2021 Baseball in the Desert -

[MFS62]

The Arizona Fall League rosters have been announced.

Seven Mets are scheduled to play for the Salt River team - Brett Baty 3B/OF (No. 2/MLB No. 45); Carlos Cortes, OF (No. 10); Hayden Senger, C (No. 21); Garrison Bryant, RHP; Connor Grey, RHP; Colin Holderman, NYM; Brian Metoyer, RHP; Wilmer Reyes, INF

Baty really impressed with the bat at High-A Brooklyn and then was above average as a 21-year-old at Double-A, so the Fall League will offer a good third test for him in 2021. Watch out for how he's used in Arizona; Baty started to get looks in left field this season, and the AFL is always another chance to work on that versatility. Cortes and Senger are opposite types of prospects. The former is a good hitter who faces questions in the field. The latter is a promising defensive catcher with something to prove with the bat.

Later

Edited October 6, 2021 by Guest

[bmfc1]

redacted

Edited October 6, 2021 by Guest

[MFS62]

=bmfc1 post_id=79414 time=1633548960 user_id=73](2021)

[Edgy MD]

Brett Baty reached in eight straight trips to the plate and is rocking a .444 / .565 / .722 // 1.287 through 23 plate appearances.



Carlos Cortes (1.007 OPS), Wilmer Reyes (.862) and Hayden Senger (.708) are also off to strong starts.



Bryant, Grey, Holderman, and METoyer have combined for a 2.25 ERA through their first five innings, striking out seven and walking four.



Their team, The Glendale Rafters, are in first place at 4-1, and Baty is pretty much the league's MVP so far.

[MFS62]

Cortes impressed me when I saw him.

He's not very high on any prospect lists and that may be because he's not very high.

He's short and stocky, a lefty hitter who showed good defense and arm in the game I saw him. (Upside maybe a lefty Walt Williams?)

Someone to keep watching. He may make it as a fourth outfielder in the next year or so.



Later

[Edgy MD]

Worth focusing in on Connor Grey's assignment here.



Connor was a mid-season, 27-year-old, indy-league pickup that seemingly was just another part of the wave of players brought in to supplement the organization during the wave of injuries. He seemed to be scheduled for minor league free agency at the end of this season, and scheduled to be forgotten with ease. But I'm guessing that the lost year and his time in the American Association have conspired to rob him of that.



He certainly got a full season of work in, so the Mets giving him one of a small, finite number of spots in the AFL suggests they want a longer look at him.



He aims to become the first big leaguer from Frewsberg, New York — about as boony at Western New York locale as there be, with 2,000 souls trying to convince the world that they kind of live in Jamestown.

[Frayed Knot]

There's an All-Star game of sorts going out in the AFL (Bret Baty just stroked an opposite field double). But while the results of this game hardly matter, what is of interest to me is that they're using various speed-up rules: pitch clock (15 seconds if no one on base) a between batters click (30 seconds) and Robo-Ump.



And while I realize that this is very different from a WS game for reasons beyond just these experimental rules, it's the bottom of the 5th and the game is less than 90 minutes old despite 8 runs scored so far. During post-season you're lucky if it's beyond top-3 at this point and that's only if the game is scoreless.

[Edgy MD]

And, as an All-Star Game (to say nothing of an AFL game), we can presume there are copious pitching changes.