Luis Robert will rank highly in the White Sox top ten, which happens to be the system on deck to publish here. The outfielder extended his AFL hit streak to 14 games on Friday with three hits, two runs, and a steal for good measure. This raised his average to .386 – good for second in the league behind Tyler Nevin. Where you at Vlad Jr.? Step it up! Robert is an easy like for fantasy players with the ability to contribute in all five categories. He draws comps to fellow Pale Hoser Yoan Moncada, and while the profile right now is centered around his speed, he projects to trade some of that for power as he matures. With only one week left in the Arizona Fall League, there’s a good chance he’ll finish as one of this year’s top performers, sending his offseason stock even higher. Here’s what else happened in the desert this week…
Jon Duplantier, RHP – Duplantier followed up an appearance in the Fall Stars game with a nine-strikeout outing this week. He lowered his ERA to 4.00 in the process (yeah, it wasn’t so hot before this) and as of yesterday was tied for the AFL lead in strikeouts. Duplantier is the leader in the clubhouse as the D’backs’ best pitching prospect and should be in the mix for 2019.
Ben Holmes, LHP – Holmes doesn’t get much attention, but the Dodgers’ lefty put together a nice 2018 campaign and is following it up with a great AFL performance. Through five games for Glendale, he’s struck out 23 batters in 19+ innings with a 2.29 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. Not sure if it’s enough to vault him up many lists, but in deep dynasty formats he might be an unowned commodity that’s worth a look.
Darwinzon Hernandez, LHP – Hernandez just continues to miss bats out of the ‘pen for Mesa. He struck out three more batters in his 1+ inning of work this week, bringing his AFL total to 21 K in just over 10 innings pitched. He started 23 games in 2018, but his jam seems to be in relief.
Peter Alonso, 1B – A pair of first basemen share the AFL lead in home runs, with Alonso being one of them. He hit .285 with 36 homers in 2018, and if he can get that same hit/power combo to click in the majors he should be relevant as soon as this year. At 23, he’s shown about all he can in the PCL and outside of his average (.232), his AFL performance hasn’t done much to halt his march towards New York.
Daz Cameron, OF – Cameron finally hit a dinger this week. He’s been having a good go of it in the AFL regardless. Through 17 games, he’s slashed .338/.442/.477 with the homer and eight steals. This looks like a 10/20 profile, but the AFL triple slash is promising and I don’t see any reason he wouldn’t get some legit chances in Detroit in 2019.
