Arizona Fall League: Justin Dean and Bradley Roney Finish Strong

The final week of fall league action drew to a close, with the Scorpions falling short of a berth in the AFL championship. Three games remained on the schedule for the final recap, and Scottsdale lost all three.

Daysbel Hernandez

Weekly Stats: 1 G, 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Season Stats: 8 G, 1 SV, 11.1 IP, 4.76 ERA, 10 BB, 6 K, .225 BAA

Daysbel Hernandez finished out his fall with one of his better outings, going two full scoreless innings while striking out two batters. Hernandez worked around a leadoff single in the second of the innings he pitched by setting down the two through four hitters in the Surprise order, including a strikeout. Overall Hernandez had a wildly disappointing fall with a poor strikeout to walk ratio, but he did well to limit hard contact throughout his appearances and four of the six runs he allowed came in a single outing. Over his final eight innings he allowed four walks and a .219 batting average against.

Connor Johnstone

Weekly Stats: 1 G, 1 GS, 0-0, 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Season Stats: 6 G, 2-3, 22 IP, 3.27 ERA, 4 BB, 19 K, .289 BAA

Connor Johnstone was the surprise of the fall out of all Braves prospects, and he finished off his season in strong fashion with three scoreless innings. Johnstone got off to a bit of a rocky start with a couple of hits allowed in the first inning, but he pulled it together and got an infield pop out to end the inning and locked it down from there. The second saw him strike out two batters in a perfect frame and in the third he allowed just a bloop single with two outs. Overall Johnstone impressed this fall, and even more so after a rough first outing. In his final five appearances he pitched a total of 20 innings, with a 1.80 ERA, 17 striketous to four walks, and a .236 batting average against. He consistently forced ground balls with a 1.87 GO/AO ratio.

Bradley Roney

Weekly Stats: 1 G, 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Season Stats: 8 G, 1-0, 1 SV, 11.1 IP, 1.59 ERA, 7 BB, 16 K, .088 BAA

Bradley Roney kept an unbelievable fall rolling along with his best outing yet, a full two innings of perfect pitching with four strikeouts to his name. In seven of Roney’s eight outings he didn’t allow a hit or a run and finished with a gaudy .088 batting average against and a no hits allowed over his final six outings. Over those six outings he pitched 7 ²⁄₃ innings, struck out 12 batters and walked four. Pure dominance for Roney, and hopefully a precursor to 2020 as he has a legitimate shot to make it onto an MLB roster as a guy who has always been incredibly difficult to hit when he throws strikes.

Brandon White

Weekly Stats: 1 G, 0-1, 0.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 0 K

Season Stats: 7 G, 1 SV, 8.2 IP, 8.31 ERA, 10 BB, 7 K, .324 BAA

Brandon White could not have ended his fall on a lower not, pitching an ugly performance in which he allowed four runs and only recorded one out. After pitching decent ball for his first five outings he ended his season on a down note by allowing six runs, all earned, and five walks to no strikeouts in two innings pitched.

Greyson Jenista

Weekly Stats: DNP

Season Stats: 12 G, .214/.313/.262, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 0 SB

Greyson Jenista did not appear an any games over the final two weeks

Justin Dean

Weekly Stats: 2 G, 2-7, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB

Season Stats: 14 G, .200/.302/.200, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 3 SB

Justin Dean finished out his fall with a couple of decent games, and even swiped another base to bring his total on the season to three. Dean’s first game started with a single and he immediately swiped second base and then came in to score Scottsdale’s first run on an RBI double. Stealing three bases this fall for Dean wasn’t as gaudy a total as his regular season numbers, but it’s a big positive to see him be able to continue to steal bases against significantly better and more experienced competition. Justin also added a hit and a walk in his second game, this time without any strikeouts. The main concern for Dean outside of his strikeouts was the lack of power production as he didn’t have a single extra base hit in 45 at bats.

Trey Harris

Weekly Stats: 1 G, 1-4, 0 BB, 0 K

Season Stats: 16 G, .281/.354/.456, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 SB

Trey Harris missed a couple of games with an injury, but he was back on the field in the first game of the final set and he continued his success with another base hit. Harris wasted no time and got that hit in the first at bat he had, though he did not play after the first game of the week. Harris finished off the season on a bit of a slump, but he had some positive points like having only six strikeouts and walking five times over his final ten games. He also picked it up on the bases a bit with two stolen bases over his final eight games. It was an impressive fall for Harris and gives plenty of reason to believe he is a legitimate prospect that Braves fans should expect to see in Atlanta at some point in the next couple of years. Trey’s OPS was in the top 15 in the league and his slugging percentage ranked 11th.

Garrison Schwartz

Weekly Stats: 2 G, 2-6, 1 BB, 3 K

Season Stats: 10 G, .103/.278/.101, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB

Garrison Schwartz got a couple of more games to round out his fall and he finally got himself back on the board with some hits to finish out the fall on a high note. He opened up with a walk in his first plate appearance of the trio of games, then after striking out a couple of times he finally ripped one into center field for a base hit to get himself off the pine and give him his first hit since his opening game. In game two he added to that with a line drive up the middle. There weren’t a lot of expectations for Schwartz this fall and he did just what was expected, but it was nice to see some positives at the end of the fall.