November 29th, 2016 at 6:00 am 
by Harold Uhlman Play in the Arizona Fall League wrapped up on Saturday, November 19 with the Eastern Division Mesa Solar Sox defeating the Western Division Surprise Saguaros 6-1.
The eight Dodger minor leaguers participating in their extended season played with the Glendale Desert Dogs and missed the championship game by a tie. The Desert Dogs made a charge towards the end of the season and posted the most wins in the league with 17, tied with Surprise. The tie breaker came as Glendale lost 15 games while the Saguaros lost 14 and posted one tie.
On November 24, Jim Callis of MLB.com ranked his top 25 prospects in the fall league:
Cody Bellinger (#2): Callis – “Bellinger can hit the moon shots desired from a first baseman, but he’s so much more than that. He shows the ability to make adjustments at the plate, provides Gold Glove-caliber defense at first and can also play both outfield corners and fill in at center (which will come in handy with two years remaining on Adrian Gonzalez‘s contract in Los Angeles). You may be surprised to learn that he’s faster and more athletic than the guy right behind him.”
To the surprise of no one, Dodgers number one ranked prospect Cody Bellinger absolutely tore it up during this year’s AFL, including his monster two-run home run in the league’s Fall Stars Game on November 5. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Eloy Jiminez who played in the Midwest League with the South Bend Cubs is the player ranked behind Bellinger. It is quite an honor for Bellinger to be ranked ahead of Jiminez who is the Cubs number 2 prospect.
Bellinger was a clear standout in the AFL where he hit .314 with three homers in 20 games for Glendale. He led the league in doubles with eight and finished third with 17 runs batted in and third with a .981 OPS.
Willie Calhoun (#15): Callis – “Calhoun had as much bat speed as anyone in the league, giving him enough power to profile anywhere — which is crucial because he’s unlikely to stay on the dirt.” Calhoun hit .255 with one home run and six runs batted in.
Alex Verdugo (#25): Callis – “Questions about his effort and maturity continue to follow Verdugo and contributed to the Dodgers pulling him from the league, but as one scout said, it’s hard to ignore his hitting ability and arm strength.”
There were rumors about Verdugo’s commitment when he was signed and maybe he is a trade candidate. However, I think the season simply got long for him and he didn’t handle being tired well. There certainly is an element of pressure in the AFL as many of the best prospects play there, especially offensive players. Verdugo went on to play for Team Mexico in a pair of exhibition games in Japan.
Second baseman Tim Locastro did not make the Top 25 list but he did have a productive AFL season posting a .313 batting average and a .351 OBP.
On the mound, right-handed reliever Joe Broussard continued to impress following a very successful 2016 season with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and the Tulsa Drillers. With the Glendale Desert Dogs, he posted a 1.59 ERA in 11.1 innings pitched over 11 appearances along with a 0.88 WHIP. He struck out nine and issued no free passes.
With the realization that Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen may be lost to free agency, Dodgers minor league right-hander Joe Broussard has proven himself a worthy closer in his own right. He tied for the lead in this year’s AFL with five saves.
(Photo courtesy of @joe_boo21)
Right-hander Corey Copping posted a 3.48 ERA in nine games over 10.1 innings while striking out 11 and walking five.
Right-hander Ralston Cash was plagued by control issues walking more than he struck out and another right-hander, Chris Anderson, simply got hit around in virtually every outing.
In other AFL news 19-year old Gleyber Torres hit .403 to become the youngest batting champion in the history of the league. In addition to his league-best average, Torres led the circuit with an OBP of .513 and an OPS of 1.158. His slugging percentage of .645 ranked second in the league.
Now the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect, Torres was honored on the last day of the season when he was presented with the Joe Black Most Valuable Player Award.
The Joe Black MVP Award was first presented in 2002 in the AFL and is named in honor of former Brooklyn Dodger Joe Black, the 1952 National League Rookie of the Year and the first black pitcher to win a World Series game.
Torres was the center piece in the trade in which the Yankees sent Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs.
Also on Saturday, November 9, before his Mesa Solar Sox played in the Arizona Fall League championship game, Austin Nola was named the recipient of the Dernell Stenson Sportsmanship Award, which is presented annually to the AFL player who best exemplifies unselfishness, hard work and leadership.
The Stenson Sportsmanship Award was created in 2004 in memory of former AFL player Dernell Stenson who was killed the previous year during the AFL season.
