ABL in the AFL - Part 1: Pitchers

In the northern half of the country, winter has arrived. In Arizona, mid-November is still fall, and that means that the Arizona Fall League is in full swing for the 2009 season. This year's group of AFL prospects contains a handful of ex-Alaska Leaguers. Some are there to polish up their game on their charge toward the Big Leagues, while others are there hoping that the extra work will help take their careers off of life support.

We'll be taking a look at the former ABL players that are working in the Arizona Fall League this off-season. As the first installment of a two-part series, today we're looking at pitching. One thing I noticed right off the bat is that former-ABL pitchers in the league outnumber batters by more than 2 to 1. With that in mind, I thought it would be worthwhile to give you the bulkier piece to chew on while I write up the somewhat lighter round-up for the offensive side. So, without further ado, let's take a look at the Alaska connections in the AFL:





Gary Daley 
POS: SP
ABL Team: Anchorage Glacier Pilots (2005)
MLB Organization: St. Louis
AFL Team: Surprise Rafters

Daley has made his way to the 2009 Arizona Fall League hoping to put his career back on track and prove that he can perform at the professional level. Baseball America pegged the Cal Poly student athlete #2 prospect in the 2005 ABL where he compiled a 3-4 record with a 1.69 ERA over 53.1 innings. The St. Louis Cardinals though he had enough upside to take him in the third round of the 2006 amateur draft.

Gary found success in his first season in the pros, throwing 74 innings for Short-Season State College and posting a 3.28 ERA in 2006. Since then he has struggled. His control problems became most evident when he opened the 2008 season at High-A Palm Beach, where in a mere 2.2 innings of work he managed to hit 5  batters and walk another four. After being sent back down to the rookie-level Gulf Coast League his frustrations continued, and he gave up 32 walks while throwing 19 wild pitches and hitting another 9 men at the plate.

Last season Daley seemed to be working through some of his problems; while his stats aren't impressive (4-5 with a 6.65 ERA combined between A and AA ball) the fact that he managed to complete 88 innings and post a SO/BB ration over 1 is at least a sign of improvement. Now he's been given a shot at the AFL after David Kopp bowed out to have shoulder surgery. I think that Gary has the raw talent inside of him somewhere, and he could extend his career if he could get his stuff together. Hopefully he will make the best of this opportunity.



Matt Gorgen
POS: CP
ABL Team: Anchorage Bucs (2006)
MLB Organization: Tampa Bay
AFL Team: Phoenix Desert Dogs

Sixteenth-round draft pick Matt Gorgen was lights-out as the Bucs' closer in 2006 (9 saves and 37 K's in 29.1 IP) and he has been lights out in the pros since being picked by Tampa Bay in 2008. In his first pro season with Short-Season Hudson Valley he picked up 13 saves with a 1.96 ERA, striking out 35 over 23 pitched. The righty followed this up in 2009 with a combined 19-save, 1.15 ERA season split between High-A and AA, in which he struck out 77 over 70.1.

Matt's strong performance has earned him a spot on the AFL's Rising Stars squad, an honor reserved for some of the league's top prospects. In addition, Gorgen has been tabbed for All-Star rosters in both the New York-Penn league and Florida State League in his short minor-league career. Matt is regarded as one of the Rays' top pitching prospects and seems to be well on his way to a career as a Major-League closer.



Eric Niesen
POS: SP
ABL Team: Anchorage Bucs (2005)
MLB Organization: New York (NL)
AFL Team: Surprise Rafters

Eric Niesen saved 4 games for the Bucs on the 2005 season, striking out 18 on 17.2 IP. The lefty went back to pitch for Wake Forest until the Mets tapped him in the third round of the 2007 draft. Since leaving the ABL he's found success in the starting rotation wherever he's gone. He has steadily worked his way out of the bowels of the Mets' minor leagues, finishing the 2009 season at AA Binghamton. The six-foot power southpaw has amassed 238 K's in 289 innings and has a career minor league ERA of 4.24.

It will be interesting to see if Niesen, who was picked for the Florida State League mid-season All Star roster in 2009, can find success outside of the low minors. While his commanding fastball can touch the mid-90's, his other pitches have been criticized by scouts as being mediocre at best. Perhaps his stint in the AFL will help Eric bolster his arsenal.



