Arizona Fall League Update

The Surprise Scorpions are having an excellent campaign, posting a 10-6 record. Several Royals on the team have done well so far:

Billy Butler: Butler continues to hit advanced pitching well. He has a .907 OPS after 51 ABs and has a good OBP of .368. Butler's season has been quite remarkable considering he's just 19 years old. It'll be tough for the Royals to keep him out of the lineup next year. He'll be a DH pretty soon, as I can't imagine his defense being much better than Matt Stairs in the outfield. Butler has 2 errors in 16 games.

Alex Gordon: Gordon has gotten off to a slow start, with a .182/.357/.273 line. So far, it appears that Gordon is everything he was advertised to be. But, we'll have to wait until next season to find that out for sure.

Matt Tupman: Tupman's performance has been pretty good, hitting .291/.321/.407 in 27 ABs, including a HR. Tupman will challenge Phillips for a spot as the team's backup catcher next season.

Brian Bass: Bass has pitched very well after 3 starts, allowing no runs in 12 innings. He's only struck out 4 in 12 innings, but walked 0. His WHIP is a mensicule 0.33. Bass pitched well in the AFL last year, so I wouldn't read into his performance too much. But, it is nice to have a fringe pitching prospect doing well.

Chris DeMaria: DeMaria got hammered pretty good today, allowing 4 runs in 1 1/3 innings. The Royals probably can find a better pitcher to put on the 40-man roster.

Jonah Bayliss: Bayliss has pitched pretty well. He has a 4.91 ERA in 11 IP with 12 strikeouts and just 3 walks.