Red Sox prospects Zach Penrod and Corey Rosier represented the American League in Sunday evening’s 2023 Fall Stars Game at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. How did the two Glendale Desert Dogs teammates fare in the Arizona Fall League’s 17th annual showcase?
Penrod received the first call out of the American League bullpen, relieving starter and Blue Jays pitching prospect C.J. Van Eyk in the top half of the second inning. The 26-year-old left-hander gave up a booming one-out double to Jakob Marsee that nearly left the yard, but the extra-base hit was immediately nullified when Marsee was thrown out at third base by left fielder Will Robertson. Penrod then fanned Marlins prospect Jacob Berry on three pitches and wound up facing the minimum in his lone frame of work.
Finishing with nine pitches (five strikes) Penrod induced a pair of whiffs and touched 96 mph with his fastball while also mixing in a changeup, per The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
Rosier, meanwhile, served as the starting center fielder for the American League. Batting out of the nine-hole, the left-handed hitter went 1-for-2 with a single, a run scored, and a strikeout.
To lead off the bottom of the third inning, Rosier put his impressive speed on display by beating out a softly-hit grounder to third base for an infield single. He then went from first to third on another single before easily scoring on a wild pitch for the junior circuit’s first run of the contest.
That, at the time, knotted things up at one run apiece. Rosier struck out in his only other plate appearance before being replaced in center field by Dasan Brown. The American League then went on to defeat the National League by a final score of 6-3 in front of a crowd of 1,608 spectators. White Sox prospect Colson Montgomery — also a member of the Desert Dogs — earned MVP honors after going 2-for-2 with a 409-foot solo home run.
Two of eight Red Sox prospects playing in the AFL this fall, Penrod and Rosier were selected to the Fall Stars Game on Friday. Penrod has made four starts for Glendale thus far and is 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA (third-lowest among qualified pitchers in the league) and 14 strikeouts to eight walks over 14 innings in which he had held opposing hitters to a .184 batting average against.
Rosier, on the other hand, has slashed a respectable .300/.391/.400 with four doubles, two triples, eight RBIs, 14 runs scored, a team-leading eight stolen bases, 11 walks, and 15 strikeouts in 20 games (92 plate appearances) for the Desert Dogs. The 24-year-old speedster has put up those numbers while seeing his playing time come at all three outfield positions.
With Sunday’s Fall Stars Game in the books, the AFL regular season will pick back up on Tuesday and come to an end on Thursday. As such, Glendale has three games remaining against Surprise, Peoria, and then Surprise again. At 12-15, the Desert Dogs are already out of contention for the top seed in the league. They can, however, still catch up to second-seeded Scottsdale (14-13) and third-seeded Salt River (14-14) for a spot in the play-in semifinals this coming weekend.
(Picture of Corey Rosier: Chris Coduto/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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