Arizona Fall League (2024)

[Stokes1931]

Just returned from Phoenix. It was 103 degrees on Monday. Today the high was a more tolerable 82 degrees.

Saw three Scottsdale Scorpions games. Some observations.

1) Eldridge is pretty agressive at the plate. Seems like he think he can hit anything. In today's game he was 2-5 with a double (his 2nd) and a two run homer (his 1st). But he had three strikeouts. I am not worried about his hitting, he's only 19 and will improve. I am alarmed by his defense. In Tuesday's game at Mesa, he flat out missed catching several throws to first base. They were not easy throws to catch, but he kind of did the Ole swipe at them. A few weeks with JT Snow may help him. He's young, but he is not a good fielder at first. The second game I saw had him DH, so no more observations there.

2) Szykowny is hitting .333 early in the AFL. He was 2-4 yesterday. He looks comfortable at 3rd and made an outstanding grab and throw to 1st. He looks promising.

3) Lansdale pitched three innings for the save and looked really sharp. Not overpowering, He had 4 K's.

4) Cavanaugh is a catcher, one of three on the Scorpions. They are rotating them each game. Today Cavanaugh 3-5 with two runs scored. He did allow a steal of 2nd and a steal of 3rd (not same player). He's hitting .444 in a SSS.

5) Davidson today was 0-2 with a run scored, an RBI (sac fly) and two walks. He's hitting .250 so far.

6) Johnson, M has a 5.40 ERA, but today pitched a scoreless inning, but it was an adventure. He gave up a walk and a single, but in between struck out 3.

The AFL season is barely a week old, 8 games played. It was good to see the lads in person. Will try and keep track of them for you.

 

[calsnowskier]

From what you saw, did Eldridge look salvageable at 1st, or did he look awkward and lost?

 

[Stokes1931]

From Keith Law at the Athletic this morning.

Giants infielder Bryce Eldridge has struggled both ways as well, and he might be exhausted after a long season that saw him play at four levels and rack up over 500 PA. He looks bad at first base and he’s had trouble with fastballs in the zone, middle and middle-up. He’s 19 and doesn’t need to be here after the season he had, where he had success in High A and Double A and got plenty of reps.

I think exhaustion may be part of it.

 

[Stokes1931]

From what you saw, did Eldridge look salvageable at 1st, or did he look awkward and lost?

Too early to tell. As Law said, he may be tired.

 

[Stokes1931]

Top SF Giants power-hitting prospect shut down for remainder of Arizona Fall League

The 2024 season is officially over for a top SF Giants power-hitting prospect. Bryce Eldridge has been removed from the Scottsdale Scorpions roster according to

aroundthefoghorn.com

Already reported on the Down on the Farm thread.

Charlie Szykowny continues to play well. He went 3-5 on Friday with his 2nd homer of the AFL. He's hitting .370 (10-27) with 5 runs, two homers, 6 RBI, 2 BB and 5 K's. .370/.414/.593/1.007

 

[Stokes1931]

Will do a final update after Saturday's championship game.

1) Scottsdale was awful for the first four weeks of the Fall League, poor pitching and weak hitting. All of a sudden, they have won 6 in a row and are now in 4th place, one game out of 2nd/3rd place. I believe the "playoffs" are 2 vs 3, and then the winner vs 1.

2) The dude to watch has been https://www.mlb.com/player/josue-briceno-800522?stats=career-r-hitting-minors&year=2024. He is hitting .442/.515/.884. 4 doubles, 2 triples 10 homers, 27 RBI, 14 walks. He's a 20 yo catcher for the Tiggers, who has been playing 1b for Scottsdale.

3) Bo Davidson has come around and is hitting .293/.373/.448, He hit a grand slam yesterday and drive in five runs.

4) Cale Lansville has a 2.92 ERA in 12.1 innings, 17 hits, 5 walks, 16 K's, 8 runs but only 4 earned runs. He is starting today's game against the Desert Dogs (Glendale).

 

[Stokes1931]

Well, Scottsdale did it, they made the AFL playoffs by winning their 7th in a row. They will play Salt River at Scottsdale tomorrow, with the winner playing Surprise for the championship on Saturday.

