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    James Marinan (Photo: Doug Gray)
    Photo: Doug Gray

    Reds AFL Notebook: Marinan continues to dominate

    Doug Gray 8

    The Arizona Fall League continued this weekend and the Cincinnati Reds prospects were out in full force and making their presence known for the Surprise Saguaros.

    On Saturday night James Marinan made his second appearance of the fall. He came into the game in relief and pitched 3.0 no-hit innings without a walk and he struck out 6 batters. The recently turned 23-year-old (October 10th) has now thrown 7.0 innings and allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 8 batters.

    Going back into the regular season, over James Marinan’s last 7 games (3 with Daytona, 2 with Dayton, and now 2 with Surprise) he’s thrown 32.0 innings, allowed just 13 hits, allowed just 2 earned runs, walked just 12 batters, and he’s struck out 35. That will work.

    It wasn’t just Marinan getting things done for Surprise while representing the Reds on the night. Ivan Johnson went 2-4 with a walk, home run, and he drove in 3 runs. His home run came in the 1st inning and got the Saguaros on the board early in what turned out to be a 10-6 win. The also recently turned 23-year-old (October 11th) has now played in 6 games and has hit .286/.333/.762 with a double and 3 homers.

    Drew Mount started the game out in left field and he went 3-4 with 2 runs, a stolen base, and he was hit by a pitch. Michael Siani went 1-4 and he stole 3 bases in the game. One of the steals was of home – the SECOND time he’s stolen home in the AFL this season.

    With Surprise leading 10-2 entering the 9th inning, Peoria finally started getting something going int he top of the 9th. They scored 4 runs and had a runner on base when Eddy Demurias entered the game to try and put an end to the rally. The righty reliever was able to do just that, inducing fly outs to center and right field to end the game and seal the 6th win for the Saguaros as they moved to 6-3 on the season.

    Mariel Bautista homers in pre-season Dominican Winter League

    The Dominican Winter League officially begins on Wednesday. But they’ve been playing some pre-season games to get ready for the start of things. Mariel Bautista, who played for Licey last winter before an injury cost him the rest of his season, is back to doing some damage for the Tigres. He joined in on a home run parade last week along with Hanley Ramirez.

    In the 2020/2021 Dominican Winter League season last year, Bautista only played in 6 games before his injury he had hit .308/.357/.615.

    The opening day rosters have not yet been set for the league, so we don’t know who will be playing early on in the season just yet.

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    8 Responses

    2. Johnson is showing some pop. I’m wondering where the SS’s will start 22, namely De La Cruz, McLain, Johnson, Torres. Presumably you’ll have more than 1 at a level. I don’t know if any will begin at AA, and surely none of those 4 will begin a AAA. Perhaps we’ll see some transition into other positions of need.

    3. I could see McLain and Johnson at AA, de la Cruz and Torres at A+. Calhoun is a question as where he starts due to his lost 2 seasons as well as Hinds Miguel Hernandez at AAA.

      Nice to see when a pitcher gets it and that seems to be Marinan. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him in AAA to start 2022.

      1. Marinan has had 2 starts in High-A. Jumping him to Triple-A to begin next year would be a monumental jump.

      2. Think MK nails it with middle infield. Hernandez/Lopez AAA, Johnson/McClain/ AA, De la Cruz/Torres Hi-A, and Minier/Callahan at Lo-A.

        That said. There may be no holding Ivan Johnson back.

      1. I don’t know, really. He’s one of the guys that in two weeks I’ll be writing about in the whole “will they/won’t they protect” series of guys. I can listen to the argument for protecting him and leaving him exposed.

    5. so good to see some good performances out in Arizona. Arizona always seems to accurately portray whether a prospect is real or not. Would love to see all our guys trend in the right direction – especially Marinan who until recently has had a rough start to his Reds career.

      Ivan Johnson seems like trade fodder to me. Nice skills but always going to be blocked by the bonus babies. Much like Jeter Downs was blocked by Senzel, India and Barerro.

      1. The AFL is nice when guys do perform, but it’s not exactly the prover your post claims it is. Mike Trout got his butt handed to him the year before he was the best player in baseball for the next decade (.245/.279/.321 with 5 walks and 33 strikeouts in the AFL. The next season he hit .326/.399/.564 in the Majors in 639 plate appearances). Jonathan India’s last stop before Cincinnati was the AFL and he hit .133/.254/.333. Oneil Cruz hit .190/.306/.214 there in 2019. Pete Alonso held his own out there in 2018, but in 2019 he put up an OPS nearly 100 points higher in the big leagues.

        The AFL is different things for different guys. Some guys missed plenty of action during the season and may not be just completely worn down. Some guys are pretty much worn down when they get there.

        You always want to see the guys do well out there – it’s better than the alternative. But it doesn’t really tell us a ton about the future performance that’s coming in one direction or the other, either.

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