The Arizona Fall League is well underway. Last night was the 5th game of the season out in Arizona and it was a good night for Michael Trautwein. He picked up two hits on the night, including a home run. The catcher drove in three runs and scored two runs in the game. While this game didn’t have public Trackman or Hawkeye data, Trautwein’s homer went 395 feet and was 103 MPH off of the bat.
That was the second game for Trautwein. He’s started both games behind the plate. In 2023 between Dayton and Chattanooga he played in 57 games behind the plate and spent parts of another 20 games in the outfield (left and right).
Jacob Hurtubise also started the game for Surprise. He went 1-4 with a bunt single, a stolen base, and he was hit by a pitch. He’s played in four games so far and has gone 3-15 (.200) with three walks (.368 on-base percentage), and he’s stolen two bases.
On Friday night reliever Zach Maxwell pitched. He was charged with two unearned runs on one hit and two walks. He also picked up three strikeouts. That game was in Salt River and they’ve got Hawkeye installed there and the data is public. Maxwell pitched in Daytona briefly in 2022 and then in the first half of 2023, so we’ve got some data already on him. But on Friday night his fastball averaged 98.75 MPH and he topped out at 100.53. He had five swings and misses on 13 swings against his fastball in the game. He had another swing and a miss on his slider.
Carson Spiers made his first start in Arizona on Saturday. He allowed one earned run, but was charged with two unearned in 3.0 innings while giving up four hits, hitting two batters, and striking out two batters.
Jayvien Sandridge came on in relief later in the same game and threw 1.1 shutout innings while giving up a hit and picking up two strikeouts. That was his second outing. He fired a shutout inning in his first outing.