AFL Review: The Pitchers

Andre Rienzo

Rienzo solidified himself as a top White Sox pitching prospect after a good AFL season.  There were some concerns entering the fall whether he could come close to repeating the numbers he was putting up early in the season before testing positive for PEDs.  

At first glance, Rienzo's stats aren't anything to get excited about (1-1 record with a 4.74 ERA), but if it wasn't for one disastrous inning against Peoria earlier in the month (6 ER in bottom of the the 4th), his numbers would be much, much better.  That inning accounted for almost half of the total earned runs he would allow in 24.2 innings.  Rienzo was Salt River's workhorse as he led the team in innings pitched and was second on the team in strikeouts.  According to reports, Rienzo's fastball is still very impressive and he still needs to develop a second pitch to be a big league starter.

Salvador Sanchez

Sanchez, statistically, had a great AFL season.  Sanchez appeared in 11 games, pitching 11.2 innings, and only giving up 3 ERs.  His ERA was the second-lowest on the Rafters pitching staff.  However, he still had a WHIP of 1.80 mostly because of the amount (12) of walks he gave up.  This is somewhat expected considering he is still making the change to being a pitcher.

Taylor Thompson

Thompson posted a record of 1-0 and an ERA of 3.38 in his 10 relief appearance.  Thompson struck out 10 and only walked 4 this fall which is encouraging.

Santos Rodriguez

Rodriguez and Salvador Sanchez had similar seasons.  Both had 0-1 records, both had WHIPS around 1.80, and both had control issues.  Rodriguez did strike out 13 in 11.1 innings, but did walk 10 which was the second-most for a reliever behind Sanchez.

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