Before becoming on of the centerpieces of the Cole Hamels trade, Jorge Alfaro injured his ankle at second base. He hasn’t played a game since while rehabbing from surgery. Overall the injury was supposed to have ended his season and begun the speculation over where he would play winter ball. There had been word out of Florida that he was hitting in sim games and hitting some monster shots in games, however he was still expected to be out for the season. Until this…
Yes that is Alfaro on rehab with the GCL Phillies and catching. He got hit with a pitch in his first PA.
The GCL Phillies season ends on Saturday so this may be a quick showcase, but most other seasons run for a bit longer so who knows.
EDIT: Alfaro played 3 innings behind the plate, caught one runner stealing. At the plate he went 1-1 with 2 HBPs
Montero hit him again…as long as it not his ankle.
with Reading having a 10 days and playoffs after that, can’t help but think about Alfaro getting some DH time in Reading? Would just be fun to have him in a lineup with Crawford and Williams, plus Stassi. Too bad Quinn couldnt make it back for the end of the year.
Two HBPs? Gotta love that he caught someone stealing. I’ve heard that he has a plus to plus-plus arm, but that he has a hitch in his throwing motion so his pop times aren’t as good as they should be. Has anyone seen anything to back that up or refute it?
I actually got the joy of watching Alfaro live last year at the Futures Game. During infield drills he was showing off the arm strength (I would put an 80 on it). There is a lot of time for him to get the throw off, but when he does it is accurate, quick, and on a line (there is almost no hump to it). We were getting a lot of pop times in the 2.00 range even with him really gearing up to unload the baseball. It was really impressive on a raw tools level.