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AFL Live: Reports on Connor Joe, Jin-De Jhang, and Montana DuRapau

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SURPRISE, AZ – Around the sixth inning of today’s game, I noticed Eric Wood standing outside the dugout, not wearing a hat, waiting for his teammates to take the field, and then re-entering the dugout. I noticed this later in the eighth inning, only this time, Wood was wearing a coaching helmet. It took a minute for it to sink in that Wood kept waiting outside the dugout not because he might have been blocking his teammates on the steps, but because he was returning to the dugout after coaching first base.

It took that long to realize that he was the first base coach today because Surprise didn’t give him much to do, getting no-hit by the Mesa Solar Sox (a team that has prospects from the Indians and the Cubs, which should make for an interesting clubhouse dynamic these days). Connor Joe and Jin-De Jhang were both in the lineup, although there wasn’t much to write about in either case, due to the circumstances.

You’d like to see some hard hit balls that just missed going for hits, but that didn’t happen in either case. The no-hitter was a group effort from Mesa’s pitching staff, due to the nature of the AFL games, but none of the Surprise offense had it today, and that included Joe and Jhang. Joe played left field, and while you can’t really get a good read on his defense from one game, he is athletic enough and moves around well enough that he shouldn’t have an issue if he eventually has to move to the outfield. Jhang was the designated hitter.

The most notable thing for the Pirates today was that Montana DuRapau came on and had a quick and efficient outing, looking the best he’s looked this fall. DuRapau has had issues so far leaving the ball up in the zone, but did a better job of that today, keeping the ball down and getting three quick ground outs, only needing seven pitches to get through the inning. He topped out at 92.9 MPH, and had two other pitches in the 92 MPH range. He was at his best in 2015 when his velocity was up to 90-93 and he was mixing in his cutter well. This year he didn’t have as good of a season, with his velocity down and only touching the low-90s most of the time. Today was an example of the good version of DuRapau, but that version hasn’t shown up much this fall.

Surprise plays Peoria tomorrow. I’d expect that Edgar Santana will pitch, since he’s in the Fall Stars Game on Saturday, and would need a few days off between his outings. And I’m guessing Eric Wood will be doing more tomorrow than standing at first base watching his team get no-hit. Here are some photos from today’s game.

Connor Joe rounding first after popping out.
Connor Joe rounding first after popping out.
Jin-De Jhang went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
Jin-De Jhang went 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
Montana DuRapau got three quick groundouts in his inning of work.
Montana DuRapau got three quick groundouts in his inning of work.
Joe moved well to get a grounder down the third base line that went for a double.
Joe moved well to get a grounder down the third base line that went for a double.

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Altoona and Surprise Hitting Coach Kevin Riggs
Altoona and Surprise Hitting Coach Kevin Riggs
Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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