Baseball America Pro Pod: Arizona Fall League Standouts

Image credit: J.B. Bukauskas (Photo by Bill Mitchell)

Kyle Glaser and Carlos Collazo discuss some standouts so far during Kyle’s time in Arizona. They start with top pitchers (1:00-18:00) and touch on Nate Pearson, J.B. Bukauskas, Jon Duplantier and others. Then they transition to hitters (18:15-35:00), where Kyle goes with the good (shortstops) and the not-so-good (Pavin Smith, Peter Alonso). Plus a look at under-the-radar guys who have stood out.

Some noteworthy quotes from Kyle Glaser below…

On Blue Jays righty Nate Pearson’s stock, who touched 104 in the Fall Stars game…
“If they re-drafted the 2017 draft today, he wouldn’t last to 28th overall, that’s for sure … I think there’s no question his stock has really, really risen pretty dramatically. I was sitting next to a major league scout … He came out to see guys and said ‘Well, he’s on my target list.’” This is a scout that’s very, very picky and he only said that about two or three guys in the game.”

On J.B. Bukauskas’ slider…
“Vlad Guerrero Jr. didn’t just swing and miss on it. He pulled off that puppy.”

An observer’s take on Jon Duplantier…
“This is Jon Duplantier when he is 100 percent healthy and no rust on him. Before it was eh, he was a No. 4 starter. The guy who showed up last night was a front of the rotation starter, maybe a No. 2.”

On Jazz Chisholm’s power and having ‘electricity’ to his game…
“You really don’t see a lot of home runs in the fall league. You see a lot of balls struck well off the bat that fall into the gap. Jazz Chisholm hit a ball 430 feet out to dead center at Salt River. It was incredible to watch.”

Nico Hoerner validates Chicago’s decision to draft him in the first round…
“There is a strong growing consensus that Nico Hoerner can really, really, legitimately hit … It’s hard contact. Even his outs, he’s hitting them hard.”

On Pavin Smith’s lack of power…
His numbers in the Fall League, the average and the on-base are fine. But you’re watching him play and you don’t see any power. He has a .309 slugging percentage, you don’t see the swing to really project power. You don’t see the bat speed for it. It’s really just a lot of slow ground balls and low-liners. They’re not hit very hard. It’s a concern now.”

One observer worries about Peter Alonso’s ability to hit a slider…
“He’s really struggling against the better pitching … He’s swinging through mostly anything with spin. Once pitchers are throwing his fastballs that have a little arm-side run, he can’t get his arms extended … There is real concern over whether he can hit the better pitching.”

On some scouts putting 20-grade defense on Alonso…
“It’s true, bottom of the scale defense right now. It’s problematic. It’s basic ground balls getting butchered, awkward ground balls eating him up … It’s not good. I know Mets fans and Mets twitter is clamoring for him but if he gets up there and starts doing what he’s doing, they’re going to turn on him real fast.”