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Friday, October 17th

D.J. Peterson, 1B, Mariners (Surprise, AFL): 1-4, R, HR. I mentioned this in a chat when a reader asked me about Peterson’s future, but sometimes these developmental decisions are quite complicated and sometimes they are remarkably simple. Many scouts believed that Peterson was destined for first base as soon as he was drafted; others thought he had a chance to stick at third. Regardless of where he falls on that spectrum, he’s probably destined for first base just out of the Mariners’ necessity, and he’s seeing some time at the new position this fall. He’s not going to unseat Kyle Seager, but Peterson is going to be an everyday bat and won’t need too much more time in the minors. His bat won’t play as well at first base, but whose does? It still projects to be a better option than the pu pu platter the Mariners trotted there this year.

Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees (Scottsdale, AFL): 2-4, 2 R, BB. Facing his best competition to date, Judge continues to thrive and is keeping his strikeout total to a minimum, despite a size that tends to lend towards swing-and-miss issues. The reason is a short approach to the ball, in which he keeps his swing as compact as possible for a player of his size. This limits his power slightly, but he still has more than enough to go around and be an impact bat.

Hunter Dozier, 3B, Royals (Peoria, AFL): 0-4, R, BB, 4 K. Our guys, who have seen Dozier a number of times this season, rave about his potential. This performance obviously doesn’t reflect that, but it’s important to remember that Dozier is at the end of a long season—his first full season and his longest to date by far—and it’s certainly possible that he is just out of gas. I’ll get a better look at whether or not that’s a viable excuse for Dozier when I see him in a few weeks, but it’s certainly plausible.

Nester Molina, RHP, White Sox (Cardenales de Lara, VWL): 4 IP, 5 H, R, 0 BB, 5 K. You might remember Molina as the guy who the White Sox acquired for then-closer Sergio Santos a few years back. While at the time it was thought that the White Sox may have received a back-end rotation piece in return, that is no longer the case. He’s starting in Venezuela, but at this point, he’s a middle reliever at best and provides the White Sox with strike-throwing bullpen depth.

Saturday, October 18th

Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Pirates (Scottsdale, AFL): 3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, BB, 3 K. Glasnow rarely gets hit hard, so any outing that results in him throwing a lot of strikes is bound to end well. When Glasnow throws strikes, he’s virtually unhittable. We know he misses a ton of bats, so it’s really all about his ability to put the ball in the strike zone, no matter his level of competition. He needs to continue to develop his offspeed arsenal, but a plus fastball with fantastic downward plane can go a long way.

Archie Bradley, RHP, Diamondbacks (Salt River, AFL): 2 IP, 3 H, 7 R (4 ER), 4 BB, 2 K. Bradley is in the same boat as Glasnow, but his command issues are perhaps an even bigger concern. Bradley is further along than Glasnow, and thus needs to throw strikes even sooner. He should be ready for the majors soon, but he’s continually forced himself to work around additional base runners as a professional. He’ll be a big-league starter just based on pure stuff and pedigree, but as long as he keeps battling himself, he’ll have to settle for something much lower than the top-of-the-rotation potential he has in front of him.

Steven Moya, OF, Tigers (Glendale, AFL): 2-4, 3 R, HR. Feast or famine is nothing new for Moya, who is hitting over .300 in the short fall season thus far but has hits in just four of his eight games and nine strikeouts to date. There is a lot of debate about how long, and against how high of a level of competition, he’ll be able to pull off this approach, but as long as he keeps hitting for power, the rest of his flaws will be accepted.

Zach Davies, RHP, Orioles (Glendale, AFL): 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K. Despite being just 21 and having already spent the season in Double-A, there’s not a lot of projection left in Davies. His fastball sits in the low 90s, which limits his ceiling, but a plus changeup has allowed him to have success at every level he’s tried thus far. No matter his success, he remains a back-end starter because of the lack of velocity, but a quality offspeed pitch can take a lesser pitcher to the big leagues.

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