This seems like a good time to check in on some of the names we spotlighted weeks ago, to see who’s been able to live up to their potential and if any have been busts. We’ll start things off with a Rays’ first baseman that we were really high on to open the Arizona Fall League season.

 

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Jake Bauers, First Base, Tampa Bay Rays

Part of the reason for the love that we had for Bauers centered around how quickly he has moved through the ranks and how well he had done despite his age. It looks like the youthfulness has finally caught up to Bauers, who barely turned 20 upon arriving in the desert.

Through 14 games with the Mesa Solar Sox, Bauers is hitting just .212, with two home runs, eight RBI, and five runs scored. How rough has it been? He has more strikeouts (12) than hits (11) right now, and that’s never a good sign. It is a sign, though, that the Rays should temper any expectations that he is going to be in the majors in 2016, and work on a far more realistic timetable of mid- to late-2017.

 

Steven Brault, Starting Pitcher, Pittsburgh Pirates

ERA is such a terrible stat when there is a small sample size, as it would be easy to look at Brault’s 5.19 ERA and write off his performance. However, almost all of that damage came in his first outing, where he allowed three hits, two walks, and four earned runs in just 2 ⅔ innings. No matter what he did after that, his ERA was going to be high.

Instead of staying high, though, it dropped quickly, thanks to two very solid performances following that. In his second outing, against the Scottsdale Scorpions, Brault looked somewhat better, allowing the Scorpions six hits and a walk in three innings. It was in his third outing, against the Surprise Saguaros, that finally gave us a chance to see Brault at his best, as he held the Saguaros to one hit and one walk in three scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Braut has done nothing to hurt his timetable to the majors, and he will be up at some point in 2016.

 

Austin Meadows, Center Field, Pittsburgh Pirates

One of the most heralded prospects in the Arizona Fall League, the 20-year-old Meadows is clearly overmatched at this point, as he is hitting just .164 with one home run, 11 RBI, and six runs scored, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is a wretched 12:2. Meadows will be back in Double-A to start 2016. The Pirates will take their time with their future stud. The Fall League has given them no reason to rush him.

 

Kyle Freeland, Starting Pitcher, Colorado Rockies

The first outing for Freeland might as well have been in Colorado, as he was torched, allowing five hits (two of which left the yard), two walks, and six earned runs in just 2/3rds of an inning. His next three outings, though, were all dramatically better. In those outings, he has allowed just one home run over 14 innings, with no home runs allowed, 13 hits and three walks. He struck out nine. That’s the type of performance the Rockies were hoping to get out of Freeland. Look for him to move up to Double-A to open 2016, and he should have a shot at the majors in 2017.

 

Raimel Tapia, Outfield, Colorado Rockies

My hope for Tapia was that he was going to work on his plate discipline while out in the desert, but that hasn’t happened, as he has 13 strikeouts and just two walks in 65 at-bats over 18 games. Outside of that, though, he hasn’t done anything to disappoint, as he is hitting .292 with one home run, six RBI, eleven runs scored, and four stolen bases in six attempts. His on-base percentage does suffer due to the lack of patience, and hopefully that will improve in time. We should be able to see how he does in that department at Double-A when the 2016 season opens up.

 

Christian Arroyo, Shortstop, San Francisco Giants

The only thing I didn’t like about Arroyo’s game when I first wrote about him was his strikeout-to-walk ratio; otherwise, everything about him screamed stud-in-the-making. Turning to how he has been doing in the Fall League, Arroyo continues to build on that success, as he is hitting .339 with three home runs, nine RBI, and 11 runs scored in 56 at-bats over 14 games. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is much, much better, at 9:4 currently. Still just 20, there’s so much to love about the Giants’ shortstop of the future. He’ll almost certainly be up in 2017; the only question is how early in the year.

 

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