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AZ Fall League Scouting Report

2004 season

October 24, 2004

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Rain washed out the Thursday evening game at Scottsdale, but otherwise a full slate of AFL action took place.

Future big league closers:

Jesse Crain

Jesse Crain (Twins - P) didn't see any AFL action until this week after starting the month on the Minnesota post-season roster, but the right-handed reliever wasted little time in demonstrating why he's a legitimate big league closer in the making. The former University of Houston hurler pitched a pair of scoreless innings this week, giving up only one hit and striking out three batters ... Huston Street (Athletics - P) mowed down opposing hitters in a couple of his recent appearances, including striking out the side in one game. He's now got a 1.04 ERA after 8.2 IPs, and has struck out 11. Most impressively, Street has yet to walk a batter ... David Aardsma (Giants - P) has the personality to close in the big leagues at some point in his career. The former #1 draft choice fanned the side in his latest outing. He's recorded a 1.93 ERA with seven Ks in 4.2 IPs ... Jason Bulger (Diamondbacks - P), who leads the AFL in saves with four, turned in an efficient 1-2-3 performance to close out Tuesday's night game at Phoenix.

Mike Morse is in the AFL primarily to work on his defense, but he's demonstrating some solid hitting skills as well ...

Hot hitters:

Ben Johnson hitting his fourth homerun of the year

The league office may have to split the Hitter of the Week award, as two Scottsdale Scorpions both deserve mention for their latest performances ... Conor Jackson (Diamondbacks - OF) went yard four times to take the league leadership in homeruns with a total of five. He capped off the week with a two-homerun game on Saturday. Jackson is batting .370/.460/.685 ... Tommy Whiteman (Astros - SS) had a 5-5 game and a pair of two-hit games to boost his offensive totals to .429/.500/.548. Scottsdale's team batting average after the season's first three weeks is .327 (Yes, this is the year of the hitter in the AFL!) ... Royce Hoffman (Astros - 3B) also had a 5-5 game for the Scorpions ... Ben Johnson (Padres - OF) has hit consistently all season, batting .347/.439/.673 with four homeruns. He's also played well in the outfield ... Marland Williams (Diamondbacks - OF) is always one of the smaller players on the field, but AFL pitchers have had trouble keeping him off the bases. Williams is batting .393/.433/.536, but has been prone to mental lapses on the bases and in the outfield.

Out for the year:

Tony Pena Jr. with some acrobatic moves at shortstop

Jason Kubel (Twins - OF), one of the biggest surprises of the 2004 minor league season, suffered a serious knee injury in his first AFL game, and is likely to miss the entire 2005 season. He was replaced on the Grand Canyon roster by Kevin West (Twins - OF), who hit a combined 29 homeruns in AA and AAA in 2004.

Seen at the ballpark:

Cubs manager Dusty Baker was at Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday night with his new third base coach, Chris Speier. The pair were later joined by former big league stars Bob Welch and Vince Coleman. Baker watched part of Friday afternoon's Mesa Solar Sox game from the dugout before joining a group that included White Sox executive Roland Hemond and Brewers VP David Wilder.

AFL action resumes tomorrow with three afternoon games. The only night game this week will be Scottsdale Stadium on Friday night; all other games are afternoon contests so as not to conflict with the World Series schedule.

--- Bill Mitchell

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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.