Arizona Fall League: Week One Review

The Arizona Fall League is one week in with each team playing four games. The Mesa Solar Sox lead the East division by 2.5 games over the Salt River Rafters and Scottsdale Scorpions. Mesa finished the first week 3-0-1, with some fabulous performances on the mound and at the plate. The talent that they possess is something special and it will be making a lot of teams very happy in the near future. Over in the West division the Glendale Desert Dogs are on top at 2-1-1. They hold a half game lead over the Peoria Javelinas and Surprise Saguaros.

Top performers from week one on the offensive side include Michael Ohlman (Orioles). He is tied for second in Average and is first in On Base Percentage and On Base Plus Slugging. He has been very productive for Surprise as they try to claw their way back into first to start week two. Another top performer from week one was James Ramsey (Cardinals). He led the league in Average, and was in the top three in OBP and Slugging.

The Chicago Cubs had a very good week with both Kris Bryant and Albert Almora having huge weeks. They combined for 13 Hits, three Home Runs and 13 RBI. The Cubs are looking to build up their young talent rather quickly and the AFL is a great place to do so. Both Bryant and Almora could move up through the Cubs organization rather quickly and be seen on a major league field within a couple of seasons. Which is always good news for a franchise with such passionate fans.

On the pitching side of things, pitchers didn’t throw too many innings. A lot of guys looked sharp but one guy that really stood out was Grayson Garvin (Rays). He started one game, throwing 5 innings, 1 Hit, 1 BB, and 5 strikeouts.  Another great young arm coming through the Tampa Bay organization, from Vanderbilt University, what a surprise.

Week 2 will have six full days of games, with the off day being Sunday, October 20th. Still a long way to go before it is all said and done, but some teams could really separate themselves this week.