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AJ Jimenez and Adam Loewen shine in AFL's first week
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Photo courtesy of the NH Fisher Cats
When nineteen year old AJ Jimenez was added to the Desert Dogs roster right before the start of the Arizona Fall League it was uncertain how much playing time he would receive. Jimenez must've been thinking the same thing because he's wasted no time making an impact on the field.
After going 1 for 4 on Thursday and throwing out one of two would be basestealers Jimenez took things up a notch on Saturday with a two-run homer. Jimenez went deep in the fifth inning with Adam Loewen on first with nobody out on a 80 mph curveball with a 2-2 count. Previously in the at-bat he fouled off two other curves before crushing one to left center field. Jimenez, least expectedly, was the first Blue Jays player to hit a home run in the 2009 AFL.
Jimenez also drew a ninth inning walk and came around to score his second run of the game on a single by Brandon Snyder. In that at-bat Jimenez worked an 8 pitch walk including fouling off a pair of fastballs at 96 and 95 mph. Overall, Jimenez saw 24 pitches in 5 plate appearances good for 4.8 P/PA. That's excellent for the young catcher who in 2009 walked just 7 times while striking out 72 times in 294 plate appearances. We're tracking the P/PA for all the Blue Jay's hitters, a stat you won't find anywhere else, because it's a crucial skill for all hitters working their way to the show.
Adam Loewen continues to impress each day staying productive on Friday and Saturday despite going 0-6. On Friday he had two RBIs, one on a groundout to first in the 1st inning to score Brandon Snyder and the other came on a sacrifice fly with no outs and the bases loaded again scoring Snyder. On Saturday he also went 0 for 3 but drew two walks, scored a run, and added another RBI. He came around to score on Jimenez's homer after drawing a walk in the fifth and drew a bases loaded walk in the ninth to plate Chris Marrero. Loewen is second in the league in walks(5) through the first week and has an OBP of .500. He worked the opposition for 40 pitches in 9 plate appearances between the two days(4.44 P/PA).
Brad Emaus took an aggressive approach to the plate Friday seeing just 13 pitches in 4 plate appearances but it paid off collecting a pair of hits and driving in a run. He took the aggression to the basepaths with his first steal of the AFL season in the eighth inning. Both his hits, including his 3rd inning single that scored Josh Bell, came on 0-2 counts.
Gary Cathcart's Desert Dogs are on a roll winning four straight games to finish the first week 4-1 tied for the best record in the AFL and leading their division by two games. They've been scoring runs in bunches and had some good pitching to go with it too. Cathcart is managing the five time defending AFL champions so on top of balancing playing time for everybody and watching pitch counts he has some added pressure to keep the streak going.
Playing for the Mesa Solar Sox, David Cooper was active and in the lineup for Saturday's game. He drew a walk while striking out twice finishing the day 0 for 3. In his last two trips to the plate he saw 13 pitches including 6 in the 7th inning to work out a walk. Overall, he had 4.75 P/PA seeing 19 pitches in 4 trips to the plate.
The league takes Sundays off, we'll be back Wednesday to recap how the Blue Jays group kicks off week two.
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