SURPRISE, AZ - The Arizona Fall League has a new champion as of last Saturday after the Peoria Javelinas used a two-run eighth inning to beat the Phoenix Desert Dogs, the team that had won the previous two league championships.The season did end on a high note for the Royals' affiliate Surprise Rafters, who managed to square their record at 16-16. The high notes extended to Royals' prospects as well, none more so than right-hander Aaron Crow, the Royals' 12th overall pick in last June's draft. In his last AFL start, his fourth overall with Surprise, he was just short of perfect, allowing just one hit over four frames while fanning four. That lowered his Fall League ERA to 5.94. He displayed excellent control in his four outings, fanning 12 and walking just two in 15 1/3 innings. Crow will report to Major League camp in February and could draw an assignment to the Naturals to open 2010.
The two southpaws the Royals had in Surprise, Ben Swaggerty and Brandon Sisk, both were shut down prior to the end of the Fall League season. Sisk, a likely member of the Naturals' 2010 bullpen who spent all of 2009 with Advanced Class-A Wilmington, had a 2.25 ERA and seven strikeouts in six appearances while Swaggerty also appeared six times and was unscored upon in three of them, but struggled in two of the others and left with a 9.45 ERA.
Like Crow, Naturals' right-hander Blake Wood also finished his fall season strong, allowing just one hit in his final three appearances, covering 4 2/3 innings. That lowered his overall ERA for the AFL to 6.75. Wood fanned 12 and walked five in 14 2/3 innings and allowed 20 hits, but five of those came during one outing. Wood's assignment to Surprise was driven in part by his need to make up innings after missing nearly half of 2009 with injuries. He's seen as a likely candidate to begin the 2010 season in the Naturals' rotation.
Naturals' reliever Aaron Hartsock was tied with three other Rafters' relievers in leading the club in appearances. He appeared 11 times out of the pen and was 1-0 with a 4.11 ERA, not bad considering the dry Arizona weather and the stiffer competition. He allowed 15 hits and fanned 10 in 15 1/3 innings while walking just four. Hartsock will compete in spring training for a spot with Triple-A Omaha but could end up back with the Naturals.
Amongst the hitters, Mike Moustakas finished his AFL season with a .267 batting average, five homers, and 19 RBI. His 19 RBI finished second on the Rafters. Likely to man the hot corner for the Naturals in 2010, "Moose" finished the fall season with a four game hit streak and saw a five-game streak of at least one RBI snapped in his final AFL game on November 19th. With a .306 average against right-handed pitching, the hope is that he can put up some big numbers in the Texas League with the hitter friendly parks as opposed to the pitching-dominated Carolina League, where he played in 2009.
Naturals' outfielder Jarrod Dyson wrapped up red-hot for Surprise, getting seven hits in his final three games to finish with a .310 average, seven RBI, and two steals. Amazingly, Dyson managed three hits in four out of his 16 AFL games. Infielder Jeff Bianchi finished the fall season with a .265 average, two homers, and 13 RBI. Both Dyson and Bianchi were placed on the Royals' 40-man roster last week.
Further south, former Natural Julio Pimentel still has yet to appear in a game with his Dominican Winter League team, Toros del Este. Pimentel, working his way back from arm injuries that derailed his entire 2009 season, is teammates with former Naturals' reliever Carlos Sencion. Sencion has two scoreless appearances in the past week and a half. Juan Abreu (Águilas Cibaeñas) has a 6.23 ERA in five games. Abreu will apparently be joining the Atlanta Braves organization, who signed him to a major league contract this week and placed him on their 40-man roster. Abreu, who was a minor league free agent, had been reported as of last week to have re-signed with the Royals, but to another minor league deal.
Former Naturals' slugger Juan Richardson is getting a lot of playing time for Estrellas de Oriente. He's batting .286 with a homer and 11 RBI in 29 games. Richardson missed most of 2009 after getting injured early in the season with the Wichita Wingnuts of the independent American Association.
Several current and former Naturals are playing winter ball in Venezuela. Chris Nicoll is with Caribes de Anzoategui (Puerto La Cruz, Ven.). Nicoll hasn't pitched since he was roughed up in his second start, when he allowed five runs over two-plus innings to Aragua. Manny Pina, who was on the disabled list and never suited up for the Naturals after being traded on September 3rd from the Rangers' organization, is batting .200 (4-for-20) for Tiburones de La Guaira (La Guaira Sharks). Pina, who has not seen too much playing time, also was placed on the Royals' 40-man roster last week. Many minor leaguers playing international ball can find themselves stuck deep on a depth chart, commonplace in the international winter leagues where there are no restrictions on roster size and players with big league time sometimes join teams during the season.
Jose Duarte and Mario Lisson are both with Leones de Caracas. Duarte got off to a hot start, batting .340 in his first 19 games, but has cooled of late and is now batting .268 with six RBI, 19 runs scored, and five steals in 29 games. Lisson saw almost no playing time to start the season but has been in the lineup regularly in recent weeks. He's now batting .278 with seven homers and 20 RBI in 72 at-bats. His 21 RBI are one off the team-leading pace, and in the last week he had a homer in three straight games. Defensively he's seen most of his action at third base. His club Leones is the Venezuelan Winter Baseball powerhouse; they possess 16 championship titles, the most in the league. They currently reside in first place this year as well with a 28-11 record.
Federico Castaneda is with his Mexican Winter League team, Tomateros de Culiacan (Culiacan Tomato Growers). He allowed two runs against Mazatlan in his last outing and now has a 5.23 ERA in nine games. Prior to this most recent outing he had reeled off five straight scoreless appearances.
Former Naturals' utilityman Irving Falu has joined the Mayaguez Indians and unlike last season, when he received fewer than 15 at-bats the entire winter season, Falu has been playing. In his first seven games with Mayaguez, he's got a .360 average in 25 at-bats and has four RBI. A Northwest Arkansas fan favorite, Falu will likely return to Triple-A Omaha in 2010.
The only other Royals' farmhand in Puerto Rico of note for Naturals' fans is outfielder Adrian Ortiz. Ortiz is with Lobos de Arecibo (Arecibo Wolves) but has only appeared in one game thus far. Ortiz spent most of the 2009 Spring Training with the Naturals before receiving an assignment to Advanced Class-A Wilmington in the final week of spring camp. Ortiz struggled with Wilmington and was moved down to Class-A Burlington (IA). His assignment for 2010 is undetermined, but as an athletic defensive outfielder with plus speed, he has a lot of competition in his quest to advance up the Royals' ranks to Double-A.
All the international winter leagues wrap up later in the winter with the top winter teams from the Latin American countries competing against one another in the Caribbean Series, an elimination-style tournament. The series runs during the first week of February and is televised nationally on the MLB Network, providing fans a great chance to see minor league players on a big stage in an electric atmosphere of international competition.
As the Fall League has wrapped up, check nwanaturals.com every two weeks for our Hot Stove Report, where we'll continue to follow Royals' minor leaguers in winter ball as well as cover other off-season baseball information that pertains to the minor leagues.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark, located in Springdale. The 2010 season begins on Thursday, April 8th. Visit our website, nwanaturals.com, for information on season tickets and ticket plans.
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