We are halfway through the Arizona Fall League season and Halo prospects have held their ground in a sea full of highly touted prospects. Taylor Ward’s superb play was rewarded with a spot on the AFL East Fall Star roster, while the rest of the group have been ho-hum through the season.The only prospect who didn’t see the field this week was pitcher Adam Hofacket.
Shortstop David Fletcher was this week’s star of the week. The 22-year-old went 4-for-14 with a home run and a walk in four games.
Before this week, Fletcher had only played in three games and went 2-for-13 in that span. He holds the lone home run between Angel prospects. Catcher Taylor Ward went 3-for-12 with two doubles, an RBI, a run scored, and his first walk of the season.
He has hit safely in five of his last six games. Ward is making a strong case to be the starting catcher for the AFL East Fall Stars, as he is hitting .310 with a .782 OPS. Center fielder Michael Hermosillo also enjoyed a solid week, as he went 3-for-8 in two games with a triple and two runs scored. Halo prospects hit .294 collectively this week, way up from the .226 average they held last week.
Halo pitchers cooled off significantly after a hot week last week. They gave up four runs in 5.1 innings this week. Grayson Long was the main culprit this week. He had one start, giving up three runs on six walks and zero hits in 3.1 innings pitched.
He struck out two Salt River Rafters. Victor Alcantara went back to his old ways, as he gave up a run and two hits in his lone inning of work. Alcantara has given up six runs on seven hits in five inning of work, good enough for a 10.80 ERA. Eduardo Paredes looked shard in his one inning of relief this week. The righty struck out one and allowed just one hit.