Smith) was an ouch for the most part.

Segal: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K. Going back to his college and early pro days, control has been his #1 issue.
Smith: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Woods: 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
 
Malloy putting himself in position to be our top prospect. Would be great to have a guy who can play multiple positions and be an above average bat.
 
Hudson2 said:
Malloy could be a big help next year. He hits for power and can play OF, 3b, and 1b.
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Not for sure of course, but he looks to be exclusively an OF right now. Didn't play anywhere except LF after his promotion to Mississippi and has played there exclusively in Arizona. Minor league fielding percentages can be misleading, but he was sub-.900 at 3B last year in Augusta and this year in Rome. Appears the guy can rake though. I wouldn't be surprised if he's an NRI next spring training.
 
50PoundHead said:
Not for sure of course, but he looks to be exclusively an OF right now. Didn't play anywhere except LF after his promotion to Mississippi and has played there exclusively in Arizona. Minor league fielding percentages can be misleading, but he was sub-.900 at 3B last year in Augusta and this year in Rome. Appears the guy can rake though. I wouldn't be surprised if he's an NRI next spring training.
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Yeah OF is where he’s been mostly and that’s good for us bc we need a LF. Dude can hit for sure so it’s exciting to have our best prospect play a position of need. I think he’ll be invited to ST for sure.
 
Hudson2 said:
Yeah OF is where he’s been mostly and that’s good for us bc we need a LF. Dude can hit for sure so it’s exciting to have our best prospect play a position of need. I think he’ll be invited to ST for sure.
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Gwinnett's manager for the 2022 season--Matt Tuiasosopo is the Scorpians' manager, so he's probably getting a good assessment on Malloy and how he fits in the big league team's plans. It may be a good idea to give Malloy some time at 1B given the Braves really don't have a decent 1B prospect in the system right now and a little versatility would both help Malloy and provide a reasonable back-up for Olson and give him a breather against some LHPs. I don't go overboard on minor league fielding percentages because the fields and lighting aren't the best. Riley didn't become a consistent > .900 fielding percentage guy until he hit AAA. And I fully realize that fielding percentage provides a very incomplete picture of a guy's capabilities. But if Malloy's development with the bat continue, he'll likely find his way to the major leagues.

In another note, I see Braves' classic minor league three-outcome guy Cade Bunnell has joined the Scottsdale roster.
 
Garmel said:
Malloy has cut the strikeout rate as of late. That's been his best development.
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That's a big plus. Small sample size in Arizona and it's characteristically been a hitters' league, but I'm curious to see if this continues. I frankly don't know if anything Malloy does in Arizona affects what the Braves go north with next spring, but a good showing out there will certainly put him on the map.
 
It would be pretty hilarious if our depleted farm system managed to churn out another positive contributor position player for the big league team next year.
 
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