The second week of the Arizona Fall League is now in the books! As a reminder, the Yankees’ representatives this year for the Mesa Solar Sox are Bryce Cunningham, Cade Smith, Brady Kirtner, Coby Morales,
Hueston Morrill, Manuel Palencia, Adam Stone, and Enmanuel Tejeda. Here’s how they performed this past week, as compared to Week 1.
October 14 (Solar Sox 4, Saguaros 3) – The Solar Sox picked up their second win on Tuesday thanks in large part to Cade Smith, who made his AFL debut with three scoreless innings in relief. The 2023 sixth-rounder replaced Andrew Lindsey in the top of the fourth and walked the first batter he faced, but from that point on his performance was flawless. He induced fly balls from Dylan Dreiling and Juan Benjamin and got Carson Roccaforte to swing at air to end the inning. Smith followed that up in the fifth by striking out Blake Mitchell, Luke Adams, and Malcolm Moore in order. The righty came back out for the sixth and fanned Daniel Vasquez, then induced groundballs from Josh Adamczewski and Dylan Campbell to end his outing.
Manuel Palencia was the only Yankees prospect in the starting lineup; he went 0-2 with a walk and a run scored. Smith’s strong performance earned him the victory.
October 15 (Solar Sox 2, Saguaros 6) – Bryce Cunningham made his second start of Fall ball after pitching the first game for the Solar Sox, when he gave up four runs in the opening frame and found himself tagged with the loss. Last year’s second-round pick didn’t fare much better in this outing, though he did make it further into the game and was hobbled by poor defense. After a 1-2-3 first, he gave up a couple of hits to Moore and Vasquez in the second and allowed his first run of the day. He retired the first two batters in the third but then issued two walks, and a run scored on what would have been an inning-ending grounder had 19-year-old Starlyn Caba fielded it cleanly. Moore then knocked in two more unearned runs with his second double of the day. Cunningham finished with four runs allowed, though just one earned, in 3.2 innings with two walks and just one strikeout.
On offense, Coby Morales and Enmanuel Tejeda were in the starting lineup for the Solar Sox. Morales went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and Tejeda went 0-for-1 with three walks. Cunningham earned his second loss in as many appearances. In short, it was not the Baby Bombers’ night.
October 16 (Solar Sox 2, Javelinas 6) – Palencia and Morales were in the starting lineup for Thursday’s game. Palencia went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, but Morales picked up two hits in the loss: a double in the fifth inning which knocked starter Luis De Leon out of the game, and a line-drive single in the bottom of the ninth off of Kannon Kemp. Adam Stone came on to pitch in the top of the eighth, and allowed three hits (singles to Leo Balcazar and Brock Rodden and a double to Enrique Bradfield Jr) with just one strikeout. Brady Kirtner inherited Stone’s mess and allowed a double to Ethan Anderson and a single to Cam Collier, but he was able to get out of the inning with a strikeout of Ryan Jackson.
October 17 (Solar Sox 0, Scorpions 11) – No Yankees took the mound for the Solar Sox on Friday, which was a good thing since they got absolutely crushed. Morales and Tejeda both appeared in the lineup, and Morales picked up two more hits: a single in the fourth inning and another in the seventh. Tejeda, however, went hitless in three at-bats with a strikeout.
October 18 (Solar Sox 7, Desert Dogs 5) – Mesa got back on track Saturday, winning 7-5 in seven innings with a late three-run rally. Palenica and Tejeda both picked up one hit in the win. Palencia singled in the top of the third inning but was stranded at third base, and Tejeda knocked in two runs in the sixth with a ground-rule double.
October 19 (Solar Sox 12, Javelinas 6) – It was another big day for the Solar Sox offense, as they closed out the week with their second consecutive win. Tejeda was the lone Yankees prospect in the starting lineup. He picked up an RBI single in the third inning and scored, then singled again in the fifth, stole a base, and dented home plate once more. Kirtner took the mound in the bottom of the third and allowed a single to Bradfield and a walk to Farmelo, both of whom scored on a fielding error by Caba. He induced a groundball to end the frame, then recorded another out in the fourth before a single ending his outing. Hueston Morrill pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning in a non-save situation to end the game.
Here are the stats for the Yankees prospects in the Arizona Fall League:
Enmanuel Tejeda: 3-23, 1 2B, 6 R, 3 RBI, 7 BB, 8 SO, 2 SB
Coby Morales: 5-16, 1 HR, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 6 SO, 1 SB
Manuel Palencia: 1-14, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 SO
Bryce Cunningham: (0-2) 5.2 IP, 8 H, 8 R (5 ER), 4 BB, 2 K
Brady Kirtner: (0-1) 3.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Adam Stone: 1.0 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Hueston Morrill: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
Cade Smith: (1-0) 3 IP, 1 H, 5 K
