Devils in the Pros: Fall Ball with ASU
Five former Sun Devils, including the interesting young fellow pictured below, will return to the Valley after being selected for the prestigious Arizona Fall League. Will your favorite Devil be among them?
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Last week, you may have read on this site some speculation that former ASU infielder Brett Wallace’s promotion to the St. Louis Cardinals’ Double-A team foreshadowed a trip to the Arizona Fall League.
Well, that speculation was confirmed Tuesday night when Fall League rosters were announced, complete with Wallace’s name on the list of Peoria Saguaros. The Saguaros could run out the league’s most interesting left side of the infield with Wallace at third and fellow 2008 first-round pick Gordon Beckham of the Chicago White Sox at shortstop.
Wallace isn’t the only recent Sun Devil hitting the Fall League this season. Here’s a quick rundown of ASU players, and where you’ll find them.
Tony Barnette, P, Phoenix Desert Dogs
To Sun Devil fans, he might be the most surprising name here, but Barnette is putting together a nice career in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ minor league system. He got off to a rough start this season at Double-A Mobile, posting a 5.52 ERA through May, but he’s been excellent ever since. For the year, he’s 11-7 with a 4.00 ERA and has held opposing batters to a .250 average.
Jeff Larish, 1B, Mesa Solar Sox
The Detroit Tigers first base prospect made his big league debut this season, batting .245 with a pair of home runs in 19 games. In Triple-A, Larish is batting .250 with 21 home runs and a .817 OPS in 103 games. Larish has been quite a bit better in night games than day games this year, and unfortunately for him, most Fall League games have 12:35 starts. That said, if the Solar Sox make it to the championship game, don’t be shocked if you see Larish launch three home runs, one to each part of the park. Oh, the Omaha memories.
Beau Vaughan, P, Scottsdale Scorpions
Vaughan, he of the ridiculous mugshot above, has been good out of the bullpen for the Boston Red Sox’ Double-A and Triple-A teams. The big righty has held opponents to a .229 average in 57 innings. Vaughan is crushing right-handed batters this season, with a .167 opponents’ average.
Brett Wallace, 3B/1B, Peoria Saguaros
Without question one of the Cardinals’ top two prospects (along with outfielder Colby Rasmus), Wallace is destroying Double-A as much as he did Single-A. In seven games at Memphis, he’s got at least one hit in every game for a .407 average and three home runs. For the year, he’s batting .339 with eight home runs and a .978 OPS in 48 games. It’s reasonable to think he could be in the Majors as soon as 2009.
Zech Zinicola, P, Peoria Saguaros
Zinicola has been roughed up a bit lately, giving up 15 earned runs in his last 14 1/3 innings, but he was tremendous in the first half of the season, and could do well to take advantage of facing the great caliber of hitting in the Fall League. For the year, he’s posted a 4.01 ERA with 45 strikeouts and 29 walks in 60 2/3 innings for the Washington Nationals’ Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A teams. The fascinating bit for Zinicola this year is his bizarre righty/lefty split. The right-hander is dominating left-handed batters to the tune of a .226 opponents’ average, yet he’s been crushed by righties, who’ve hit .361 against him.
First pitch is in October, so we’ll see you out at the ballpark.
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The Phillies ended up adding one of our favorite SUn Devils of all time — catcher Tuffy Gosewisch — to the Arizona Fall League. He’s batting .263 in five games thus far.