AFL Update: October 20, 2010
Tidbits on the Nats in the AFL on Tuesday
The debut of Bryce Harper is expected to be tonight, which should temper the stories about the hopes and anticipation and with any luck, put the focus on the field instead of the tone-deaf proclamations about the future (hence the picture).
Meanwhile, after a night in which just one Nat played, five saw action on Tuesday night…
- Steve Lombardozzi drew a walk and scored a run while going o-for-3 and leading off and playing second base
- Derek Norris caught and batted cleanup, tripling in a run but striking out three times. Defensively, he allowed a stolen base and a passed ball
- Michael Burgess batted seventh and scored two runs while going 1-for-3
- Brad Peacock earned a hold with two hitless innings, walking one and striking out three; he also picked off a runner
- Cole Kimball pitched the final two innings for a save, allowing one hit and setting down one on strikes. He also threw a wild pitch
Scottsdale won 5-4 to improve to 5-2 in the AFL East and hosts the Mesa Solar Sox tonight.
Harper’s youthful bluster is a bit silly, but honestly, I love reading such quotes. Let’s get some confident, competitive players who don’t want to hear that the team can’t compete, and I bet we see a fast improvement.
Thanks for the update, especially the defensive note on Norris, makes me very nervous for his future as a catcher, at least with the Nationals organization, if this keeps up. Good to see that Burgess is getting on base. Any reason why he is wearing #2 in the AFL?
markfd – I wouldn’t give up on Norris as a catcher just yet. Passed balls have been his bugaboo for the bulk of his pro career, but he went from 28 in 100G in ’09 to six this year in 69 games. As I commented earlier, his success rate in catching baserunners was 51% even with multiple occasions of being unable to get the ball out of his glove cleanly. That stolen base allowed was actually his first. He’s 4-for-5 in gunning them down.
Re: Burgess – Because that was the one they had in his size? I don’t think it much matters. He wore #20 for Potomac, #11 for Harrisburg.
Hi Folks,
Big news — Tyler Moore was just named top hitter for ALL of High A, which consists of three leagues! Good news for him.
I’m sure Sue will have more depth on this later
The progress of Norris becoming a catcher (long and hard) explains why the NATS are turning Harper into a right fieldfer.
Mark L: I could be wrong, but my read on that ‘top hitter award’ was that is was an open internet poll. The Nats blog did a small writeup on it, without a lot of detail, iirc.
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Sec204: Mastering the ‘tools of ignorance’ can indeed take some time. It is a truly rare occurance when a CA makes the majors & sticks at younger than 22-23 (Pudge, Bench, a few others).
So, Harper’s having his debut right now. 1 for 4 with an rbi ground-rule double so far.
AB #1: first pitch pop-up to shortstop. pitch looks to be in the inner, bottom quarter of the zone
AB #2: two swinging strikes at pitches low and in the zone, then one comes in down the middle and he lines out sharply to center
AB #3: this time he’s pitched high in the zone: a called strike and a ‘sharp’ groundout to third
AB #4: first pitch is belt-high and he hits a 2 RBI ground rule double
somebody will surely come along with actual seeing-eye knowledge, as well as more info about the pitches than just the location, i’m just making my amazing analysis based on the gameday: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/y2009/index.jsp?gid=2010_10_20_msswin_scowin_1. His team won, annoyingly without having to bat in the bottom of the ninth for bryce’s fifth AB!
good enough first game, suggests that he’s neither overmatched nor overpowering. he’s playing above his age, obviously, so that’s a good thing. nothing new today we didn’t know yesterday, in my eyes.