Seager, Meyer, Nicholas, And Rest Of West Stars Shine Best In AFL Fall Stars Game

Last night the Arizona Fall League all-stars gathered at Surprise Stadium for the annual AFL Fall Stars game. Shortstop Corey Seager was one of just two Dodger Representatives (Yimi Garcia did pitch an inning  and recorded two whiffs), playing shortstop for the AFL West club, and batting sixth in their lineup.

The West squad, beat the East team by a score of 9-2. The Twin’s right handed pitching prospect Alex Meyer tossed three shutout frames, while limiting the East club to three hits, and whiffing three to pick up the win for the West crew. His teammates gave him more than enough run support as the West lineup plated nine runs, and pounded out 12 hits. Five of those hits were home runs. MVP of the game Ranger’s prospect Brett Nicholas went 3 for 4 with two home runs. Stefen Romero also homered twice, and Red Sox third base prospect Garin Cecchini also added a home run of his own for good measure. The West scored two runs in the third, fourth, sixth, and eighth innings. Nicholas’s two solo home runs came in the fourth, and seventh frames. Romero’s two shots came in the sixth, and eighth innings respectively. One was a two-run shot, and the second home run was a solo shot in the eighth. The West clubbed two home runs in the eighth, and also got a triple from DH Tyler Naquin.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

But the real star of the night was Meyer, who performed outstanding in another AFL Fall Stars game. Meyer is used to pitching well in these games. In the AFL games the right hander is 2-0 with a 3.63 ERA in five previous AFL starts.

"“My curve was good for me tonight,” Meyer said. “My fastball command wasn’t the best, but it was effective enough. ““It feels incredible,” Nicholas said. “The other part, too, I’ve got a lot of family and friends here. I’m from Arizona. It’s just an incredible experience and it’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my career.”"

Even more sweet for Meyer was the ability to perform well in front of Twin’s GM Terry Ryan who was in attendance for the game.

Meyer started the game red-hot by whiffing two in the first inning. According to reports, Meyer was hitting 95-98 mph on the radar gun early, and was effective the entire outing, impressing everyone with his powerful fastballs and effective breaking pitch. This is very good news for the Twins, who are very high on Meyer right now.

Signs with Dodgers Photo: Ben Platt/MLB.com

As for the only Dodger in the game Corey Seager, he went 0 for 3 with an RBI. Seager flew out to center in the second frame, than his run scoring force play in the third plated a run for the west squad. His strikeout in the bottom of the sixth was his final at-bat, before he was defensive switched out of the game in the top of the seventh. Prospect Marcus Semien replaced Seager at shortstop. Semien recorded the final out of the game in the top of the ninth on a pop-up from Brian Goodwin.

The game took two hours and forty–seven minutes to complete, and was played in front of an announced crowd of 6,529, which is an AFL Fall Stars game record.