Brewers Minors: Castaneda Leads at Arizona Fall League

The Arizona Fall League season ended last week and eight Brewers prospects saw action for the Glendale Desert Dogs team. Here we’ll recap how those players did.

The Arizona Fall League is a great opportunity every year for franchises to send prospects for further development. Even if a player doesn’t put up gaudy stats, the extra time to work on their craft remains valuable. Now that the season is over, it’s time to see how the Brewers representatives fared during their time in Arizona.

RHP Victor Castaneda

Victor Castaneda had possibly the most impressive run of all Brewers prospects while in Arizona. Though he started just one out of 32 games for the Single-A Timber Rattlers during the regular season, he was deployed as a starter in five of six games for Glendale and the new role suited him well.

Outside of one rough game where he gave up four earned runs, Castaneda gave up just one over the other five games. He ended up finishing 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA and a .838 WHIP, both third among all Desert Dog pitchers, over 22 2/3 innings. His performance made him one of two Brewers prospects to earn an Arizona Fall League All-Star berth.

C/DH David Fry

David Fry was the other Brewers prospect to earn an All-Star berth for Glendale and was the top offensive performer among Milwaukee’s Arizona Fall League contingent by far. In 13 games, Fry slashed .300/.375/.460 with six runs driven in and seven runs scored. The slash line gave him a .835 OPS that was fifth best among the Desert Dogs. Of the seven games in which Fry registered a hit, every single one of them was a multi-hit affair.

Fry also continued to show the knack for hitting doubles. While he didn’t lead the league in them like he did the Midwest League in 2019, his five doubles were second best on the Desert Dogs and tied for eighth in the AFL. On top of that, his solo homer on October 21st was the only home run hit by a Brewers prospect for Glendale.

RHP Bobby Wahl

Bobby Wahl was a late add to the Glendale roster, joining the team about three weeks into the season once he had overcome the ACL injury that sidelined him for the entire 2019 regular season. The rust showed early as he gave up eight earned runs in just on combined inning of work that spanned two games. Command played a huge part – each of his first two games saw him throw 12 balls compared to nine strikes.

Things improved dramatically from there, though, as Wahl finished out the AFL with four scoreless outings. Each of the outings were an inning long and he tallied just a hit and a walk to go along with seven strikeouts. His final four games showed glimpses of why he may be able to crack Milwaukee’s Major League roster in 2020.

LHP Quintin Torres-Costa

Quintin Torres-Costa had a very solid performance for Glendale as a relief pitcher, giving up a single earned run in two of his nine appearances and compiling a 2.00 ERA which ranked fourth on the team, just behind Castaneda. His 1.44 WHIP wasn’t particularly attractive, but his ratio of 15 strikeouts to seven walks made the overall numbers a bit more palatable.

LHP/OF Clayton Andrews

Like Wahl, Clayton Andrews bounced back from a rough start to finish with much more respectable numbers. Though he gave up three runs over his first two appearances, he would give up just one more over his final eight games, finishing with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.114 WHIP that was fifth best among Desert Dog pitchers. Unlike his time with High-A Carolina and Double-A Biloxi in 2019, Andrews was not utilized much as an outfielder for Glendale, doing so in just two games and finishing just 2 for 10 with a run scored and two RBI.

RHP Robbie Hitt

Robbie Hitt started and ended his time in Glendale well, beginning with two scoreless outings and ending with three. But he struggled in the middle when he gave up seven earned runs over 3 2/3 combined innings in three appearances. Hitt finished with a 5.73 ERA and a 1.273 WHIP with six walks and 14 strikeouts.

1B/3B/DH Jake Gatewood

There was hope that Jake Gatewood would carry over momentum from his strong finish to the season with Double-A Biloxi into the Fall League. Unfortunately that wasn’t quite the case as he finished with a .143/.234/.167 slash line, six runs scored, and a lone RBI. He also walked four times and had 15 strikeouts.

OF Pablo Abreu

Pablo Abreu also didn’t put up particularly impressive numbers in his time with Glendale, slashing .146/.146/.171 in 12 games with two runs scored. He didn’t draw a single walk and despite his low number of games played, his 23 strikeouts tied for third most on the team.

The Milwaukee Brewers got one last look at a few intriguing prospects before packing it in for the winter at this year’s AFL. It remains to be seen if players like Fry or Wahl will ever fulfill their potential, but it’s clear that they’re getting every opportunity to get to the next level.