Tuesday, Oct. 14 — Max Anderson homers
On Monday, Max Anderson hit his first home run of the fall. He turned on a 95-mph fastball high and in for a 395-foot bomb — 26-degree launch angle and 104.5 mph off the bat! He also walked twice and scored a pair of runs while striking out once.
Kevin McGonigle had a slower day, striking out twice and walking once. He mixed in a sacrifice fly for an RBI. At this point in the week, his batting average of .214 looks rough, but those numbers improved over the week and he’s still living on base.
Kenny
Serwa got the start. It didn’t go well.
Serwa gave up four runs on three hits and a walk in the first inning, but he settled down and faced the minimum through the third. Scottsdale’s five-run first meant that Serwa left in line for the win, according to the official box score. I guess the five-inning rule doesn’t apply in Arizona (like daylight saving time?).
It’s not a great start for the knuckleballer, but he’s taken time to adjust at the higher levels of the minors. Maybe this is the same pattern.
Carlos Lequerica and Dariel Fregio threw the eighth and ninth, respectively. Lequerica had some command issues on a four-pitch walk, but he bounced back with a three-pitch strikeout. Classic reliever stuff. Fregio couldn’t avoid contact in the ninth, but nothing was hit harder than 88 mph. One singl, three groundouts.
Wednesday, Oct. 15 — Penney doubles
The only Tigers prospect that played on Tuesday was infielder Jack Penney, who manned second base. His day started with an RBI double in the second. He worked the count full and got around on a ball painting the outer edge of the zone. That’s not the best swing he could take, but no one is mad at an RBI double.
After that, things got rough for Penney. His three strikeouts were pretty ugly with stuff going right down the middle. He managed two walks to keep his OPS at an impressive .916, considering the .167 batting average.
Thursday, Oct. 16 — McGonigle goes 2-4
Only McGonigle in the lineup today. He’s playing third again.
He took a backfoot slider that stayed in the zone a bit too much through the right side for a single in his first at-bat. McGonigle swiped a base, too. He grounded out and hit into a fielder’s choice after that, but McGonigle ended the day with a 104-mph double in the seventh. Don’t hang slider to this dude.
Defensively, there’s not much to talk about. He was involved in two plays, both fairly routine.
Friday, Oct. 17 — Anderson stays hot
McGonigle moved to designated hitter for this one, and Anderson rejoined the lineup as a third basemen.
McGonigle went 0-for-2 on the day, but he walked twice and scored three times. Oh, and one of those outs was a nine-pitch strikeout. This kid is a pitcher’s nightmare. It’s a lot of what we saw at the end of the MiLB season. Pitch around him and get the next guy.
But that’s not a great plan when Anderson is behind McGonigle. He went 3-for-4 with another home run. For a while, Anderson was known as the guy who only hit homers to the opposite field. It’s safe to say he has the bat speed to pull the ball effectively now. He turned on an 87 mph changeup and sent it 109 mph off the bat. That takes a ton of torque and force.
Anderson is seeing the ball well and looks like a breakout star early on in the fall. He handled himself on a couple of plays at third, too. At this point, the bat will carry him to MLB, even if the glove is still catching up. To really maximize his production, the swing decisions need to keep improving, but he’s on his way in that regard.
Lequerica and Fregio worked the end of the game again. Lequerica got to go two innings this time. No control issues this time. He allowed a leadoff single in the seventh, but induced a double play and faced the minimum. Fregio allowed a hard-hit single, but he also got a double play to keep his ERA at zero. Nothing super impressive from these two, but they are effective.
Saturday, Oct. 18 — Penney goes 1-4
Penney is all alone in the lineup again, but it’s hard to figure out why the light-hitting utilityman prospect is batting third.
His only hit of the day was a soft liner into left. The silver lining is that he only struck out once. Not much to say here.
Sunday, Oct. 19 — Anderson homers again!
Anderson hit his third homer in as many games this week. This one was the classic Anderson long ball to right-center; 104 off the bat, 31 launch angle, good stuff. Pitchers are starting to work around him. Anderson walked three times in this one. He leads the Arizona Fall League with a .563 batting average, and his 2.033 OPS is second in the league.
McGonigle also had a good day. He went 2-for-5 with an RBI double in a record-breaking second. It’s a slower start than people would like, but there’s nothing wrong with a .441 on-base percentage.
