Final Report-Card Grades for Oakland A's Prospects at the Arizona Fall League
The Oakland A's sent seven prospects to participate in the Arizona Fall League—which just wrapped up—and one of them nearly missed finishing with the AFL batting title.
Of the bunch, shortstop Daniel Robertson and first baseman Matt Olson are top-five prospects. Outfielder Boog Powell is in the top 20. Pitchers Austin House, Ryan Doolittle, Tanner Peters and Drew Granier joined them in Arizona.
If you didn't watch it yourself, Athletics Farm and Oakland Clubhouse did a fantastic job providing coverage.
And if you didn't follow along with their coverage, here's a cumulative recap of how the seven prospects finished, with grades.
Austin House
1 of 7
Position: Pitcher
Rank: N/A
Level/Team (majority): Single-A/Stockton Ports
AFL Stat Line: 11.1 IP, 4.76 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 8 K, 9 BB, 6 ER, 3 SV
The most noticeable stat in the above line is the near-5.00 ERA. That immediately indicates that House gave up quite a few runs in just over 11 innings pitched. And if you think it's a control issue, nine walks to eight strikeouts supports that idea.
Melissa Lockard of OaklandClubhouse (Scout.com network) said House was a bit up and down, suffering from control issues early despite not allowing any runs until late in the Arizona Fall League season.
"House’s command wasn’t as sharp as normal during the AFL season, especially at the start of the schedule. However, he didn’t allow a run in six straight outings before allowing runs in his final two appearances.
"
If his first appearance (three earned runs in 0.2 innings) was scoreless like the next six, House would have allowed just two runs all season. Ultimately, he was rocky to start, great in the middle and OK to finish.
Just based on stats, House wouldn't get too great of a grade. But knowing he went six straight without a run greatly—greatly—improves his final grade.
Grade: B-
Ryan Doolittle
2 of 7Position: Pitcher
Rank: N/A
Level/Team: Double-A/Midland RockHounds
AFL Stat Line: 13 IP, 1.38 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 11 K, 0 BB, 2 ER, 2 SV
Eleven strikeouts and zero walks; keeping an absurd strikeout-to-walk ratio must run in the Doolittle family.
Doolittle's ERA is third-lowest on the Mesa Solar Sox. His WHIP is best on the team. And he's the only guy who didn't allow a walk.
The ERA is outstanding, the ratio is outstanding and Doolittle netted two saves in the process. All the while, he only allowed two earned runs total.
His performance was enough to garner consideration as "the standout Oakland Athletics’ prospect on the mound" (after 15 games) according to Jason Burke of the Swingin' A's.
Kim Contreras said, "as good as his numbers were, his (in-person) performance was even stronger."
Grade: A+
Tanner Peters
3 of 7Position: Pitcher
Rank: N/A
Level/Team: Double-A/Midland RockHounds
AFL Stat Line: 14.1 IP, 3.77 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 15 K, 6 BB, 6 ER, 1 SV
The stat line is fairly average. The only thing that really jumps out is six earned runs in 14 innings.
What you should know about Peters is that he's dealt with injuries quite a bit throughout the 2014 season. So for him, the AFL was really about staying healthy and finishing strong.
In his final two appearances, it was a bit of everything. In the second-to-last outing, he gave up two runs and earned the loss. In the next (his final) outing, he did not allow a run in the 11th inning of a tied ballgame.
Kim Contreras of OaklandClubhouse was in Arizona and watched Peters live. Contreras said in an email, "His command was really good." She said that while he had a few bad outings, he did end the season "on a fabulous note."
The stats are pretty average, the performances were a bit all over the place, but the command was pretty good overall. The important thing for Peters is that he stayed healthy.
Grade: B
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Drew Granier
4 of 7
Position: Pitcher
Rank: N/A
Level/Team: Double-A/Midland RockHounds
Final Stat Line: 14.1 IP, 6.91 ERA, 1.88 WHIP, 9 K, 9 BB, 11 ER
Granier easily has the worst stat line of any A's prospect in the AFL. The ERA is awful, and while nine strikeouts is good, an equal amount of walks is not.
