We still have a few days left in the 2011 MLB regular season and hopefully your team is still in the hunt. But just a week after the regular season ends, my favorite league of the year (and I see action in five seasonal leagues each year) will begin play.
The Arizona Fall League, AFL for short, is THE developmental league for major league baseball. Consider just a few of these numbers for the league’s 19 year history:
- More than 59% of all players appearing in the AFL have reached the major leagues
- 169 of those have been MLB All-Stars
- Nine have been MLB MVPs
- Three Cy Young Award winners
- Three World Series MVPs
- 20 MLB Rookies of the Year
So let’s take a look at who we will see make their AFL debuts in 2011. First for those not familiar with the league setup, there are six AFL teams who rosters are populated by players from five major league teams. Most of these players were in high A ball this year, but in addition to a few players from June’s draft who are being fast tracked. These six players were all first rounders:
- Daniel Hultzen, LHP, Virginia, Seattle, 2nd overall
- Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice, Pittsburgh, 6th overall
- Jed Bradley, LHP, Georgia Tech, Milwaukee, 15th overall
- Sean Gilmartin, LHP, Florida State, Atlanta, 28th overall
- Joe Panik, 3B, St, Johns, San Francisco, 29th overall
- Mikie Mahtook, OF, LSU, Tampa Bay, 31st overall
There are alsoa few AA/AAA players and some players who spent the majority of the 2011 season in the minors but may have been called up in September (hello Mike Trout). And, there are also some major league players who missed so much time that in lieu of going to winter ball are given extra innings here in Arizona (Tyson Ross, Oakland for example, but likely several others).
Here are the six AFL teams for 2011 with their home ballpark and the five MLB teams sending them players:
EAST Division
- Mesa Solar Sox, Hohokam Park in Mesa – Cubs, Orioles, Pirates, Twins, White Sox
- Salt River Rafters, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick – Diamondbacks, Rockies, Astros, Dodgers, Tigers
- Scottsdale Scorpions, Scottsdale Stadium – Giants, Angels, Nationals, Phillies, Red Sox
WEST Division
- Peoria Javelinas, Peoria Stadium – Mariners, Padres, Brewers, Cardinals, Mets
- Phoenix Desert Dogs, Phoenix Municipal Stadium – Athletics, Blue Jays, Indians, Reds, Yankees
- Surprise Saguaros, Surprise Stadium – Rangers, Royals, Braves, Marlins, Rays
Play will begin on Tuesday, October 4 and continue through Thursday, November 17 with the one game league championship between the division winners on Saturday, November 19 at Scottsdale Stadium. That game and the Rising Stars All Star game which will be played on Saturday, November 5 at Surprise Stadium will likely both be televised on the MLB Network as they were last year.
Last year some of the players we saw were: Eric Hosmer;1B, KC, Dustin Ackley, 2B; SEA, Freddie Freeman, 1B, ATL; Alex Cobb, RHP, TB; Ben Revere, OF, MIN; and Eric Thames, OF, TOR.
I will post a short preview of each team in following columns, but if you needed one nugget to get down here and scout your future players – two-thirds of the Scottsdale Scorpions’ outfield this fall will be Mike Trout and Bryce Harper.
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