The Arizona Fall League rosters were announced Wednesday evening and have had a few changes already, but the Atlanta Braves that have been announced are interesting, to say the least.
Last fall, the Atlanta Braves sent a class of players to the Arizona Fall League that stole headlines for two months from Austin Riley hitting long balls to Max Fried flashing impressive performances on the mound, to the dominant MVP of the entire AFL, Ronald Acuna.
What was most notable of the list of players the Braves will be sending to Arizona was the lack of arms listed. There are two very feasible reasons for this – unfinished minor league seasons, and heavy usage over the 2018 season.
There were three arms that I thought would have a chance to see time in Arizona. The first was Joey Wentz. Wentz has pitched very well when on the mound this season, but he has missed some time, leaving his season tally at 64 1/3 innings. Over that time, he’s posted a 2.10 ERA and 1.09 WHIP, with a 24/50 BB/K ratio.
Very typically, the Arizona Fall League is utilized by teams to give extra time to players who were hurt during the regular season, give players a chance to work on a new position or new role, or to simply get a chance to showcase against some of the best prospects in the game. The first and third reasonings would fit well with Wentz.
The second arm that would seem to be a solid choice for the AFL was actually eliminated from consideration this past week when the Mississippi Braves placed lefty Luiz Gohara onto the disabled list. Gohara first caught the Atlanta Braves attention at the Arizona Fall League in 2016, when his dynamic fastball/slider combination was the talk of the league that season.
However, one of the rules of the roster for the AFL is that any player “must be activated from the DL 45 days before the conclusion of their respective season.” With Gohara currently on the DL and just a few days left in the Mississippi regular season, Gohara won’t be able to make up his missed 2018 innings in Arizona.
Finally, while I’d love to see Walter Borkovich get more work and get a chance to work against the top young hitters in the game, he’s pitched a ton of innings considering how he tallied them this year, pitching 33 games and 79 2/3 innings, even if only 5 of them were starts. Due to that, I think the other solid arm to give a shot in Arizona would be Keith Weisenberg, who has made 11 appearances, starting 10 games, and tossing 54 2/3 innings.
He’s really shown well with Rome as a starter with an ability to work as a mid-rotation type of arm, much more than what many thought was there when he was selected in the 14th round in 2017 out of Stanford. Getting some exposure to the top prospects in the game could really be a good measuring stick for the Atlanta Braves to see what they have in Weisenberg.
With each team sending six players to the AFL, we’ve seen four announced, so certainly Wentz and Weisenberg could be still named, but at this point the one certainty is that at least one arm will be part of those final two named.
Let’s take a look at the four who were named so far: