Robbie Grossman’s hot start in the Arizona Fall League has continued into the league’s third week. Through 13 games, Grossman is hitting a ridiculous .375/.462/.643. He’s tied for the league lead with four homers. Of course, everyone in the league is killing the ball (check out this offensive leaderboard), but hey, Grossman needs to hit for more power to be a better prospect so this is certainly better than him not doing it. Jarek Cunningham is also acquitting himself quite well, with a two-homer game the other day driving his numbers up towards the stratosphere as well.
Gerrit Cole’s second start is this afternoon and I should have time to scour Twitter while he’s out there, since the starts of the best prospects are usually full of scouts tweeting about what’s going on. Like last week, I’ll try to get this post updated with his performance.
Also, I know a bunch of other Pirates are playing this winter, but I haven’t had time to go digging through the Caribbean or Australian leagues’ sites to check on performances. Hopefully I’ll get to that within the next day or two and I’ll have it posted up when I do.
UPDATE: Cole got through the first with a flyout (against Angels’ prospect Mike Trout), groundout, and strikeout (plus a walk). 17 pitches total, 10 strikes, and he hit 100 on the gun again. Robbie Grossman then lead off the bottom of the first with a solo homer, his fifth in the AFL.
UPDATE #2: Cole gave up two hits in the second inning (including a single to Bryce Harper on a 99 mph fastball), but got another strikeout and got through the inning unscathed. He’s at 39 pitches, so I’d guess he has maybe one more inning. Also, Jarek Cunningham just doubled in the bottom of the second.
UPDATE #3: Cole got through the third this time in easy fashion, getting another pop-up from Trout and his third K. Final line: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 3 K, 1 BB, 0R. Not a bad second outing against a team with Harper and Trout in the lineup.
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