Twins 2017 AFL Week Three: Tyler Jay named to All-Star roster

The Arizona Fall League is zooming along, as the seven Twins prospects participating this year just finished their third week of the year. Their team—the Surprise Saguaros—are currently 8-9, which isn’t great, but isn’t too terrible. Besides, it’s just the AFL, we care more about the individual prospects are doing, right?

Let’s take a look at how the young Twins are doing through week three.

Tyler Jay - LHP

The Twins’ 2015 first round draft pick, Tyler Jay, was named to the 2017 AFL All-Star Game roster, and had a pretty good third week in the AFL, throwing two scoreless outings. The first outing, on October 24th, Jay ran into some early trouble, giving up a double and a single with one out. He was able to strike out the next two batters, however, and strand both runners.

Jay’s second outing on October 27th was even better, as he was perfect over his 1.0 inning.

As you probably know, Jay barely pitched at all during the 2017 regular season due to injury, so he’s still working on building up his arm strength. According to reports, Jay isn’t throwing in the mid 90s yet like he did in college, but his stuff is “looking crisper”. His slider is reportedly impressing people too. A lot of the problem for Jay, though, is finding the right balance as he switches from starter back to reliever. "I feel 100 percent,” Jay told MLB.com. “There's still a little bit of a transition from being explosive for two innings instead of being more long, trying to last for seven, so it's kind of hard to find the velo. It'll be there in spurts and I feel it's all coming together again."

Overall, Jay now has a 3.18 ERA over 5.2 innings with seven strikeouts in the 2017 AFL.

Sean Miller - SS/2B

Sean miller saw slightly more playing time in week three than he did in weeks one or two, and has responded by racking up some hits! He appeared in three games over the past week, going 6-for-11 and raising his overall batting average from .211 a week ago to .333 now.

Miller’s best game of the week was on October 26th, when he went 3-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored.

Chris Paul - 1B/3B

After winning the Bowman Hitting Challenge last week, Chris Paul had a bit off an off-week. He played in three games, and went 0-for-4 in two of them. In the other game, on October 27th, Paul went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored.

Overall this AFL, Paul is now hitting .275/.326/.400 with two doubles and a home run.

LaMonte Wade - CF

LaMonte Wade has continued to chug along, having a mostly uneventful third week. He appeared in four games, getting at least a hit in each one, but no one than one hit. His biggest of all the hits came yesterday, October 30th, when he hit an RBI triple in 7th inning.

Overall, Wade is now hitting .250/.365/.409. with two doubles, a triple, and a home run.

Andrew Vasquez - LHP

It was a pretty darn good week for Andrew Vasquez, who threw two scoreless (and hit-less!) outings. In his second outing on October 27th, Vasquez was especially excellent, throwing 1.2 perfect innings with one strikeout. He threw 1.0 innings in his other outing, but did give up one walk—his first and only walk so far in the AFL.

Overall, Vasquez is now sporting a 1.23 ERA over 7.1 innings, with seven strikeouts and a sparkling 0.55 WHIP.

Ryan Eades - RHP

Guess what, guys—Ryan Eades still hasn’t given up a run in this year’s AFL! He pitched in three outings over the past week, all of them obviously scoreless. His best outing came October 24th, when he pitched 1.0 immaculate innings (no hits, no walks, and strikes out every batter).

Overall, Eades has a 0.00 ERA over 8.1 innings, with eight strikeouts and a 1.08WHIP.

Tom Hackimer - RHP

It was a bit of a rough week for Tom Hackimer. Though he threw a scoreless inning in his first of two outings over the past week, his second outing was a bit rough. That came on October 27th, when Hackimer walked in two runs, blowing the save and earning the loss in the game. He also gave up a single and a wild pitch in there. Ouch.

Overall, Hackimer’s now sporting a 4.50 ERA over 6.0 innings with six strikeouts and a 1.83 WHIP.