On Friday and Saturday of this week, I was able to take in a couple games of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in person. Fayetteville is the Single-A affiliate for the Astros organization. There were some pitchers I didn’t get to see pitch, so they won’t be on this list. Here are some prospect takeaways from my time in Fayetteville.
Chase Jaworsky is a spark plug
I had the chance to talk with Chase Jaworsky Friday afternoon (article on it in the near future) and we talked about his speed. He said that is his X-Factor on the field. In the game on Friday, it was evident. Jaworsky reached base in the first inning on an infield single. He attempted to steal second but a groundout moved him over anyways. He attempted to steal third, and had it stolen, but the throw hit the batter in the helmet and Jaworsky went back to second. The next pitch was a bouncer up the middle. Jaworsky broke for third forcing the pitcher to try and throw him out. The pitcher made an error and Jaworsky came around to score. He plays with a lot of energy and you can see the love for the game he has.
Sandy Mejia and Raimy Rodriguez have potential
Sandy Mejia got the start Friday. The 20-year-old has had some struggles this year but Friday he was great tossing 5 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts. He ran the fastball up to 94 and kept hitters off balance. The key for him was limiting the walks, and he did that just walking two. Raimy Rodriguez started Saturday and while the overall line may not look great, he pitched pretty well. The 18-year-old ran the fastball up to 96 and struck out 6 over the first 2 innings. He ran into some trouble in the third and allowed a few runs, but even then, not much was hit hard. Both pitchers showed why they are full-season ball at such a young age.
Will Bush is turning things around
Will Bush got off to a slow start in April, hitting just .182 with 22 strikeouts in 17 games. He turned things on in May and finished the month hitting .217 with a .731 OPS in 18 games. But the stretch to end the month was even better. Over the last 10 games of the month Bush hit .278 with 3 doubles, 2 homers, 10 runs batted in and only struck out 7 times. This week, he connected on two homers and both of them were hit really far. You can see the power he has in his bat and despite being a drafted player, we have to remember that he just turned 20-years-old a couple months ago. I thought Bush looked good behind the plate too when he caught Mejia Friday.
Pitching staff has some flame throwers
The Woodpeckers overall roster is young, both on offense and pitching. Despite having some young pitchers, they have some flame throwers on the roster. Raimy Rodriguez ran it up to 96 MPH in his start. Julio Marte was up to 96 MPH in his outing too, striking out 6 over 3.1 innings. On Friday, Wilmy Sanchez came in to close the game and was up to 97 MPH as he picked up the save. While the game was a blowout Saturday, Abel Mercedes got a chance to pitch and hit 101 MPH on the stadium radar gun. As with a lot of young pitchers, there are ups and downs, but the pitching staff in Fayetteville has been exciting and hopefully we continue to see improvement from the young hurlers.
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