Arizona Fall League Prospect Report — November 19, 2021

Drew Lugbauer, C, Braves – Lugbauer’s sensational Arizona Fall League showing now has a signature moment. Lugbauer hit a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the seventh inning to give Peoria a 7-6, come-from-behind victory over Surprise on Thursday afternoon. Surprise led 6-1 heading into the seventh and final inning before Ji-Hwan Bae drew a bases-loaded walk and Bryson Stott hit a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 6-3. After Logan O’Hoppe drew a walk to load the bases, Lugbauer drove a 1-0 pitch from Rangers righthander Eudrys Manon over the center-field fence for a grand slam to put the Javelinas in the lead. Travis Kuhn closed out the bottom of the seventh for Peoria to end it and make Lugbauer’s slam the difference. Lugbauer is now batting .322 with six home runs and a 1.233 OPS in 15 games this fall. With Thursday’s performance, he took over the league led in OPS.

JJ Bleday, OF, Marlins—Bleday’s turnaround keeps providing highlight-reel moments in the AFL. He made an exceptional sliding catch along the left-field line to in the first inning of Mesa’s 3-1 win over Salt River and went 1 for 3 with a triple, a walk and two runs scored at the plate. He drew a two-out walk in the first inning and came around to score the first run of the game on Nelson Velazquez’s RBI double. In the fifth, he laced a triple down the right-field line that left his bat at 111.3 mph—that hardest hit ball of the game. Bleday is now batting .316 with a 1.035 and has 15 extra-base hits in 24 games.

Andres Chaparro, 3B, Yankees – Few players have made loud contact like as Chaparro this fall. The 22-year-old Venezuelan went 3 for 3 with three doubles in Surprise’s 7-6 loss to Peoria. He now has eight doubles tied for second-most in the league. Chaparro has been prone to swinging and missing, but when he makes contact, he does damage—11 of his 18 hits in the AFL have gone for extra bases.

Michael Dominguez, RHP, Blue Jays—Dominguez had a rough go in the AFL, but at least he finished on a high note. The 21-year-old righthander pitched four hitless, scoreless innings to lead Mesa’s 3-1 win over Salt River. He walked two, struck out two and needed only 44 pitches to cut through the Rafters’ lineup and pick up his first win. Dominguez didn’t miss many bats with his 90-94 mph fastball, 77-80 mph slider and 79-82 mph changeup, but he stayed off of barrels and mixed his pitches to keep hitters guessing. He finished his time in the AFL 1-2, 4.98 in six starts.

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