With a very long off-season looming and the unpleasant thought of no baseball until spring training 2013, I decided to make the 5 1/2 hour drive over to Phoenix to take in three 2012 Arizona Fall League games. As has been well documented here on ThinkBlueLA.com over the past week, there are six teams in the AFL and naturally I chose to watch the Mesa Solar Sox because this is the team that eight Dodgers prospects were assigned to. (Note: It was supposed to be nine, but top Dodgers prospect Yasiel Puig was a late scratch due to a staph infection in his throwing arm that required emergency surgery).

To be fair, it is impossible to evaluate players after only three games, especially pitchers who are limited to only a couple of innings this early in the AFL. However, the cream always rises to the top and even after only three games, you can get a pretty good idea of who to keep an eye on. Here are some of my early observations from the first three games of the 2012 AFL:

The first game of the season for the Solar Sox was an away game against the Salt River Rafters at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, which is the spring training home for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies and the newest and most state-of-the-art facility in the Cactus League. Dodgers prospects Joc Pederson and Rafael Ynoa were in the starting line-up at left field and second base respectively and though Pederson struggled at the plate going 0 for 4, Ynoa had a good night going 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored, and both made several excellent plays on defense. Dodgers catching prospect Gorman “Griff” Erickson entered the game in the 7th inning to take over the catching duties but Griff also struggled at the plate grounding out in his only at bat. Dodgers left-handed pitching prospect Eric Eadington entered the game in the 5th inning with the Sox up 4-3 only to give up two solo home runs thus blowing the save and putting the Sox down 5-4. Eadington did pick off a Rafters runner with his Kershaw-like move to first, which should do him well in the future. Although the Sox regained the lead in the top of the 8th, they quickly gave it back in the bottom of the inning and eventually lost the very well played game 6-5.

Dodgers pitching prospect Eric Eadington figures to close quite a few games for the Mesa Solar Sox during the 2012 AFL. In addition to his great pitching, he has an excellent pick-off move to first base. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The Solar Sox had their home opener the following day at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, AZ. Mesa is a suburb of Phoenix and is located just southeast of the city. Hohokam Stadium has been the spring training home for the Chicago Cubs since 1952. And though Hohokam Stadium is among the oldest ballpark in the Cactus League, it is still a very nice facility with a definite old school feel to it.

Hohokam Stadium has been the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs since 1952. The field itself was renamed Patterson Field in honor of Dwight W. Patterson, who is known as “The Father of Cactus League Baseball.” (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The second game was a rematch with the Salt River Rafters but unfortunately the outcome was the same… only worse. The Rafters absolutely pounded the Solar Sox 11-3. Although no Dodgers prospects started this game, Griff once again entered the game in the 7th inning but again went 0 for 1 at the plate. Dodgers pitching prospects Chris Reed and Red Patterson each pitched a scoreless inning and I was quite impressed with both, especially Patterson. The left-handed Lee pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning inducing two fly outs and a line out, while the right-handed Patterson struck out one and pitched himself out of a jam after a walk and a fielding error to escape without allowing a run.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dodgers pitching prospect Red Patterson among the top pitchers for the Solar Sox this fall. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Game three was an away game against the Surprise Saguaros at beautiful Surprise Ballpark, one of my favorites in the Cactus League and the spring training home for the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. This game had Joc Pederson, Rafael Ynoa and Griff Erickson in the starting line-up with Ynoa picking up another hit (a double) and Erickson going 1 for 3 with a run scored. Unfortunately, Joc Pederson’s struggles at the plate continued, as he went 0 for 4 with three strike outs. It is quite obvious that Joc is pressing, as he is chasing a lot of first pitches and appears to be pulling his head on his swings. But having spent a lot of time watching Joc this past season at High-A Rancho Cucamonga, I know that it is only a matter of time before the 20-year-old Dodgers Minor League Player of the Year clicks and starts hitting the ball again. The Sox came back from an early 5-1 deficit by scoring single runs in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th innings and entered the top of the 9th tied 5-5. Detroit Tigers top outfield prospect Nick Castellanos absolutely crushed a home run to deep center field to give the Sox a slim 6-5 lead. Eric Eadington came on to pitch the bottom of the 9th and immediately got into trouble by giving up consecutive singles and a stolen base to the first two batters he faced. But with no outs and runners at second and third, Eadington did what he had consistently done throughout the 2012 season at both Rancho Cucamonga and Chattanooga and struck out the next two batters he faced and got the third batter to pop out to short to earn his first save of the 2012 AFL season and preserve the first win for the Mesa Solar Sox.

Although most of my attention was focused on the Dodgers prospects, it was impossible not to notice several outstanding prospects from the other MLB teams. Most notably, of course, was Nick Castellanos who is ranked 10th on MLB.com’s Top-100 Prospects list. In the first three games, Castellanos went 6 for 14 (.428) with 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored. Castellanos was drafted by the Tigers in the 1st round (44th overall) in the 2010 MLB First Year Player Draft. And though only 20 years old, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Castellanos called up to the Bigs at some point during the 2013 season (perhaps as a September call-up). He is an absolute beast (6-4 and 210) and hits the ball extremely hard. Castellanos picked up two more hits on Friday (both doubles) and is now batting .444 (8 for 18), second only to Rafael Ynoa, who is batting .500 (5 for 10).

I was also very impressed with first baseman Jonathan Singleton, who was drafted by the Phillies in the 8th round of the 2009 MLB First Year Player Draft and traded to the Astros in the 2011 Hunter Pence deal (who, of course, was subsequently traded to the Giants by the Phillies). The 21-year-old Singleton is batting .333 (6 for 18) and made several outstanding plays at first base.

Red Patterson, Eric Eadington and Chris Reed are all off to a good start in the 2012 AFL, as is starting pitching prospect Andres Santiago. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka).

On the pitching side of things and aside from Patterson, Eadington and Reed, I was impressed with Astros right-handed prospect Nick Tropeano who hasn’t allowed a run in his 2 innings of work. I got to watch Tropeano pitch a couple of times this past season with the Lancaster Jethawks when they played the Quakes. The Jethawks, as you may or may not know, ended up winning the 2012 Cal League Championship this past season by sweeping a very dominant Modesto Nuts (Rockies) team.

As I said, it is impossible (and unfair) to evaluate players after only three games, but I hope this gives you a rough idea of who to keep an eye on throughout the 32-game Arizona Fall League season. I hope to return to take in a couple more games towards the end of the season (along with a crucial NASCAR race at Phoenix International Speedway on November 11th).

Stay tuned…