Ike Davis broke a 1-1 tie with a third-inning grandslam off Tigers LHP Andrew Oliver.  Oliver, a second rounder, signed for $1.45 million, roughly twice slot, but was hit hard in his professional debut.  Davis’s slam came on a 92 mph fastball on a 3-1 count in which Oliver missed with a slider for ball one and then threw Davis four straight heaters.  Davis had to have been sitting dead red.  All told, Davis finished 4-6 with with doubles, his slam, and six RBI in the Surprise Rafters 17-4 pummeling of the Peoria Javelinas.

LF Lucas Duda was 2-5 with a double, a walk and two RBI while SS Ruben Tejada was 2-5 with a double, a stolen base, and a pair of strikeouts.

As if those performances weren’t exciting enough, the AFL now features full pitch fx for some games, including those in Surprise.  This is awesome on its own merits for evaluating AFLers.  Also, since the AFL is often a lab where MLB experiments withideas for the upcoming MiLB season, does this mean that pitch fx is coming to the minors?

Adam Rubin reports that “Virtually the entire Mets front office was watching as the AFL got under way [Tuesday]. GM Omar Minaya, assistant GM John Ricco, top deputies Sandy Johnson and Bryan Lambe, Adam Fisher and virtually every professional scout from the organization is here in Peoria, Ariz.”  So, Ike picked a good time to put on a show.