Adam Reifer
POS: CP
ABL Team: Peninsula Oilers (2005)
MLB Organization: St. Louis
AFL Team: Surprise Rafters

Reifer, the right-handed reliever out of UC-Riverside, has established himself as a serious closing prospect. After saving 6 for the Oilers on the 2005 season, Adam went on to be picked in the 11th round of the 2007 draft by the Cardinals. In 2008, his first pro season, he logged 22 SV for Low-A Batavia and posted a 2.97 ERA. His performance was good enough to capture the Cardinals' minor league Reliever of the Year award and a spot on the New York-Penn league All-Star Team. He struggled a bit against High-A batters in Palm Beach in 2009 but was still effective enough to shut the lights out 21 times.

Scouts praise Reifer for his high-90's fastball and hard-breaking slider, and Baseball America ranked him the #11 prospect in the St. Louis organization. Although his step up to Palm Beach seemed to throw his game off a bit, Adam turned his season around in August, finishing up with a 2.25 ERA and 0.88 WHIP. I think he's got the tools to be a Major League closer if he can manage to put it all together. With a little extra work this off-season as an AFL selection, he should get the extra seasoning he needs to continue up the ladder.



Daniel Turpen
POS: RP
ABL Team: Mat-Su Miners (2006)
MLB Organization: San Francisco
AFL Team: Scottsdale Scorpions


Turpen arrived in Palmer a little late for the start of the 2006 season as he was busy winning the NCAA Baseball World Series as a sophomore with Oregon State. That season he started 4 games for the Miners and went 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA, with a very respectable 1.16 WHIP. The Giants took him in the eighth round in 2007, and since then he has posted a combined minor-league ERA of 2.28 over 170 innings. He's been up and down the organization, including a brief 2-inning stint in AAA Fresno last year.

Daniel was the rock of the Beavers' bullpen in his college days, and has been very reliable in middle relief in the pros. While the Miners used him in the starting rotation during his ABL season, he doesn't project to be a professional-caliber starter. He also isn't the lights-out strikeout/power pitcher that makes up the traditional closer (138 strikeouts over 180 professional innings) so if he breaks into the Bigs it will be in middle relief.



Robbie Weinhardt
POS: RP
ABL Team: AIA Fire (2006)
MLB Organization: Detroit
AFL Team: Peoria Javelinas


Weinhardt came to the ABL as a freshman out of Hill Junior College before going on to play for Oklahoma State. After a respectable career in D1 ball, Robbie was taken in the 10th round of the 2008 draft by the Tigers. Since then he has been on a tear, posting a career minor-league ERA of 1.64 over 104 innings pitched. Last year he spent half the season in AA, throwing 31.1 innings for a 2.30 average.

Robbie has shown that he can hold his own at AA, and the hard-throwing righty is known to be mentally unflappable. Some folks predicted that, with Detroit's lack of solid relief pitching, Weinhardt should have gotten a taste of the Bigs last season. I don't personally believe that he is as close as some fans like to believe, but I do expect to see his name added to the list of ABL alumni in the Majors at some point in the near future.



Blake Wood
POS: SP
ABL Team: Anchorage Bucs (2004)
MLB Organization: Kansas City
AFL Team: Surprise Rafters

Blake Wood, out of Georgia Tech, spent the summer of '04 with the Bucs in Anchorage. Wood was impressive during his stay in Alaska, going 3-3 with a 2.34 ERA in 6 starts, which included a complete game. The righty was picked up by KC in the third round in 2006 and went to work that year with Idaho Falls of the Pioneer League. Wood was effective throughout his stints with several teams in the lower portion of the Royals organization, until he made the jump to AA. In 31 career starts at that level he has gone 7-15 with a 5.55 ERA.

As with some of the other young pitchers we've looked at, it might be that Wood would benefit from the seasoning of playing winter ball against some of baseball's top prospects in Arizona. I think he's also got something to prove: he's a stocky guy who has been injury prone in the past and has been hit-or-miss performance-wise. This is a good chance to see if he can handle the increased workload that comes with moving up the ladder, and whether or not he can function under the pressure of higher-level competition. It will be interesting to see how he holds up this fall and if he takes anything away from the AFL for 2010.



Well, that about wraps it up for this year's round-up of former ABL pitchers in the Arizona Fall League. Keep your eyes peeled for Part 2: Batters in the coming days. I would also appreciate any and all fan feedback, so bring on the comments!

(Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shgmom56/ / CC BY-SA 2.0 )