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AFL: Eppler and Williams Look Solid in Fall Season Finale

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The Arizona Fall League wrapped up it’s schedule on Thursday, with Glendale taking home a 5-1 win. Both Tyler Eppler and Trevor Williams came in out of the bullpen and Reese McGuire batted second and started behind the plate.

Tyler Eppler came on to pitch the fourth inning. He started with a strikeout, then gave up a line drive single to left field. Eppler then had an eight-pitch battle, which included six strikes, before picking up his second strikeout. He followed that up with a line drive to shortstop for the final out. He threw 16 pitches in the inning, 14 for strikes.

The second inning was more of the same for Eppler. He filled the strike zone and got through the inning without any trouble, throwing 12 pitches, ten for strikes. That was the end of his game. He had just three walks coming into the game in 14.2 innings, so his control has been strong all fall. The results haven’t been there with a 7.56 ERA and .343 BAA, but he needed the extra innings after missing the beginning of the season due to elbow soreness.

Trevor Williams came on to pitch the seventh inning after Glendale pitcher Tom Windle had to leave due to injury. Williams inherited a runner on first, with no outs. He erased that runner with a 1-4-3 double play. The next batter hit a ground-rule double, but Williams got a strikeout on three pitches to end the inning. He threw nine pitches in the inning, seven for strikes.

Williams came out for a second inning and allowed a lead-off single on the first pitch. A soft grounder to third base moved the runner up, as the out was recorded at first base. Another grounder to shortstop moved the runner to third base, but resulted in the second out. Williams finished the inning with a grounder to shortstop. He threw 23 pitches, 16 for strikes. This was his longest outing with the Pirates, though he threw two innings in his only appearance with Mesa before being acquired from the Marlins.

In his first at-bat, Reese McGuire grounded out to first base. When he came up again in the third inning, he took three straight called strikes. In the fifth inning, McGuire faced former Pirates’ prospect Buddy Borden with two outs and two runners on base. McGuire flew out to right field to keep the game at a 1-1 tie. He came up in the seventh with the bases empty and struck out swinging. In the ninth, he flew out to right field for the final out. That last at-bat dropped him below the .300 mark, as he finished with a .294/.379/.412 slash line in 51 at-bats. McGuire had four doubles and a triple. He drew seven walks and struck out seven times

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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