Arizona Fall League Update: Jase Bowen still among league leaders
How each of the Pirates' prospects are performing in the AFL with two weeks left.
There are two weeks left in the Arizona Fall League season, and with the All-Star game right around the corner, the Pirates have a prospect who has made a legitimate claim to earning a roster spot.
Since Alessandro Ercolani was shut down, the Pirates only have seven players left participating - three hitters and four pitchers.
Here’s a look at how each is playing at this point in the fall.
Jase Bowen
.329/.393/.553, 3 HR, 9 XBH, 16 RBI, 2 SB
Easily still the best-performing Pirate prospect playing in the AFL, even if he’s cooled down a bit. He’s still fourth in hits, tied for third in RBI, and third in total bases, so he’s still one of the best in the league.
Jack Brannigan
.172/.300/.362, 6 XBH, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 4 SB
Every time it seems Brannigan comes up with a hit here or there, he can never build off of it. He’s hit some extra-base hits, but his exit velocity numbers haven’t been overly impressive. He does have four steals, flashing his speed for Salt River.
Carter Bins
.375/.412/.688, 6 XBH, 2 HR, 6 RBI
Bins has more hits than Brannigan despite playing in eight fewer games. He’s made the most of his limited opportunities this fall.
Cam Junker
1-1, 7.71 ERA, 7 IP, 4 BB, 8 K
Junker had some interesting fastball metrics in his limited time with Indianapolis this year and has shown some ability to get some miss with his slider this fall. That hasn’t stopped him from allowing six earned runs in seven innings pitched.
Nick Dombkowski
0-0, 5.40 ERA, 6.2 IP 7 BB, 8 K
He’s allowed 14 hits and has walked seven in just 6.2 innings pitched for a WHIP of over three. He’s the only one of the four remaining Pirates’ pitchers not to have a win.
Tyler Samaniego
1-1, 4.26 ERA, 6.1 IP, 4 BB, 8 K
Perhaps the best-performing Pirate pitching prospect in the AFL? He’s limited base runners, at least better than the rest.Â
JC Flowers
1-0, 4.00 ERA, 9 IP, 9 BB, 8 K
He has the lowest ERA and the most innings pitched but has also walked nine. Odd enough, every one of the four pitchers here has exactly eight strikeouts despite having different amounts of innings pitched.Â
I’d love to see an objective assessment of Bowen by one of the national prospect sites. Keith Law did an AFL article and didn’t mention him at all. He also commented that the AFL pitching gets worse and worse every year as no organizations are willing to commit their best pitchers.
Anyway, my gut sense is that Bowen’s performance doesn’t mean very much in the long run, but it would be good to see a national site address his performance.
Bowen is a ballplayer, a gamer! He's aggressive at the plate and I doubt he ever gets into the box thinking about Walks. He has very good bat to ball skills, so when he is thrown a strike, he's ripping. He was held in A until very late in 2022, and had an excellent year at A+ in 2023 - probably better than expected. This exposure in the AFL will help him in his maturity within the game, just as his exposure to off season ball in Australia did after the 2022 season. He's very good defensively, and his ability to play multiple positions makes him a favorite of this management team.
Does he make the 40? I called it a coin flip, but only 30 AB's above A+? Good chance he and Hudson Head are 2/3 of the OF in Altoona starting 2024.