The Glendale Desert Dogs had a chance to play in the Arizona Fall League's championship game, but the Suprise Saguaros usurped the second-best record with a 5-3 victory over Glendale in the final game of the season. As a result, the Dogs finished 17-13 over the 30-game schedule, which was the third-best record in the AFL, but also the third-best record in their own division, with both Surprise and Peoria a half-game ahead.
It was an equally uninspiring finish for the class of White Sox prospects involved, although adjusted for expectations, one stood out as excellent, and one can be designated a disappointment. We'll be starting with the latter.
AFL Report
YOELQUI CÉSPEDES
| Date | AB | R | H | RBI | XBH | BB/K | SB/CS | Etc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0/2 | -- | -- |
| Nov. 16 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Nov. 17 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Nov. 19 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Total | 72 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 3 2B | 2/22 | 2/0 | .181/.244/.222 |
A resounding success for Céspedes might've forced people to take notice and update his timeline. Instead, the performance validated the pessimistic assessment of the Céspedes the White Sox signed, which is somebody who's too aggressive to make use of his strength.
That's not necessarily damning. He just completed his first full season stateside after two years off. and his production at Winston-Salem and Birmingham were fine, even if there were a couple of caution flags. It's more that the fizzle at the finish makes it hard to pencil him into any 2022 plans at the major-league level, and the White Sox system's outfield depth kinda rides on him.
JOSE RODRIGUEZ
| Date | AB | R | H | RBI | XBH | BB/K | SB/CS | Etc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 15 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Nov. 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0/2 | -- | -- |
| Nov. 17 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Nov. 19 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Total | 62 | 5 | 14 | 13 | HR, 3B, 2B | 4/10 | 2/0 | .226/.273/.323 |
Rodriguez had a similarly flat finish to his fall ball season, but his season was already wildly successful, what with 567 plate appearances for four different teams in his age-20 season. The assignment to the AFL was a little bit of a heat check, and one that caught him at the end of his longest season by far. His prospect stock has already risen plenty, and he didn't have the strikeout problems that troubled Céspedes, or anything else that would've undermined any of the progress he made.
YOLBERT SÁNCHEZ
| Date | AB | R | H | RBI | XBH | BB/K | SB/CS | Etc. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 15 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Nov. 16 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Nov. 17 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Nov. 19 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Total | 35 | 4 | 14 | 8 | HR, 2B | 10/2 | 1/0 | .400/.533/.514 |
Sánchez only got in one game the final week of the season, so he could only tie his teammates' hit totals in the hit column, when he had a shot of drawing 14 walks as well. He had to settle for the highest average on the team, and the highest OBP of anybody who lasted the full season (Nolan Gorman posted a .565 OBP, but only played in six games).
Sánchez won one of the season's hitter-of-the-week awards, and he talked about the confidence boost such a close provides:
“It has been a very, very good experience,” he said of the Arizona Fall League. “I’ve been fortunate to be around talented players that have been playing at different levels and that have different backgrounds. I’ve been learning from them and I’ve been learning from the experience here and just getting used to what baseball is in the U.S.”
Like Céspedes, Sánchez is 24, which is why his strong showing is fortuitously timed. He too had a nice season at Winston-Salem and Birmingham, and the carryover to the AFL and exceptional strike-zone control makes his first cup of coffee in 2022 seem especially likely.
PITCHERS
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominguez | 12 | 24 | 15 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 14 |
| Olson | 13 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| Moore | 10.2 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| Freeman | 10.2 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 11 |
It's seldom easy to pitch in the AFL, and this year was no exception. The league as a whole hit .263/.369/.417, which is another reason why evaluators were particularly down on Céspedes' showing.
It's also why the lines of Caleb Freeman and McKinley Moore are better than they initially appear. Both issued more walks than you'd care to see, but Moore held his own despite no experience above A-ball, and Freeman solidified his gains after a career-long season. J.B. Olson shows what can happen when you throw too many strikes in Arizona, and "the fall of Johan Dominguez" could have multiple meanings now.
