Day 9 and 10 Arizona Fall League Updates – Drew Hutchison Dominates – Toronto Blue Jays Prospects

The Arizona Fall League saw a break from action on Sunday but today I’ll be catching up from games played on Friday and Saturday. This weekend was highlighted by a start from Drew Hutchison so better late than never, here are your updates on Drew and the other Toronto Blue Jays prospects who saw action for the Salt River Rafters.

Friday – October 18, 2013

The Rafters hosted the Peoria Javelinas on Friday and current New Hampshire Fisher Cats Kenny Wilson and Andy Burns started for Salt River at center field and first base respectively.

Burns had a great night at the plate and was 2 for 4 with a double, run scored and RBI to raise his league batting average to .353. He had a line drive single in the fourth and later scored when former first round pick Tim Wheeler knocked in a 2-run single.

Burns came through again in his next plate appearance, this time with a double (his first) that scored Dustin Garneau and opened up a 3-1 lead for the Rafters. Burns batted second and also had a ground out in the first and a line out in the seventh. At first base he made a fielding error in the third and has struggled defensively at times with three errors in five games.

Wilson has been the Rafters lead off hitter in every game that he’s played in so far and started off the league on fire. He’s slowly starting to cool off and was 0 for 4 on Friday but didn’t strike out with two fly outs and two grounds outs. Here’s what Bernie Pleskoff from MLBPipeline.com had to say about Wilson on Twitter.

Marcus Stroman pitched out of the bullpen and was electric yet again. He allowed a double but struck out the other three batters he faced. Credited with the hold, eleven of his seventeen pitches were called for strikes. Stroman’s use out of the bullpen has raised the question again about whether he’s better suited as a starter or reliever and Pleskoff gives us his opinion.

John Stilson also appeared for the Rafters in the ninth but with his team leading 5-1 he struggled to finish the game. He allowed two hits (one infield single) and a Lamb throwing error led to one run scoring and a wild pitch by Stilson allowed another. Stilson struck out Seattle Mariners prospect Chris Taylor on a foul tip to close out the game to seal a 5-3 Rafters victory.

Saturday – October 19, 2013

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Drew Hutchison is on the road to recovery in the Arizona Fall League. Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY SportsDrew Hutchison received the start in a weekend rematch versus the Javelinas and simply dominated. He was on a pitch count of 60 (h/t MiLB.com) but only needed 48 to slice through Peoria’s lineup in four innings. He didn’t allow a hit and walked only one batter while striking out five. He’s yet to allow an earned run in two AFL starts. According to the aforementioned article from MiLB.com, Hutchison was throwing both his four-seamer and sinker comfortably, keeping it down in the zone. He didn’t have any fly outs and managed five grounds balls (one was mishandled for an error), three line outs to go along nicely with his five punch outs.

Catcher Derrick Chung also played well for the Rafters and had two hits including a double. Additionally he reached on a throwing error after a successful sacrifice bunt, which later led to him scoring a run.

Kenny Wilson was held hitless for the third game in a row but reached base after he was hit by a pitch in the top of the ninth. He also had a sacrifice bunt in a game that included four sac hits (2 bunt, 2 fly) for the Rafters.

Andy Burns batted third and was also held hitless but was able to score Chung on a sacrifice fly in the ninth. He also drew a walk and successfully stole his second base of the event. Burns started the game at third base but was moved to first base for the ninth inning after shortstop Nick Ahmed was brought in as a pinch-runner for Richie Shaffer.

Salt River won the game 8-2 and improved their league record to 4-6. The Rafters will face off against Peoria again today for game three of a four-game set. First pitch is tentatively set for 12:35 MST.