Banuelos & Heyer combine for six strong innings
ByManny Banuelos, Austin Romine, and Brandon Laird were selected to participate in the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars Showcase. It’s an All Star Game, but not based on AzFL performance. It’s the best prospects in the league all in one game. The game will be played this Saturday at 9pm ET and guess what? It’ll be broadcast on MLB Network. Neato.
AzFL Phoenix Desert Dogs (2-2 tie with Surprise in 11 innings) ewww ties … they probably ran out of pitchers
Brandon Laird, DH: 1 for 5, 1 RBI - four for his last 27 (.148)
Jose Pirela, 2B: 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 CS – the walk was intentional
Manny Banuelos: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 6-2 GB/FB – 25 of 40 pitches were strikes (62.5%) … Project Prospect’s Adam Foster tweeted a mini-scouting report
Craig Heyer: 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 4-2 GB/FB – same deal as ManBan, 25 strikes in 40 pitches … creepy





Do you think the time between the minors to the AZFL has an effect on pichers?
I keep seeing that the Arizona Fall League is a big hitters league but I’m not sure why.
Are the parks smaller? Or are the hitters usually more advanced then the pitchers?
Thanks.
Desert air, tired pitchers
That makes sense, thank you.
If the pitchers are so tired, wouldn’t the team rather have them rest for the winter? Or is it the kind of thing where they just tell the pitcher to work on a specific thing and don’t care about the results.
I’m not really the one to ask, alas
Teams want their pitchers to face beter competition. The position players are more tired than the pitchers are.
Is Manuelo just there for innings…not really airing it out…working on some opportunity areas, you know, getting some work in?
He missed quite a bit of time due to an Apendectomy.
yep, but was hitting mid-90′s this summer, and seems to be just getting some work in now.
I asked Adam if he was impressed with Manny. He said he wasn’t. It’s funny to hear scouts that talk to Law rave about a prospect one day and people aren’t impressed the next.
I think Law said that the scouts he’s talked to have seen him more than once. Seeing a guy once in 3 innings isn’t a lot. He might not have been impressed, but I am sure he would defer to a respected scout who has seen him numerous times.
I forget who said it, but a quote to keep in mind is that you can find a scout that’ll tell you whatever it is that you want to hear
That too. Great line!
I’ve never seen anybody call his curveball a slider.
ran out of pitchers, was mattingly managing ?
zing !
The teams did not run out of pitchers.
Games in the AFL are called after 11 innings as a league rule.