AFL Final Report

THE GOOD

Nate Roberts hit .446/.565/.662 in 65 at-bats.  He won the league batting title by 42 points, the OBP title by 71 points, and the slugging title by 50 points.  Obviously, he also won the OPS title, winning by 110 points.

Logan Darnell went 2-0. 2.45, 1.25 WHIP with 17 strikeouts and 5 walks in 18.1 innings.

Michael Tonkin went 1-0, 2.45, 0.75 WHIP (second in the league) in 14.2 innings.

THE BAD

Evan Bigley hit .242/.319/.371 in 62 at-bats.  That’s not awful, but it’s not very good, either.

Kyle Gibson went 2-3, 5.40, 1.67 WHIP.  He did strike out 28 (third in the league) and walk 8 in 23.1 innings.  One suspects, in his case, that the Twins were less concerned with the results as whether he could simply stay healthy.

Caleb Thielbar went 1-0, 11.08, 2.23 WHIP.  He did strike out 12 in 13 innings, but he also walked eight.

THE OTHERS

Chris Herrmann appeared in three games early in the season and went 5-for-10 with a double and two walks.  He then suffered an injury to his left shoulder and did not play the rest of the season.  The injury is described as “minor”.  Your guess is as good as mine regarding what that means.

Dan Rohlfing took the vacated roster spot.  He hit .333/.435/.333 in 18 at-bats.

WHAT IT ALL MEANS

Not much.  The whole AFL season is a small sample size.  It’s obviously better to do well than to do poorly.  Nate Roberts presumably did himself some good; a .446 batting average, even in 65 at-bats, tends to get people’s attention.  Still, nobody played enough that anyone’s opinion of them should significantly change.  The point of the AFL, from a team’s perspective, is simply to get some good prospects some extra playing time.  The point of the AFL, from a fan’s perspective, is that it’s some more baseball to follow, and you can’t ask for better than that.