Arizona Fall League/Mesa Solar Sox final update

The Mesa Solar Sox won the East Division title of the Arizona Fall League with a 16-13-1 record, 2½ games ahead of the Salt River Rafters. So today at 2:08 Chicago time, the Solar Sox will take on the Peoria Javelinas. The Javelinas are made up of players from the Braves, Red Sox, Padres, Mariners and Blue Jays. In addition to the Cubs, the Solar Sox are comprised of the Tigers, Athletics, Astros and Nationals. So for today, it’s totally cool to cheer for the Nats.

There will be a separate game thread for the game coming up at 1 p.m. CT, but for now, here’s the final update on how the Cubs did in the AFL.

By the way, I’m missing most of the game to watch my daughter be a cheerleader in the Pee-Wee Tri-County Pop Warner Football Championship Game. I knew becoming a father was a mistake.

Hitters:

David Bote: Bote hasn’t played since November 9, so I assume he’s dealing with some sort of injury, although I haven’t heard anything. That might explain the rough finish to the season he had after a terrific start.

Bote finished the season batting .333/.395/.536 with four home runs and 14 RBI in 19 games. Even with the poor end to the season, that’s pretty darn good.

Charcer Burks: Burks has played in three games since the last update on Monday, going 2 for 13 with a double. Burks is starting in left field in today’s title game and batting 8th.

For the AFL season, Burks hit .236/.321/.333 with seven doubles and two steals over 18 games.

Ian Rice: Rice played in two games since Monday’s update and went 3 for 8 with two doubles. Rice put up a strong hitting performance in limited play, putting up .322/.415/.467 with seven doubles in just 45 at-bats.

Jason Vosler: This week, Vosler played in three games and was 1 for 13. Vosler struggled in the AFL, hitting .210/.323/.333 with four doubles and two home runs in 23 games.

Pitchers:

Adbert Alzolay: Alzolay finished the AFL season with a 0-1 record and a 6.17 ERA. That was mostly the fault of the Halloween nightmare game, but he did struggle in the second half. Alzolay struck out 13 batters and walked three in 11.2 innings.

Pedro Araujo: Araujo pitched the ninth inning in Wednesday’s clincher. He pitched a perfect inning, struck out two and got his third save of the AFL. Araujo’s final stats for the season was a 1.74 ERA after allowing just two earned runs in 10.1 innings. Araujo struck out 15 and walked two. If Mesa wins today, expect Araujo to be on the mound at the end.

Alec Mills: Mills made six starts in the AFL and went 1-3 with a 3.91 ERA. He struck out 20 and walked six in 23 innings. He did not make a start this week, but he gets the start in the championship game today.

Jake Stinnett: Stinnett came into the game in the fourth inning on Tuesday with a man on second and two outs and got a ground ball to end the threat. He then retired the side in order in the fifth, striking out two.

Stinnett finished the season with seven relief appearances and ten innings. He allowed two runs for an ERA of 1.80. He struck out 14 and walked just three.