The Mesa Solar Sox beat the Surprise Saguaros 14-3 today. Robbie Grossman, playing right field and batting leadoff, went 2-for-5 with a walk and a solo home run. The home run, which came leading off the game, was Grossman’s third of the AFL season in 48 at-bats. Grossman now has a .354 average and a 1.030 OPS in the short AFL season.
Jarek Cunningham started at second base, and went 1-for-5 at the plate. Cunningham has a .172 average in 29 at-bats so far.
Mesa plays again on Monday at 3:35 PM EST against Salt River.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
I’m anxious to see Grossman in AA next year. With Marte and Hernandez at AAA, that would give us quite an outfield surplus going forward.