The Arizona Fall Leagues was one of Project Prospect's first beats. On top publishing weekly articles on the league in 2006, Project Prospect made a trip to the AFL as a credentialed media member. Now in our fourth year of being obsessed with the league, we plan to cover it in-person for the bulk of November this season. Until then, we'll do what we can following it from afar. Here's a start:
Noteworthy pitching performances
Everyone's talking about Jenrry Mejia. He evoked a storm on twitter yesterday by touching 98.2 MPH with his fastball. Thanks to the Brooks Baseball AFL PitchFX tool, we have access to a detailed breakdown of Mejia's 39-pitch outing.
His fastball sat in the 94-96 range and he threw it for strikes a little over half the time (54.2%). Ten of his 11 changeups were 86-87 MPH and two of them got swing-throughs -- 63.6% strikes. Of the four curveballs he threw, only one was a strike -- he ranged from 76-78 with the offering. He did not record swing-throughs with his fastball or curve, according to PitchFX.
Here are a few notes that I got from a hitter who faced Mejia in the Eastern League this season:
He was filthy. His fastball has hard cut and sits 94-98. His changeup was really good (good movement).
Phillippe Aumont threw six pitches yesterday, four of which were 94-95 MPH fastballs.
Making his pro debut on Tuesday, Andrew Oliver threw just 12-of-28 pitches for strikes. Of his 22 fastballs, two generated swing-throughs -- the pitch sat 91-92 MPH and touched 94 once.
Mike Leake is scheduled to make his pro debut today in Peoria -- in front of PitchFX! A command wizard who gets a lot of ground balls, Leake ranked fourth on my 2009 draft board and 15th on our October 1st top 25 pitching prospect list.
Also, make sure to follow Giants' pitching prospect Steven Edlefsen's AFL blog. Past AFL bloggers have done a stellar job providing a unique take on the league, from scouting infomation to fun and interesting AFL stories.
Contextualizing AFL hitting stats
The AFL is more hitter-friendly than any full-season professional baseball league. From 2005-2008, the average AFL hitter had an .816 OPS. The average PCL hitter, for comparison, had a .796 OPS in 2008 -- the PCL is easily the most hitter-friendly full-season minor league.
AFL 2005-2008 average triple-slash line: .288/.363/.453
Pacific Coast League 2008 average line: .279/.349/.447
Also note that the average AFL hitter records fewer than 125 plate appearances a season.
Here are the AFL's OPS leaders since 2005:
1. Tyler Flowers, 1.433 (2008)
2. Jason Donald, 1.223 (2008)
3. Michael McKenry, 1.216 (2008)
4. Chip Cannon, 1.188 (2006)
5. Eric Duncan, 1.157 (2005)
6. Stephen Drew, 1.147 (2005)
7. Eric Young Jr., 1.144 (2008)
8. Mike Baxter, 1.129 (2008)
9. Rhyne Hughes, 1.129 (2008)
10. Casper Wells, 1.129 (2008)