Travis Demeritte
Weekly Stats: 4-17 (.235), 0 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB, 3 R, 2 K, 2 2B
2016 AFL Stats: .250/.311/.375, 1 HR, 3 SB, 4 RBI
Travis Demeritte wasn’t setting the world on fire last week, but turned in 3 straight games with a hit to start the week before an 0-5 at the end that snapped a 7 game hitting streak. Importantly it was his best week to date on strikeouts, with only 2 in his 19 plate appearances. His October 27th game saw him knock 2 doubles, his first extra base hits since the 15th, and 2 RBIs, his first RBIs since his home run on the 14th. Demeritte has taken advantage of the left handed pitchers he has faced but struggled with righties managing only a .581 OPS.
Dylan Moore
Weekly Stats: 1-7 (.143), 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 0 SB, 1 R, 1 K, 0 2B
2016 AFL Stats: .364/.440/.727, 0 HR, 1 SB, 1 RBI
Moore opened up the season with a strong performance, but there wasn’t much to tell of this week. His first game was his first hitless of the AFL season, but he was able to get on the board with a single in game number 2. He was also hit by a pitch.
Dustin Peterson
Weekly Stats: 3-16 (.188), 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 0 SB, 1 R, 1 K, 1 2B
2016 AFL Stats: .265/.286/.353, 0 HR, 2 SB, 0 RBI
Dustin opened up his week on a strong note against the Javelinas, knocking 2 hits for his second straight multi hit game. One of those hits was a double, his second extra base hit of the season. Peterson struggled however for the remainder of the week getting only one hit, which came in the final game. Peterson still has yet to drive in a run in the AFL despite having 88 in the regular season and never having a streak more than 6 games without an RBI. He had a walk rate in the regular season that could be described as no better than acceptable, but has seen that tail off walking once in the opening game of the AFL but no times since. Fortunately, he has kept his K rate low with 4 in 35 PA.
Kade Scivicque
Weekly Stats: 2-7 (.286), 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 0 SB, 1 R, 1 K, 2 2B
2016 AFL Stats: .276/.316/.389, 0 HR, 0 SB, 2 RBI
Scivique has reached base in 4 of his 5 games this fall for the Rafters, and reached in both games he played this week. His opener was an 0-3 performance, but he drew a walk and threw out 1 of the 2 attempted base stealers (also had an error on a pickoff). Game 2 went well for Scivicque at the plate as he had 2 doubles, his first XBH of the fall, scored a run, and knocked one in. In a small sample he has fared well against lefties going 4-8 with 2 doubles and no strikeouts.
Chris Ellis
Weekly Stats: 1 G, 2.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 0 K, 1 K
2016 AFL Stats: 1 G, 1-0, 7.27 ERA, 8.2 IP, 7 K, 7 BB
Oof. Well, here we go. Today went as well for Ellis as, well, any game he didn’t play in Trustmark Park this season (1.21 ERA at Trustmark, 5.93 anywhere else) as he completely imploded on the mound for the Rafters. The first 2 went well for Ellis, as he allowed only a walk in getting the first 6 outs. Immediately things began to unravel in the 3rd. He allowed a leadoff single to Tim Tebow, whose leadership and winning mentality inspired Scottsdale to score 5 runs including a home run from Gleyber Torres. Oh he also allowed Tebow to steal a base. An embarrassing inning without a doubt. According to MLBFarm’s PITCHfx data, Ellis has gotten the second best average sink on his four seam fastball in the league this fall and has the second best average spin rate.
Akeel Morris
Weekly Stats: 2 G, 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K
2016 AFL Stats: 6 G, 0-0, 0 SV, 3.00 ERA, 6 IP, 5 K, 4 BB
Now on to a guy who can actually consistently get outs, Morris pitched his first multi inning outing of the fall with 2 innings on the 24th. He wasn’t his sharpest, allowing 2 hit, 2 walks and a run, but being able to limit the damage to just a run when 4 runners reached was a solid bit of ballet. On 3 days rest Morris pitched an inning on the 28th, and went scoreless with a strikeout and a hit allowed. He has given up a crazy number of fly balls, with a 0.20 GO/AO.
Evan Phillips
Weekly Stats: 2 G, 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
2016 AFL Stats: 5 G, 0-1, 0 SV, 4.05 ERA, 6.2 IP, 8 K, 5 BB
Phillips has settled down nicely since his opening game, and has been a ground ball machine for the Rafters this season. Phillips pitched 2 games with a scoreless inning each in both. In the first he worked into some trouble, allowing a hit and a walk, forcing a ground out with 2 runners on to end the inning. He worked the second frame of the week clean and struck out a batter.
Notable Players in Other Winter Leagues
Willians Astudillo
Weekly Stats: 3-11 (.273), 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 0 SB, 0 R, 2 K
2016 LVBP Stats: .226/.314/.419, 2 HR, 0 SB, 4 RBI
Astudillo has transformed into an unrecognizable version of his former self, drawing more walks and hitting more home runs than we’ve seen in his time with the Braves. Astudillo struck out not once but twice this week, a previously-thought-unattainable feat. Astudillo played in 5 games this week but was limited in his at bats in each, but finished off the week with 3 straight games with a hit despite only 5 total plate appearances.
Joey Meneses
Weekly Stats: 6-25 (.240), 1 HR, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 0 SB, 2 R, 5 K, 1 2B
2016 LMP Stats: .281/.311/.441, 3 HR, 0 SB, 18 RBI
Meneses hit another home run this week, his 3rd in 16 games this winter, and it was his 2nd grand slam of the season. Pending the outcome of Sunday’s game (at the time of writing Culiacan is down 2-0 in the 3rd) Meneses is tied with Ronnier Mustelier for the league lead in RBIs with 18 of them. In fact, Culiacan has the 3 top RBI men in the league in those 2 and Sebastian Elizalde, lead the league in runs by a fair margin, but yet are just 8-8. Anyways, back to Meneses he had 2 multi hit games this season, and extending on some of the success he showed stateside with the Mudcats last season. Interesting early season split, he has been a monster at the plate at home hitting .346/.414/.538, yet 13 of his 18 RBIs have come on the road (and both grand slams).
Matt Wisler
Weekly Stats: 1 G, 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K
2016 DWL Stats: 2 G, 1-0, 0 SV, 0.00 ERA, 9 IP, 12 K, 1 BB
Matt Wisler has been making a mockery of the league so far, with a second straight scoreless start. Wisler struck out 9 over 5 innings, never really allowing his opponents to get going at the plate. While it’s impressive to see these numbers for Wisler, to see just how much he is dominating, it must be noted that he should be doing exactly that. Matt Wisler is just better than the players he’s going to be facing, so it should be no surprise if/when these performances continue.
Michael Mader
Weekly Stats: 1 G, 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
2016 PWL Stats: 1 G, 0-0, 0 SV, 0.00 ERA, 1 IP, 0 K, 1 BB
Mader only pitched one inning for the Caguas, and more or less did his job though not without rough patches. He walked the first batter he faced, but after forcing a fly out from the next that runner was caught stealing at second base. The next batter, Neftali Soto, who came 1-1 in his MiLB career against Mader, struck again with a single but Mader forced another fly out and that was the inning.