Matt Purke getting rocked in the Arizona Fall League

The hitters in the Arizona Fall League haven’t been kind to Matt Purke.  After allowing an earned run over two innings in his AFL debut on October 15^th, the left-hander has surrendered 10 earned runs over his last inning and a third.

Making his first start against Surprise on October 21^st, Purke couldn’t escape a disastrous first inning. He allowed seven runs on five hits and walk, and managed to record only one out.  He followed it up with another brutal appearance nearly a week later in a relief appearance against Mesa.  Although Purke successfully made it through the inning, he still gave up three earned on four hits.

Just as it was towards the end of last season following several months of arm problems, Purke’s stuff has been flat this fall, and the 2010 velocity that once garnered No. 1 overall pick consideration is nowhere to be found.

According to Amanda Comak of The Washington Times:

Purke faced eight batters, he retired one. The one out he did get was a rocket high and deep to right field — but foul — that Phillies’ right fielder Tyson Gillies ran down and leapt for. He threw 22 pitches — 12 balls, 10 strikes — and fell behind to almost every single batter he faced. He walked one, Kansas City’s Wil Myers, on four pitches and hit another, Atlanta’s Todd Cunningham. His velocity reached 92 once but sat mostly in the 89-91 range and he didn’t seem to have great feel for his breaking stuff.

Sure Purke hadn’t faced hitters—let alone quality ones—since last spring before pitching in the AFL, but he has immediately emerged as the pitcher that no team wanted to touch with a 20-foot pole last June.

Here is some video of Purke during his breakout, red-shirt freshman season at TCU in 2010:

And here’s a video of Purke warming up before to his first AFL appearance: