With the Arizona Fall League wrapping up play this week, the handful of Angels’ prospects who spent time in the league were fairly unimpressive.
Cubs prospect Josh Vitters (drafted third overall in the 2007 draft out of Cypress High) tore it up for the Mesa Solar Sox, finishing with one of the highest batting averages in the league (.353). But his Solar Sox teammate and fellow OC product, Hank Conger, did not do as well.
Conger (the Angels’ first-round pick in 2006) hit just .211 (12 for 57) in 15 games for the Solar Sox and then was shut down last week by the Angels as a “precautionary” measure. According to Angels GM Tony Reagins, the Angels were concerned about possible fatigue for Conger.
After being sidetracked by injuries each of the previous two seasons, Conger played 123 games (87 at catcher, 36 at DH) at Double-A Arkansas this year — by far a career-high for him. Conger hit .295 with 11 home runs and 68 RBI.
Reagins said the short AFL stint had nothing to do with any recurrence of the shoulder problems that limited Conger last season, just a concern about pushing Conger too far this year.
The Angels also had a pair of infielders (Ryan Mount and P.J. Phillips) and four pitchers see action in the AFL.
Phillips was the most successful of the Angels’ farmhands. He hit .281 (18 for 64) with 11 runs scored and five stolen bases in 18 games. Mount hit just .208 (11 for 53) in 15 games. Both were second-round picks of the Angels in 2005.
Among the pitchers, right-hander Tommy Mendoza was the most effective. A fifth-rounder in 2005, Mendoza was 2-1 with a 5.21 ERA in six games (five starts) for Mesa. But he did have an impressive walk ratio (just three in 18 innings pitched).
The other Angels pitchers were Marco Albano (0-0, 8.16 ERA in 11 relief appearances), Jeremy Haynes (0-1, 9.69 in 10 relief appearances) and Tim Kiely (0-0, 8.31 ERA in 10 games, two starts).
Meanwhile in Venezuela, the Angels’ diminutive hitting machine, infielder Alexi Amarista, has picked up right where he left off.
Amarista, 20, won the Class-A Midwest League batting title this season by hitting .319 for Cedar Rapids (actually the lowest average in Amarista’s three professional seasons). Playing winter ball in his native Venezuela, Amarista is batting .372 (29 for 78) with four doubles, six triples and two home runs in his first 19 games for Caribes de Anzoategui.
They don’t have much to cheer about in Kansas City these days. But every fifth day this summer, Zack Greinke gave them something.
