Robertson, Rodriguez take AFL honors

Merely being invited to the Arizona Fall League was the cherry on top of the regular season for A's prospect Daniel Robertson. With his strong performance for the Mesa Solar Sox, he's added some whipped cream and hot fudge to his 2014 sundae.

Robertson was named the Arizona Fall League Player of the Week for his play last week, the circuit announced Tuesday. Pirates and Scottsdale left-hander Joely Rodriguez earned Pitcher of the Week honors.

The 20-year-old shortstop went 10-for-18 (.556) with a homer, eight RBIs and five runs scored in four games for the Solar Sox last week. His standout performance came on the week's last day, when he went 5-for-6 (all singles) with four RBIs and a pair of runs in Mesa's 14-0 win over Surprise.

As of Tuesday, his .444 average and .556 on-base percentage were both tops among eligible AFL batters. His 1.083 OPS ranks third behind A's teammates Matt Olson (1.150) and Boog Powell (1.132).

The 2012 compensation-round pick owned a .310/.402/.471 line with 15 homers, three triples, 37 doubles and 60 RBIs in 132 games at Class A Advanced Stockton during the regular season. He also appeared in seven playoff games for Double-A Midland en route to its Texas League championship. Those numbers let the A's feel comfortable that their prized prospect could meet the challenge of the elite arms in the AFL.

"I didn't expect that he'd be able to do what he did offensively," A's director of player development Keith Lieppman told MiLB.com when Robertson was named an Organization All-Star. "He took the offseason and made a lot of adjustments with his swing. His selectivity and discipline are off the charts. He has a really good eye and he knows how to take tough pitches. He fits our M.O. on how we play the game in the Oakland organization."

Rodriguez made a pair of strong starts against Glendale to take pitcher honors. He struck out five and allowed just three hits and a walk over four scoreless innings in a win on Monday and befuddled the Desert Dogs by allowing one earned run on three hits in four frames on Saturday. According to the league, he beat out bigger names like Tyler Glasnow (3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 6 K) and Mark Appel (10 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), who were also considered for Pitcher of the Week.

The 22-year-old southpaw went 6-11 with a 4.84 ERA, 73 strikes and 43 walks in 134 innings at Double-A Altoona this summer.