Five more intriguing AFL players to watch
By jseiner24
By Jake Seiner / MiLB.com
Over at MiLB.com, colleague Sam Dykstra took a look at some of the top storylines heading into this year’s Arizona Fall League season. The breakdown is pretty exhaustive, covering everything from Byron Buxton’s return to action, more playing time for Rusney Castillo, experiments with pace of play and more. It’s a good read, and I recommend heading there before continuing on here. That said, there’s always more to talk about in Minor League Baseball, and this year’s AFL is no exception. Here are a few more players who are at a particularly intriguing place in their careers as we head into the start of AFL action:
SS Michael de Leon, Texas Rangers: How’s this for a vote of confidence — the Rangers are sending the 17-year-old middle infielder to face rosters littered with players who have upper-Minors experience. Texas hasn’t been shy in pushing the Dominican switch-hitter, who hit .244 in 85 games with Class A Hickory this season, as de Leon also saw time with Class A Advanced Myrtle Beach and Double-A Frisco.
The teenager will be the first 17-year-old to play in the AFL in the league’s 23-year history, a move that speaks to the Rangers’ opinion of his makeup. For comparison, the next youngest infielder on Surprise’s roster is 21-year-old Trea Turner. How de Leon handles that challenge will be fascinating to watch, even though a lackluster performance won’t really indicate much about his future — there’s a lot of time for de Leon to become whatever player he’s going to be.
[milbvideo id=”35728007" width=”480" height=”270" /]
RHP Roberto Osuna, Toronto Blue Jays: Osuna and Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias were both scouted and signed as teenagers while pitching for the Mexico City Reds, but though Urias has rocketed up prospect lists since debuting in the Midwest League in 2013, Osuna’s path has been delayed due to injury. The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in 2013 and didn’t return to action until this July, making eight starts with Class A Advanced Dunedin to close out the season.
Results from those outings were mixed. Osuna posted a 6.26 ERA and .308 batting average against, but also struck out an impressive 32 batters in 23 innings. His longest outing was 4 1/3 innings, and he probably won’t be stretched even that far in the AFL. Still, it will be interesting to see how his stuff and command plays against older competition — a potential jump to Double-A might hinge at least a little on his fall performance.
LHP Adam Morgan, Philadelphia Phillies: Heading into the 2013 season, it looked like Morgan was just an opportunity away from stepping into the Phillies’ rotation. Things haven’t gone quite as planned for the Alabama product, though. The southpaw posted a 4.04 ERA in 16 starts with Triple-A Lehigh Valley but found his way to the disabled list with a shoulder injury that required surgery in January.
Morgan didn’t pitch at all during the 2014 season but will return to the mound for the AFL looking to reclaim some lost prospect sparkle. Prior to the injury, Morgan had the look of a potential Major League starter, especially after finishing third in all of MiLB in strikeouts in 2012.
2B Domingo Leyba, Detroit Tigers: Compared with de Leon, Leyba is a grizzled Minor League veteran, but he’s actually lighter on stateside experience and, at 19, still very young for the AFL. Leyba made the jump to the U.S. this spring and debuted with Class A Short Season Connecticut when the New York-Penn League started in June. After hitting .264 in 37 games, Leyba jumped to Class A West Michigan, where he dominated with a .397 average and .914 OPS in 30 games to end the season. The switch-hitter has shown a discerning eye and a line-drive stroke at every level thus far, and although the ceiling is limited, he’s advanced enough with the bat to make a strong showing this fall.
CF Boog Powell, Oakland Athletics: Powell put together one of the most impressive statistical seasons in the lower Minors this summer, slashing .335/.452/.429 with Class A Beloit before a midseason promotion to Class A Advanced Stockton. He managed more walks (53) than strikeouts (49), showed some speed (16 steals) and earned himself a spot on Oakland’s top 20 prospect list at MLB.com.
All that helium only took Powell’s prospect stock so far, though. The 21-year-old popped his own balloon by testing positive for an amphetamine shortly after his promotion, earning a 50-game suspension that held him out until late August. If Powell can avoid further suspensions and recapture some of his 2014 performance, he could hit his way to a Major League job. The long road back begins in the AFL this week.