According to Lockard, "command has been an issue for Granier the past two seasons, and it was again in the AFL, although he showed improvement as the AFL season wore on." Lockard did note that while Granier's fastball averaged a speed of 88, it did top out at 95—pretty impressive.
On that note, however, Contreras said in an email that Granier "would get into trouble when he would try to amp up his fastball."
Granier has worked as a starting pitcher until the AFL, and both Lockard and Contreras agreed that he seems destined for the role of reliever.
Grade: C-
Boog Powell
5 of 7
Position: OF
Rank: 20
Level/Team: Low-A/Beloit Snappers
Final Stat Line: .300 BA, .402 OBP, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 12 BB, 11 K
Powell hit .300 and knocked in 10 runs in 70 at-bats, which is pretty outstanding. He also walked 12 times.
That production earned Powell recognition from MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo as a notable prospect who increased his own value after strong AFL play.
On Powell, Mayo said:
"His showing in the AFL has proven to some that his .451 OBP, or his .343 average, in the regular season was not an A-ball fluke. Powell's .425 OBP is third and his .323 average places him fifth. He's even shown a little extra-base pop, good enough for the fifth-best OPS in the Fall League.
"
Powell had a fantastic regular season, then followed it up with an equally strong Fall League. Keep an eye on him moving forward, if you aren't already.
Grade: A
Matt Olson
6 of 7
Position: 1B
Rank: 2
Level/Team: Single-A/Stockton Ports
Final Stat Line: .257 BA, .435 OBP, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 10 BB, 9 K
According to Jim Callis of MLB.com, the "best performance" by an A's prospect goes to Olson. Of Olson, Callis said, "his power and plate discipline are for real."
Olson started the AFL season by going 0-for-7 before coming alive with a 2-for-3 performance with two home runs.
What's extremely impressive about Olson's Fall League season is his plate discipline. If you go through his game-by-game stats, it feels as if you're having deja vu. Here's an example (h/t: Athletics Farm):
Oct. 11: 2-for-3, 2 HR, BB
Oct. 14: 1-for-4, HR, BB
Oct. 15: 1-for-3, 2B, BB
Oct. 23: 1-for-3, HR, BB
On many of the days he went hitless, he made up for it with a walk, or more often two.
Power and discipline—this is nothing new for Olson, but it seems to only be getting better.
Olson did finish the fall season early after injuring his shoulder in a collision at first base.
Grade: A
Daniel Robertson
7 of 7
Position: SS
Rank: 1
Level/Team: Single-A/Stockton Ports
Final Stat Line: .301 BA, .398 OBP, 1 HR, 12 RBI, 11 BB, 20 K
Though MLB.com's Jim Callis didn't give Robertson "best performance," Callis still called Robertson the A's "best prospect." Callis specifically noted "Robertson contended for the AFL batting title before slumping late."
Before slumping, however, Robertson tore it up.
Here's what CSN Bay Area said:
"...Robertson was named Arizona Fall League Player of the Week after he hit .556 with 10 hits, a home run, five runs, eight RBI and no strikeouts over a four-game span."
At one point, as pointed out by CSN, Robertson led the league with a .444 batting average.
Unfortunately, Robertson finished by going 1-for-10 in the last week and 5-for-27 in the final two weeks.
Contreras said there was more to the slump than meets the eye, though. She pointed out the amount of games Robertson played this season—the Stockton Ports' 132-game regular season, playoffs with the Midland RockHounds and 20 Arizona Fall League games—and noted that the slump began when defenders began making crazy plays against him.
Fortunately, Robertson was really good for longer than he was, well, really bad.
Grade: B+
All quotes from Kim Contreras were obtained first-hand via email. Follow Contreras and Lockard on Twitter for A's minor league updates. Feel free to shout at me in 140 characters or less as well.
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