The only Dodger who has won the Stenson Sportsmanship Award was Russ Mitchell who played first base for the Peoria Javelinas in 2009.
And for those of us who like to beat ourselves up over trades, former Dodger Frankie Montas had quite the season in the Arizona Fall League. He combined with Dylan Covey and Drew Steckenrider to throw the third no-hitter in the 25-year history of the Arizona Fall League as Mesa topped Surprise, 1-0. The no-hitter was the first in the past 15 years of fall league play, with the previous two coming on November 5, 2001 and October 14, 1997.
It’s hard to argue that the Oakland A’s didn’t win the trade with the Dodgers when they acquired Frankie Montas. Both Josh Reddick and Rich Hill were merely late season rentals for the Dodgers.
(Photo credit – Bill Mitchell)
Montas posted a 0.53 ERA in the Arizona Fall League as a reliever in 17 innings. His fastball averaged 98 mph on no-hitter day and reached triple digits.
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A question to those who have seen Cody play more than I have (1 game). Does he always roll his right ankle when he hits, as he did in the pic shown here? It seems to me that can cause some big problems.
Yes he does, just as Corey Seager and just about every other hitter does.
When I photograph these guys, I use a continuous shutter setting so that I can (hopefully) catch the ball at the exact moment of contact which, if I’m lucky, I am successful at roughly 50% of the time. I do not have a wazoo super-fast shutter setup like Jon SooHoo and the other professional photographers have because… well… I’m not a professional photographer. I’m a retired cop who happens to be an big-time Dodger fan who happens to also run a (basically) one-man operation blog site (with A LOT of help from Scott, Harold, Evan and occasionally Robb.
The ankle rolling thing last but a fraction of a second (literally) and usually occurs at or near the exact moment of contact and then it is immediately followed by a foot plant, which is then followed by a follow-through step in the direction that the ball is hit.
Obviously, the ankle roll thing is exaggerated more in some hitters than others, but it is almost always present in hard-swinging power hitters.
I set out to learn something new everyday. I reckon I learned something today.
Thanks.
I actually just went outside to try my swing (I haven’t played competitively in decades), to see if it’s something that felt natural to me. It didn’t, so I reckon I never did it.
It still looks like something that would destroy an ankle.
What I saw in that AFL ASG was a HUGE, long sort of swing by Bellinger that made Joc’s swings look like half swings or bunts. It of course does not take away from his tremendous showing, and even though the minors and AFL are not MLB necessarily Cody appears to handle LHP well enough so far. That HR in that game came off a lefty and was very impressive. I am sure since he has been making adjustments as he goes along, that he will shorten up and prevent perhaps big league pitching from exploiting his swing.
I have to say that attending even a very small number of AFL games this year, it was one of the highlights of the entire baseball season for me.
There are always so many extremely talented kids participating in this, the granddaddy of (so-called) minor league winter ball. It is, in every sense of the word, the premiere off-season league – bar none.
Unfortunately, fan attendance was absolutely pathetic. I mean, there were fewer than 300 people and each of the four regular games that I attended – not counting the Fall Stars Game, of course. I was extremely disappointed by this, as many of these kids are on the brink of making it to The Show.
That being said, Paul Jensen and the rest of the AFL staff and the respective stadium staffs were absolutely awesome to work with and treated the media (even a lowly blogger like myself) extremely well. I most certainly never went hungry or thirsty, that’s for sure.
With insane ticket prices to attend MLB games (including spring training games), I simply do not understand why more people do not take advantage of what is arguably the best in minor league baseball.
Here is Barry Bond’s swing.
And there you have it.
; )
Cody Bellinger
These guys like Bellinger not only for his athleticism but his approach to hitting and the game. He is a student of the game so he makes the adjustments.
Just click on The Next Big Leaguers image.
Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo are two excellent talent evaluators, and stated far more eloquently than I attempted to do with respect to Cody Bellinger’s ability to adapt. I have read multiple other scouting reports that have stated the same thing. Cody is learning in the minors what Joc is attempting to learn at the ML level. I feel confident that he will, and that both Joc and Cody will be power hitting LH batters in the middle of the LAD lineup. I just believe that Cody will hit with a higher BA and less K’s.
Totally agree AC on both Cody and Joc.
Now the Dodgers need three players similar to and the same age as Joc, Cory, and Cody that hit from the right side.
Puig is a possibility but Toles and Verdugo and Calhoun hit from the left side.