We are three weeks into the Arizona Fall League and since it’s a Monday off-day, it’s a good time to check in on the Mesa Solar Sox. The Solar Sox played six games this past week and won two of them and lost four of them. That gives them an overall record of 6-10 and puts Mesa in fifth place in the six-team AFL.
Just as a reminder, the Arizona Fall League is a postseason minor league where prospects can get in more work before the winter starts. The Mesa Solar Sox are the team that Cubs prospects play
for and the team plays their home games at the Cubs Spring Training home of Sloan Park. The other four teams with players on the Solar Sox this year are the Athletics, Yankees, Marlins and Rays.
As a reminder, here are our week 1 wrap-up/preview and week 2 update.
As mentioned earlier, the Solar Sox went 2 and 4 this past week. They split a doubleheader on Tuesday and won on Saturday in extra innings. They dropped the other four games.
The home team is listed second.
Tuesday, October 21—game one: Salt River Rafters 7, Solar Sox 0.
Tuesday, October 22—game two: River Rafters 3, Solar Sox 6.
Wednesday, October 23: Solar Sox 1, River Rafters 14.
Thursday, October 24: Surprise Saguaros 7, Solar Sox 5.
Saturday, October 26: Solar Sox 11, Saguaros 10 in 10 innings.
Sunday, October 27: Solar Sox 4, Scottsdale Scorpions 7.
Here’s how the Cubs on the Solar Sox did this past week.
Catcher Owen Ayers: Ayers has been having a good AFL season and he’s probably helped his cause more than any other Cubs player on the Solar Sox. Ayers has been written up on Baseball America for his hot start at the plate and praised for his strong throwing arm and release time, although they’ve noted the rest of his defensive game could use some work. Ayers also got a nice feature write-up at MLB dot com.
Ayers went 4 for 4 with a walk, a stolen base and a double on Sunday, which didn’t cool anyone’s enthusiasm for him. Overall he played three games behind the plate and one in right field, a position he hasn’t played since the Draft League in 2022. (He did commit an error in right in his one game, however.)
For the week, Ayers went 6 for 12 with a double and six walks. He scored four runs and drove in two. Overall in the AFL, he’s hitting .405/.560/.676 with four doubles and two home runs over 11 games. He’s walked 12 times and has only struck out seven times.
Shortstop Ed Howard:
Howard had a better week getting two hits on Wednesday and one more on Sunday. He played in three games—twice at second base and once at shortstop—and went 3 for 9 with a stolen base.
For the AFL campaign, Howard is hitting .174/.321/.174 over eight games.
First baseman Cole Mathis:
Mathis played in four of the six games this past week, all of them at first base. His best game was Thursday’s loss to Surprise, when Mathis went 2 for 4 with two runs batted in.
For the week, Mathis went 4 for 14 with two walks, two runs scored and two RBI. On the season, Mathis is hitting .345/.429/.448 in nine games.
Right-hander Luis Martinez-Gomez:
Martinez-Gomez got called on in the bottom of the seventh inning with runners on the corners, two outs and Mesa trailing 6-4. He got a fly out to end the threat with no further runs scoring. He also got called on to pitch the seventh inning on Sunday and he retired the side in order, striking out one. So four up, four down for Martinez-Gomez this week.
For the fall season, Martinez-Gomez has made four appearances, all in relief, and has given up one run over 4.1 innings for a 2.08 ERA. He’s struck out eight, walked two and hit one batter over that time.
Right-hander Koen Moreno:
Moreno started Thursday’s loss to Surprise and gave up a three-run home run to Royals prospect Blake Mitchell that left the bat at 116.5 miles per hour. He then settled down in the second and third inning before letting the first batter of the fourth inning reach on a strikeout/wild pitch and the second one put runners on second and third with a double. Moreno was taken out of the game after that, but both runners would come around to score.
So the final line on Moreno, who got the loss in Thursday’s game, was five runs on five hits over 3+ innings. Moreno struck out six and walked one. He also hit one batter.
For the entire AFL, Moreno has made three appearances, two starts, and has allowed five runs over 10 innings. You should be able to figure out that’s a 4.50 ERA. So yeah, he hadn’t allowed a run before Thursday’s struggles. Moreno has struck out eight and walked two.
Right-hander Mat Peters:
Peters got one inning of garbage time in the bottom of the eighth on Wednesday with the Solar Sox trailing 12-1. It was a 14-1 deficit by the time Peters exited, because he gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in his one inning of work. He did not record a strikeout.
Overall, Peters has made four relief appearance, totalling 4.2 innings. Peters has given up six runs and seven hits in that time, giving him an ERA of 11.57. He’s struck out one and walked five.
Right-hander JP Wheat:
Wheat pitched the seventh inning of Saturday’s win. He immediately loaded the bases with no outs on a walk, a single and another walk. But he induced a 6-4-3 double play, which scored one run, and followed that up with another walk and finally a strikeout to end the inning and the threat. Hey, progress.
Wheat has made three relief appearances in the AFL totalling up to three innings. In that time, he’s allowed nine runs on five hits and nine walks. That’s an ERA of 27.00 in case anyone was having trouble calculating it. Wheat has only struck out two.
