Grant Green grand slam in AFL goes unrewarded
Grant Green is currently on fire for the Phoenix Desert Dogs and there is reason to believe the Oakland Athletics top prospect will be making a strong case for selection in the major league squad in 2012. However on Thursday, November 10, the youngster faced
a tough defeat as the Mesa Solar Sox inflicted a 10 – 8 loss on his team. The fact that Green smashed a grand slam in the encounter made the loss much harder to absorb.
Green has earned a good reputation in the Arizona Fall League and the one thing many pitchers are beginning to learn is not to pitch the same ball to the hard hitter. Nathan Baker, belonging to the Pittsburgh Pirates made the same mistake in the fifth inning
when he pitched a fastball straight in.
"In the at-bat before, he beat me with a fastball in," Green said. "I knew he'd try to go there again. He ended up throwing another fastball straight in, and I finally got the bat head out and pulled it."
Leading up to the third inning the Solar Sox were leading the score line with a 7 – 0 tally. By the fifth inning, Grant got the Desert Dogs to 7 – 5. The two teams fought hard till the eighth inning when the score line was tied at 8 – 8. It was Mesa in the
end that got the victory as Brian Dozier (from the Minnesota Twins) smashed a two run homer to end the game on 10 – 8.
For the 2009 13th Pick in the First Player Draft, it was a heart break.
"Any loss is tough, especially since we we're down 7-0 going into the fourth. So coming back from that, it ended up it didn't go our way today," said Green. "Their guy hit a bomb in the eighth, but it was tough. We'll come back tomorrow and do it again."
Grant Green is doing well for the Phoenix Desert Dogs in the Fall League. He has a hitting average of .308 from 22 games. He has 21 runs, four home runs and 17 RBIs. His slugging percentage of .571 and on base percentage of .366 makes him a dangerous hitter
on the shortstop position.
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