JaCoby Jones, Grayson Greiner continue to shine in Arizona Fall League

Even though the Detroit Tigers are out of the playoffs, there is still news about our favorite team’s prospects in the Arizona Fall League. The AFL is a showcase for prospects that teams send to log more developmental time, and these players are usually some of their best. The Tigers sent players to help fill the ranks of the Salt River Rafters’ roster. Joining them there are prospects from the Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves, and Colorado Rockies. Trying to keep track everything can be a little confusing, but don’t worry, we here at Bless You Boys have you covered.

Grayson Greiner has played really, really well in 2016. There’s no two ways about it. After a sizzling first week in the Arizona Fall League, he stayed red-hot in the second week of action with the Salt River Rafters. While he has never been graded as having plus hit or power tools, his bat has been on fire all season, and that momentum has carried over into the AFL. While he did not hit another home run this week, he has continued to get on base with two more doubles this week. He has been hitting .462/.533/1.456, going 6-for-13 through four games. He hasn’t struck out once and has put up incredible power numbers with an ISO of .462.

JaCoby Jones has been getting some quality at-bats. He has struck out only three times in 24 at-bats, a mere 12.5 percent of the time. That is a far cry from the 29.9 percent strikeout rate he posted in Triple-A or the 25.8 percent strikeout rate he played to in Double-A (small sample caveats apply). He has has mostly been hitting for average, but smoked a double earlier in the week on a hot line drive.

Jones is posting a respectable .250 ISO so far. This seems to be fairly sustainable, considering his career norms and the hitter-friendly environment of the Arizona Fall League. Jones’ massive success to this point is, however, fueled by a huge BABIP of .429.

Now we get to the not-so-fun part: Christin Stewart. His AFL showing this far has been truly cringeworthy. He has just four hits in 24 at-bats. One of them was a home run that will make you drool, but the other three were only singles. While he was a savvy batter when it came to taking walks through the regular season, has has not yet taken a single walk through his two weeks in the AFL. He has also struck out at an ungodly rate, with 41.7 percent of his plate appearances ending in a strikeout. While saying those numbers are ugly would be a little generous, there is plenty of time and likelihood on his side to turn things around.