Monday, August 25, 2014

We continue our look at AAA affiliates of Sovereign League teams. Yesterday, we looked at affiliates of the Great Lakes Division teams. Today, we’ll tackle the Desert Hills.

Bakersfield Bears

The West Valley City Grizzlies have had a solid season, with their record sitting at 77-56. Much of that is due to the peculiar case of starter Ralph Dean. Ralph is a 35-year-old right-handed starter from Oak Ridge, Florida. He has a middling fastball that tops out at 88 MPH, a decent changeup, and a screwball, as well. He works hard, by all accounts, and he certainly has perseverance. After compiling a 32-31 record for Charleston, West Virginia, and Reno from 2007-2009, Dean has toiled in a variety of minor leagues for the past five years, never giving up. He signed a contract with the Bakersfield Bears just before spring training this season and he has been dominant ever since, starting 27 games and compiling a 15-8 record with a 2.51 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP. He has walked a mere 19 batters in 189.2 innings. Yeah, Bakersfield is pretty loaded. They probably don’t need a 36-year-old starter in their rotation next season, but it makes a durned good story, don’t it?

Aurora Borealis

As if to add insult to injury for the struggling teams in the SL, not only is Aurora within striking distance of Bakersfield, but their AAA affiliate, the Thornton FasTrax, is loaded with talent and destroying all competition with a nearly .700 winning percentage. From their plethora of riches, who might be headed for the PEBA soon? On a AAA team loaded with solid hitters, my bet is on right-handed MR Mark Newton. In 51 innings this season, Mark has struck out a hitter per inning. Opposing batters are hitting just .174 against him, and lefties just .116. He hasn’t given up a home run all season. On top of this, Aurora is stocked with talent at the big league level, but the contracts of several of the bullpen members are expiring this year: Ángel Lara, Francisco Garza, and closer Juan Suárez. Sure, Aurora has money to burn, but why spend big bucks on a middle reliever when you have young, homegrown talent available?

Palm Springs Codgers

Palm Springs’ pitching is below average in nearly every category save for strikeouts (where they rank 4^th). Three of their five starters have expiring contracts, so it doesn’t take a genius to see that the performance of SP Miguel Canó with the Provo Missionaries could get him a chance to pitch in a Codgers’ uniform in 2015. Canó hasn’t been lights-out by any stretch, but he’s thinking pitcher who mixes five different pitches. This year, he has compiled a 12-8 record with a 3.50 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. After recovering from a ruptured bicep tendon in 2009, he has battled back to post two consecutive solid seasons at Provo. The big lefty won’t dominate, but he has a chance to be an effective, low-cost addition to the Codgers’ staff next season.

Tempe Knights

The Chandler Waxers have struggled all season and find themselves a healthy 39 games out of the division lead, so they don’t have a ton to play for right now. One player who is definitely playing for a shot at the big leagues is closer Estaban Cuevas. Picked up in a 2013 trade with Fargo, the big 22-year-old southpaw has been fairly solid all year, with 23 saves, a 3.26 ERA, and a 1.22 WHIP. Oddly, despite being a lefty, he has struggled against left-handed hitters, who have hit .303 against him this season. Perhaps not earth-shattering numbers, but when you consider that veteran closer Ricardo Díaz has announced his intention to test free agency and add to that Tempe’s perilous financial situation, it seems likely that Cuevas could get a shot in the bigs next season. Cuevas gets by primarily on his sinker and fastball, but he has been working with pitching coach Joe Gillespie to develop a curveball and improve on his changeup.

Reno Tenpinners

Reno has gotten decent performances this season from a trio of young outfielders, with Ernesto Salazar, Domingo Rojas, and António Morales all posting fine numbers. But Salazar has struggled with injuries, and the other two certainly aren’t world-beaters. Reno is full of relatively young outfielders, so Glendale Skyelanders CF Dale Griffith has as good a shot as any to compete for a spot. The speedy Massachusetts native has been solid all year, batting .295 with 13 HR and 46 RBI. As a 2010 1^st-round pick, he might bring some excitement to the park. Certainly, having several young center fielders can’t be a bad thing for a Reno team that is battling Yuma for the coveted Desert Hills cellar. If nothing else, they could consider moving one of the three for someone else that fills a position of need.

Yuma Bulldozers

Ahh, Yuma. Adjectives fail us. I expected I might find a bevy of high performers in the farm system, but… not so much, at least not on the Henderson Fighting Scotts. LF Brad Howell has performed consistently this year, and given that no outfielder on the Bulldozers is hitting over .231 for the season, the bar is set fairly low for a shot at the big leagues. Actually, Howell got a cup of coffee in 2013 and really didn’t fare that poorly, batting .267 in 30 games. This year in AAA, Howell is batting .281 with a .352 OBP, and showing more pop than expected with 13 HR this season. He’s a hard worker and has a good mix of skills for small ball, which is good since Yuma has little power to knock runners around the bases. So perhaps Brad Howell gets a shot. It’s not like he could make things worse, right?