Braves Arizona Fall League Recap: Justyn-Henry Malloy rakes

We’re back here for another week of Atlanta Braves prospects in the Arizona Fall League, and it’s been a wild year for the Scottsdale Scorpions. They sit at .500 and 1.5 games back of first place, and all teams in the league are within three games of each other as its been a competitive league so far. The Braves had a busy week with Cal Conley and Justyn-Henry Malloy getting a lot of playing time.

Justyn-Henry Malloy

Stats: 4-12, 1 3B, 3 BB, 5 K

Season stats: 71 PA, .281/.423/.386, 4 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 13 BB, 17 K, 1 HBP

Justyn-Henry Malloy came into this week looking for a bounce back from the last, and he started off by reaching base three times in the first game. Scottsdale’s offense scored 12 runs in the game, and Malloy led off in the biggest inning of the day by drawing a leadoff walk in the second. He came in to score on a base hit two batters late and the Scorpions would go on to score six runs in the inning. Malloy drew a second walk in the sixth inning, but was caught stealing to erase what could have been a big run in the game. Malloy ripped an RBI triple in the seventh inning to bring Scottsdale within two runs, but he was stranded at third base and the Scorpions failed to score to tie the game. Malloy had another solid performance in Thursday’s game, putting up a 1-3 day with a walk, but he was one of only a handful of players who did much as Scottsdale lost 3-1. He capped off his week on Saturday by going 2-5, though neither of his hits would contribute to the Scorpions six runs.

Cade Bunnell

Stats: 1-7, 4 K

Season stats: 31 PA, .174/.355/.174, 4 RBI, 7 BB, 14 K

Strikeouts were again a key part of Cade Bunnell’s story last week as he racked up four of them in seven plate appearances. Bunnell had a seventh inning single in the first game he played on the week, but Scottsdale trailed 12-0 at this point and weren’t able to bring Bunnell around to score. He finished off the week with an 0-3 on Friday, though the Scorpions were able to take a 3-0 win.

Cal Conley

Stats: 2-15, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K, 2 SB

Season stats: 72 PA, .259/.403/.500, 4 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 12 BB, 18 K, 9 SB, 2 HBP

Conley got a lot of playing time out of the leadoff spot for Scottsdale, and although the hits weren’t falling this week he was able to reach base in every game he played. After drawing two walks in that shutout loss on Tuesday Conley was back in the leadoff spot Thursday and struggled along with the rest of the time. He struck out twice and grounded into an inning-ending double play, though he did end up reaching base on a two out walk in the 8th inning. Friday’s game was his best of the week and he was a key contributor in a 3-0 Scorpions win. After outs in his first two plate appearances Conley came through in a big way for Scottsdale with a two-out, two-run triple to put them on the board. He also drew a ninth inning walk as part of a train of free passes that scored a run. Conley capped off the week with a 1-5 performance, leading off the six-run eighth inning with a single and scoring the first run of the game.

Alex Segal

Stats: 1 G, 0.2 IP, 0 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 54.00 ERA

Season stats: 6 G, 6.2 IP, 5 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 12 BB, 10 K, 7.50 ERA

Segal pitched in one game this week and it was an absolute nightmare as his control problems continue to plague him. Segal was brought in to finish the fourth inning after Nick Richmond struggled in relief, and while Segal retired the lone batter he faced a wild pitch allowed another run to score. Segal then walked four guys the next inning while only recording a single strikeout before being yanked from the game. The next pitcher immediately gave up a grand slam, cementing an awful line from Segal.

Austin Smith

Stats: 2 G, 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA

Season stats: 8 G, 8 2⁄3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 12 K, 4.50 ERA

Austin Smith got work on back-to-back days, with his first being a perfect ninth inning a loss on Friday. Smith struck out one batter which was his only one of the week in a departure from his first few weeks of action. Smith forced three ground balls in his next outing, with two of those going for outs and the only runner of the week reaching on an error by the first baseman. Smith had a bit of trouble with the strike zone this week and only landed 15 of his 28 for strikes over the two outings, but was able to avoid walk trouble.

Allan Winans

Stats: 2 G, 2.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 19.29 ERA

Season stats: 5 G, 16.1 IP, 19 H, 12 R, 8 ER, 7 BB, 14 K, 4.41 ERA

Winans was fortunate to have run support to keep a loss off of his register in the first game this week, because he looked terrible and only recorded one out in the start. Two batters in Winans had the Scorpions down 2-1, then loaded the bases on two hits and a walk. A base hit then fell in front of Malloy to move everyone up a base before Winans finally recorded a strikeout for his first out. This was unfortunately not an indicator of a turn around, and he walked in a run before being pulled from the game after 40 pitches. Scottsdale tossed him out there on Saturday as a bulk reliever, but he struggled with his control again with only 25 of 48 pitches finding the strike zone. He managed to not allow a run over two innings largely thanks to recording four strikeouts, but he was in constant trouble as he allowed four hits and a walk in the game.

William Woods

Stats: 1 G, 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA

Season stats: 6 G, 7 2⁄3 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 7.04 ERA

William Woods thankfully avoided drama in his lone appearance this week, pitching well in the fifth inning as Scottsdale trailed 2-0. A flyout to lead off his inning was followed by a fielding error which put a runner on second base, but Woods didn’t let that bother him. He struck out the next batter before forcing a ground ball to Conley at shortstop to end the inning.