Competition in the 2024 Arizona Fall League draws to a close over the next couple of days with a play-in Semi-Final game today and the Championship game on Saturday.
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an annual prospect showcase venture made up of six teams, each of which is stocked with minor leaguers from five different Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations. Those MLB clubs provide seven players each, making for a 35-man AFL roster.
This year, 13 of Baseball America’s current top 100 MLB prospects played in Arizona. The list includes this year’s sixth overall pick in the MLB Draft, first baseman Jac Caglianone of Kansas City, #11-ranked BA prospect shortstop Colt Emerson of Seattle, and BA’s #17-ranked prospect catcher Ethan Salas of San Diego,
Inaugurated in 1992 the AFL has all six of its teams located in the greater Phoenix area since the 1994 campaign. The current teams are Surprise Saguaros, Glendale Desert Dogs, Salt River Rafters, Scottsdale Scorpions, Mesa Solar Sox, and Peoria Javelinas. Each plays home games in their own ballpark holding 10,000+ fans.
The Peoria Javelinas, with seven championships to their name over the 31 years of competition (there was no play during the 2020 COVID pandemic), have won the most titles. The Devil Dogs, playing then in the city of Phoenix rather than their present Glendale location, won a record five AFL crowns in a row from 2004-08.
The MLB players affiliated with each AFL club this season are as follows:
Glendale – Cardinals, Dodgers, Phillies, Reds, White Sox
Mesa – Angels, Athletics, Cubs, Rays, Red Sox
Peoria – Braves, Brewers, Mariners, Marlins, Padres
Salt River – Diamondbacks, Nationals, Rockies, Twins, Yankees
Scottsdale – Blue Jays, Giants, Mets, Pirates, Tigers
Surprise – Astros, Guardians, Orioles, Rangers, Royals
On Saturday, November 9th, the AFL held its annual Fall Stars Game, showcasing the top players in this year’s competition with the two teams divided into American and National League prospects. The AL team pulled out a 6-5 victory when Thayron Liranzo of the Detroit Tigers blasted a solo home run off Griff McGarry of the Philadelphia Phillies with one out in the top of the 9th inning.
A few current MLB stars have been named as the Most Valuable Player of the AFL. Those include Nolan Arenado (2011), Kris Bryant (2013), Gleyber Torres (2016), Ronald Acuna Jr (2017), and Royce Lewis (2019). The award is named for Joe Black, who pitched with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the early 1950’s and in 1952. He became the first black pitcher to start a World Series game. Black was named as the NL Rookie of the Year that season after beginning his career playing nine years in the Negro Leagues.
In 2004 the AFL began presenting a Sportsmanship Award named after Dernell Stenson. The former Cincinnati Reds outfielder was murdered in a robbery during the 2003 AFL season while playing for Scottsdale.
Sam Fuld, the Philadelphia Phillies current president of baseball operations, is the only AFL player to win both the MVP and Sportsmanship Awards. Fuld received each honor for his performance in the 2007 fall campaign.
The AFL holds a two-tiered playoff setup. The top three teams all reach those playoffs. The second and third place clubs battle for the right to meet the first-place finishers in the league championship game.
This year’s final regular season standings saw Surprise finish on top with an 18-10 record. The Saguaros thus advanced automatically to Saturday’s championship contest.
Surprise has received dynamic performances from its Texas Rangers middle infield combo. Second baseman Cody Freeman and shortstop Max Acosta are the club’s OPS leaders. Caglianone leads the Saguaros with 18 RBIs. Texas outfielder Alejandro Osuna has followed up a breakout regular season with a strong fall, slashing .316/.444/.463 with a .907 OPS. His 16 RBIs are tied with Acosta for second on the team.
Yet another Texas Rangers prospect, Josh Stephan, has been the Saguaros pitching leader. The right-hander just turned 23-years-old at the start of the month. Stephan has thrown a staff-high 20 innings, his six appearances including three starts. He allowed 15 hits and struck out 21 batters while fashioning a 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and .200 BAA.
Alex Santos, a righty in the Houston Astros system, has matched Stephan’s six appearances and three starts with Surprise. The 22-year-old has allowed 12 hits over 17.2 innings with 26 strikeouts, 3.57 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and .188 BAA.
Behind Surprise in the standings there was a three-way tie among Scottsdale, Salt River, and Glendale at 16-14. That tie was broken by the head-to-head results of matches among those teams. In the end, Glendale’s losing mark against both Scottsdale and Salt River resulted in the latter two teams advancing to the Friday play-in Semi-Final game.
During the regular season, Scottsdale went 4-2 in their six games against Salt River. The Scorpions outscored the Rafters by 27-23 in those contests. Scottsdale’s 4-1 win in the last matchup back on November 1st was the only game between the two with a margin of more than two runs. Thanks to that regular season series win, Scottsdale will host the Semi-Final matchup at Scottsdale Stadium. The game can be streamed live from the AFL site at this link. It is scheduled to begin at 8:30 PM ET on Friday, November 15: AFL Semi-Final live stream.
In looking ahead to Saturday’s title tilt, Surprise went 5-1 against Scottsdale. The Saguaros outscored the Scorps by 42-24 in winning each of the first five matchups. Scottsdale showed that they could defeat Surprise by winning their final game 5-2 this past Monday. Also, Scottsdale enters the postseason as the hottest team in the AFL, having won their final seven straight games.
Against Salt River, Surprise also had a winning mark, but it was much closer at 4-2. The Rafters scored in double-digits during each of their first two matchups. This included a 14-1 beatdown of Surprise back on October 12.
Whether the Rafters make it or not, the 2024 Arizona Fall League championship game will be played in their home ballpark, Salt River Fields. That championship game will be televised on MLB Network beginning at 8:00 PM ET on Saturday, November 16.
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MATT VEASEY 
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