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2004 season October 17, 2004 The hitters are out-pacing the pitchers in the early weeks of the Arizona Fall League season. Expect more than a few season batting records to fall if the hitters keep mashing the ball like they have to date. Ejections are also up this season, as Desert Dogs manager Dean Treanor was bounced from the game on Saturday (his second time this year) and Solar Sox hitting coach Glenallen Hill departed early from the Thursday night game in Peoria. Leading the slugfests: It took me the first week
just to learn how to spell his last name and the season's second week to
figure out how to pronounce it. But no matter what you call him, be sure to
identify Vito Chiaravalloti (Blue Jays - 1B) as a hitter on the
rise. The Blue Jay switch-hitter went 4-4 with a pair of long
homers in one game this week; he's batting .524/.583/1.000 ...
One of the more impressive homeruns came on Tuesday
night off the bat of Ryan
Raburn (Tigers - 2B). The opposite field
shot, which left the park in a hurry, landed well up on the grassy slope
in Scottsdale Stadium ... Raburn's Rafter teammate Mitch Jones
(Yankees - OF) followed with a similar right-field blast the very next
inning ... Shin-Soo Choo (Mariners - OF) is off to a nice start,
batting .407/.529/.519. The native of Korea has a nice combination of
speed, plate discipline and power. Hot hurlers:
Southpaw reliever Royce Ring (Mets - P) picked up his second victory of the year on Friday with a scoreless, hitless 2.1 IP performance in the Saguaros win over the Solar Sox. Ring, who appeared in the AFL last season as a member of Team USA, has yet to give up a run in 5.2 IPs ... Keith Bucktrot (Phillies - P) pitched four strong innings yesterday to continue his scoreless streak. He's not overpowering and doesn't strike many batters out, but Bucktrot has been effective in retiring hitters ... Huston Street (Athletics - P) picked up two more saves this week, lowering his ERA to 1.35.
They can do more than hit:
While he smacked his first homerun this week, Delmon Young (Devil Rays - OF) showed that he's more than just a slugger by robbing John Hattig (Blue Jays - 3B) of a round tripper with a very nice over-the-fence catch on Friday ... We raved last week about the hitting of Jason Repko (Dodgers - OF); it turns out the converted shortstop is also a pretty decent outfielder. Repko gunned down two runners at home plate in the same game earlier this week.
Turnover already?: A number of players have already departed the league for various reasons, among them Pete LaForest (Devil Rays - C), Jeff Baker (Rockies - 3B) and Dave Crouthers (Orioles - P). New this week were Jake Fox (Cubs - C), Corey Slavik (Rockies - 3B) and Cuban League veteran Yobal Duenas (Yankees - 2B/3B); the latter has played only a handful of minor league games since defecting from his native country. The only night game of the season at Phoenix Municipal Stadium takes place this Tuesday, with evening encounters at Scottsdale Stadium the next two nights and a Friday night game in Peoria. --- Bill Mitchell All photos on the Arizona Fall League Report are credited to Bill Mitchell, unless noted otherwise, and are not to be used for any other purpose without express permission.
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