The success in the Arizona Rookie League is largely based on the draft that occurs less than a month before the league starts. It’s not a reflection on the future MLB talent taken in the draft, however, but who is most ready to play at the moment of being drafted.
Last year, the AZL Indians stormed their way to a first half play-off spot with a 20-8 record, largely supported by returning players from the 2015 team as well as promotions from the previous year’s DSL. Once the 2016 draft began to take over, however, they struggled and went 11-17 in the second half, finishing second to last in the AZL Central and third from the bottom overall.
While wins and losses don’t count in instructional or extended Spring ball, the struggles of 2016 were still apparent and many of the more successful players have recently been assigned to Mahoning Valley (like Jason Rodriguez, Samad Taylor and Francisco Perez) or have already been promoted to Lake County (like Junior Soto, Dalbert Siri and Jorma Rodriguez). This leaves behind an overall incredibly weak group that looks to be filled out with a complete unknown, the 2017 draft class.
Of those remaining, there are still a few that really stand out. These are exclusively players from the Dominican Summer League, however, as essentially all of the 2016 picks have been promoted. Of pitchers, Luis Oviedo are Juan Mota were all successful in the rotation for the DSL team last year. While Oviedo’s 2-8 record and 4.00 ERA may not excite, he had the second best K/9 among starters at 8.0 and walked just 17 in 63 innings at the age of 17. Now 18, he’ll be inline with the others in the AZL, but still on the young end and it will be interesting to see if improved playing conditions can improve his numbers.
Mota has also only been with the Indians for one season, but is already 21 and needs to be on the fast track. He only struck out 41 and walked 28 in 60 innings, so there isn’t a whole lot to get excited over considering upside.
In the bullpen, Maiker Manzanillo, who had a 6.9 K/9 and 3.00 ERA last year in the DSL and Jean Carlos Mejia, who doesn’t walk anyone (1.3 BB/9) or allow home runs, should be decent. They will be joined by Kenny Nunez and Ramon Tineo who had great success in an extremely limited period in the DSL last year.
Offensively, there’s little beyond the 2017 with much upside. The one player who stands out, however, is Ronny Dominguez. A solid defensive center fielder, Dominguez was one of the DSL Indians’ top hitters last year and impressed during Extended Spring. Miguel Jerez and Felix Fernandez are two catchers that deserve as much of a chance as Jose Vicente and Jason Rodriguez got last year at this level. Otherwise, they have a bit of a talent vacuum that will likely be filled as draft picks start signing.
As of those who have been announced, Tre Gantt (29th round), Chandler Ferguson (25th round) and Pedro Alfonseca (17th round) have signed and will report to the AZL to start the 2017 season. Chances are, the biggest names of this draft will eventually join them as the Indians rarely miss out on signing their top picks and each of the first three players taken, Quentin Holmes, Tyler Freeman and Johnathan Rodriguez are coming straight out of high school and are either 17 or just turned 18. Holmes and Rodriguez are outfielders while Freeman is a short stop.
Through the rest of the draft, the Indians only chose eight players (including Ferguson) from high school, so it’s possible the AZL team could be a little older than usual. While this could ultimately take the weak team from last season and make them one of the best in the league simply by being a few years older than everyone else, it won’t necessarily mean anything for future success. Make sure to stay tuned for the rest of the season for Burning River Baseball’s weekly This is Next Year reports on minor league happenings and for my individual looks at players within the Arizona Rookie League.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
