Roman Quinn impressing at Arizona Fall League
Roman Quinn's time at the Arizona Fall League, which will conclude November 15, has been spent largely as a cloud of dust. The Phillies' outfield prospect has been impressing analysts and scouts with his blazing speed.
"Quinn has stolen 94 bases in 227 professional games. That's about 67 steals in a 162-game season. That would have led the Major Leagues this year."
It's easy to get excited about events from the AFL - it's an extraordinarily brief schedule, teams are sending some of their hottest farmhands, and it seems like a new record is set each season (Another Phillies prospect, Nefi Ogando, set the new AFL record for pitch speed this season at 96.1 m.p.h. before being dethroned days later by an Diamondbacks prospect, Enrique Burgos, at 96.9 m.p.h.).
And in that vein, Quinn is giving plenty of reasons to be excited (19 H, 2 3B, 15 BB, 13 SB, .370 OBP in 77 AB). The Royals made speed and base stealing look pretty fun (and effective) in the playoffs this year, and though the Phillies finished the season with the sixth most SB in baseball (109), the fourth best SB% (80.74%), and 24th in getting caught (26 CS), an injection of fast, young legs is always healthy.
Analysts remain split on Quinn, however. Some have allowed themselves to get caught up in his wake, as they did with Billy Hamilton last year (In fact, after the 2012 season, Fangraphs suggested that Quinn may be "A Better Billy Hamilton?"), while others need to see other facets of his game develop before passing judgment. Quinn has also suffered multiple injuries, having ruptured his Achilles during an offseason workout in November 2013, after breaking his wrist and missing the second half of the previous season.
This is part of the reason Quinn was not even considered one of the Phillies' top 10 prospects going into 2015 by Baseball Prospectus.
His absence caused a stir, but BP qualified it through Quinn's "...offensive profile being a bit light, the presence of contact issues, and the fact that he was limited in action this year due to the Achilles."
It's been an inconsistent output from Quinn, through little fault of his own. He has used this AFL experience to vault into the spotlight and should his speed maintain, he will remain an asset as the Phillies rebuild.