The day after we published the first Arizona Fall League update tracking the progress of White Sox prospects in the desert, Braden Montgomery returned from his broken foot and reached base all four times, going 1-for-1 with a double and three walks.
Then Sam Antonacci posted a nearly identical line the following day, except he paired a homer with his three walks, and also threw in three stolen bases for the hell of it.
The two have been running neck-and-neck ever since. Antonacci led Baseball America's Hot Sheet on Oct. 27, and was also named in an article about six under-the-radar prospects in the AFL. Montgomery is under nobody's radar, but he got a glowing MLB.com write-up about his proclivity for loud contact and a tidy dugout after a three-hit game on Nov. 1, which included his first homer.
There's an embedded MLB.com video where Montgomery answers other questions postgame, and one response that wasn't included in the article touches on one area of local fascination.
"It's good to see the ball moving a little better than it does in Birmingham, our Double-A affiliate. The ball was really not getting out of the park, so it's nice to actually see an opposite-field ball get out of the park."
James has heard from scouts at the AFL who thought Montgomery looked a little rusty and tardy with his timing after the layoff, which given the numbers that have come in spite of it, might be encouraging news.
Hitters
| Player | PA | 2B | 3B | HR | BB/K | SB/CS | BA/OBP/SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braden Montgomery | 37 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10/7 | 3/0 | .385/.568/.615 |
| Sam Antonacci | 72 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 12/8 | 9/3 | .367/.472/.517 |
| Ryan Galanie | 56 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6/12 | 3/0 | .256/.375/.279 |
| Caden Connor | 70 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 17/7 | 6/0 | .365/.514/.404 |
The Glendale Desert Dogs are averaging 5.67 runs per game, which sounds impressive until realizing they're last in the league. Plate discipline isn't the problem, however. As a nod to their Regions Field roots, they're running the AFL's smallest disparity between strikeout and walk rates.
| Team | K% | BB% | K-BB% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glendale | 17.6 | 15.8 | 1.8 |
| Mesa | 23.1 | 14.5 | 8.6 |
| Peoria | 25.1 | 15.4 | 9.7 |
| Scottsdale | 26.0 | 15.8 | 10.2 |
| Surprise | 25.9 | 15.7 | 10.2 |
| Salt River | 24.6 | 14.4 | 10.2 |
It just hasn't amounted to much because they have by far the league's lowest slugging percentage (.369) and ISO (.101). You can take the Barons out of Birmingham, but you can't take the Birmingham out of the Barons, even if doing so would make adapting to the desert a little easier.
Pitchers
| Player | G | IP | H | HR | BB | K | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hagen Smith | 4 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 3.00 |
| Connor McCullough | 3 | 6.1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 12.79 |
| Jarold Rosado | 7 | 5.1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 13.50 |
| Carson Jacobs | 6 | 4.2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 1.93 |
| Tyler Davis | 7 | 7.2 | 17 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 10.57 |
Smith's performance remains head and shoulders above the rest of his organizationmates on the Glendale roster. He needed just 40 pitches to get through three innings his last time out, with the only damage a 64.5 mph end-of-the-bat double that scored Smith's lone walk. He threw six changeups, which he said was a conscious effort to work on his third pitch.
McCullough has been extremely unlucky. He's allowed 10 runs over 6 ⅓ innings, which is incredible considering he's allowed 10 baserunners. How has that happened?
Oct. 8: Allowed just a solo shot over 2⅔ innings.
Oct. 16: Gave up five runs over three innings, all of which scored in his second inning of work. He loaded the bases on a hit by pitch, single and walk, followed by a run-scoring error, a run-scoring wild pitch, and a three-run homer. The other two innings were perfect.
Oct. 22: Gave up four runs over two-thirds of an inning. He loaded the bases with a single and two walks, and just when it looked like he might leave them loaded after a pair of strikeouts, he gave up a two-run single and a two-run double. He was them replaced by LJ McDonough, who induced a groundout for McCullough's first stranded runner of the season.
Recent Sox Machine profile subject Tyler Davis is enduring a similar tenure in Arizona, where he's striking out a third of opposing hitters and has kept his walks in check, yet is accumulating the worst results possible within those parameters. Rosado and Jacobs have been less interesting, combining for 15 walks over 10 innings. They're part of the reason why the Desert Dogs lead the AFL in walks (148) despite throwing the fewest innings (168⅓).