Lansdale started today and gave up 2 runs in 3.1 innings with 6 hits, no walks, and two K's.

Vogel relieved and stranded two runners and got two outs.

Davidson was 0-2 with 2 K's

Szykowny was 2-4 with an RBI and a stolen base (2)

Then there is this, for the Tiggers.

https://www.mlb.com/news/tigers-josue-briceno-wins-arizona-fall-league-triple-crown?t=arizona-fall-league-coverage

 

[tzill]

2024 Giants AFL regular season numbers

Drew Cavanaugh: .200/.294/.267 line, 2 2B, 2 RBI
Bo Davidson: .293/.373/.448 line, 4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 3 S
BBryce Eldridge: .293/.348/.512 line, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI
Charlie Szykowny: .259/.283/.414 line, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBI





https://x.com/BaseballJeff1/status/1857524735590150487/analytics

 

[LHG]

2024 Giants AFL regular season numbers

Drew Cavanaugh: .200/.294/.267 line, 2 2B, 2 RBI
Bo Davidson: .293/.373/.448 line, 4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 3 S
BBryce Eldridge: .293/.348/.512 line, 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI
Charlie Szykowny: .259/.283/.414 line, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBI





x.com

Davidson's line is almost as good as Eldridge's.

 

[tzill]

Write up in the Athletic:​

​

Giants: Bryce Eldridge, 1B​

Eldridge was in Arizona mostly to work on his defense at first base, but he put together a solid showing at the plate, hitting .293/.348/.512 with two homers in 10 games before shutting it down for the winter. Eldridge struck out 16 times but likely was battling fatigue after a long season. He’ll enter next season as the Giants’ top prospect and will likely open the year in Double A.

Other notable performer: Cale Lansville, RHP

Lansville spent most of the regular season in Low A, where he struck out 69 in 74 1/3 innings as a starter for San Jose. This fall, he struck out 18 in 15 2/3 innings while posting a 3.45 ERA, doing a mix of starting and relieving.

 

[LHG]

Write up in the Athletic:​

​

Giants: Bryce Eldridge, 1B​

Eldridge was in Arizona mostly to work on his defense at first base, but he put together a solid showing at the plate, hitting .293/.348/.512 with two homers in 10 games before shutting it down for the winter. Eldridge struck out 16 times but likely was battling fatigue after a long season. He’ll enter next season as the Giants’ top prospect and will likely open the year in Double A.

Other notable performer: Cale Lansville, RHP

Lansville spent most of the regular season in Low A, where he struck out 69 in 74 1/3 innings as a starter for San Jose. This fall, he struck out 18 in 15 2/3 innings while posting a 3.45 ERA, doing a mix of starting and relieving.

Interesting that there was no write up for Davidson.

I do wonder if Eldridge actually starts the year in AAA and gets moved down to AA if he struggles. How often does a top prospect start the year at a lower level than where he ended the previous season? I do understand that he may have been in AAA only to continue to get playing time but it still seems weird to bump a guy down from his last level except in cases where he was playing at the higher level for more than just a few games and struggled badly there.

 

[calsnowskier]

Interesting that there was no write up for Davidson.

I do wonder if Eldridge actually starts the year in AAA and gets moved down to AA if he struggles. How often does a top prospect start the year at a lower level than where he ended the previous season? I do understand that he may have been in AAA only to continue to get playing time but it still seems weird to bump a guy down from his last level except in cases where he was playing at the higher level for more than just a few games and struggled badly there.

AAA is more of an extension of the MLB roster. AA is for the top “prospects”.

 

[LHG]

AAA is more of an extension of the MLB roster. AA is for the top “prospects”.

Not true. Top prospects do get placed in AAA. They don't often last long there if they start off hot but they do get assigned to AAA to begin seasons.

 

[calsnowskier]

Not true. Top prospects do get placed in AAA. They don't often last long there if they start off hot but they do get assigned to AAA to begin seasons.

Sure, prospects sometime go to AAA. But that is a rarity, and typically only when the player is ready for a call up imminently.