AFL

[fish16]

yamamoto going again today. he and monte have been damn good so far so hopefully he keeps it up.

[fish16]

Yamamoto with 5 innings of 1 run ball. 4 k's but 4 BB's. Monte with another good game going 1-2 with an RBI, 2 bb's and just 1 k. Average up to .375 with an .880 OPS and just a 6:5 K/BB ratio in 32 ab's as the game still has a few more innings left. Gotta be encouraged with Monte's improvement thus far. If he can cut his K rate significantly thats a top 50 prospect but thats an enormous if. Gotta see if he can sustain this but good showing thus far for him in the AFL.

[Nick]

1 XBH, a double. I wonder if they're working on a drastic approach change with him. You would hope cutting down on the K's would not also cut down on his power.

[Lee Stone]

1 XBH, a double. I wonder if they're working on a drastic approach change with him. You would hope cutting down on the K's would not also cut down on his power.

Almost every ball he's put in play has been on the ground.

[fish16]

I wonder how much power they might be willing to sacrifice or if it might be slightly by design to cut down on his K rate significantly while also knowing that he has the most pure power in the system and that it still would be likely to show up. Like I said yesterday he hit a ball harder the other day than any ball that any marlins player hit all season so there is sort of a baseline power that he has anyway where they might be willing to sacrifice just a little bit of it to improve drastically on his plate discipline. Its also a small sample for all of this so we shall see if he can carry it over to AAA in April.

[fish16]

Monte Harrison still impressing at the AFL. Got only his 2nd XBH yesterday so the power hasnt been there but still a +.800 OPS, only K'ing about 25% of the time in this limited sample which would be an enormous improvement, and he's even walking some which would also improve his outlook. Plus he's had 3 steals in 3 attempts. I wish we were starting him back in Jax but hopefully he can carry this over to Nola and make his major league debut late next year and be ready opening day 2020. Still see him as our RF of the future with .250-.270 avg, hopefully he can get to a .330-.340 OBP, .830+ OPS, 20-25 HR's, 25 steals, good defense and a great arm.

[Lee Stone]

Today's Fall League championship game at 3 pm EST will be broadcast on MLB.com. Yamamoto with the start for River Rafters. Monte Harrison gets the start in CF and bats seventh.

Yamamoto showed amazing stuff over 4 innings, just a great curveball. He'll be an excellent part of our bullpen for the next five years.

Same old with Harrison. Three grounders and a whiff. Fortunately, one of the ground balls went up the middle for an rbi single. He has a long way to go.

[tjfla]

Changes for 2019!!!

The 2019 AFL will begin Sept. 17 and conclude with a championship game on Oct. 27.

Clubs will also now be able to nominate any player in their organization to play in the AFL. In the past, only one player below Double-A was allowed per major league organization