MLB’s top prospects will be featured in the Arizona Fall League as rosters were announced Tuesday.
Every fall, MLB teams send a handful of prospects to the Arizona Fall League, a league where teams often send their top prospects to get exposure to other elite talents, send players who were injured in the previous season to get innings or at bats that they didn’t get in the previous regular season, and where they send players who they’d like to have a chance to learn a new position or a new pitch or a new role in an environment where there’s less competitiveness.
The rosters were released on Tuesday, and we’ll take a look at each roster, starting with the Glendale Desert Dogs team:
MLB affiliate teams: White Sox, Indians, Dodgers, Phillies, Pirates
Pitching – The top pitcher by a large margin is Pirates prospect Mitch Keller, one of the top 30-50 prospects in all of the game. Other guys to watch include Phillies relief prospects Trevor Bettencourt and J.D. Hammer, Pirates lefty starting prospects Taylor Hearn and Brandon Waddell, and Indians relief prospect Leandro Linares.
Hitters – One of the biggest pieces of intrigue that came out of the announcement of the Glendale roster was the placement of Indians prospect Francisco Mejia. While I’d heard some rumors about the Indians looking at Mejia at other positions than behind the plate, listing him as an infielder in the Arizona Fall League is incredibly intriguing and is an absolute must-watch of the prospects on this team.
Of course, behind the plate, the Desert Dogs will have one of my favorite catchers from the 2016 draft in Will Smith of the Dodgers. The strength of the team will be in the infield with Cleveland masher Bobby Bradley, Mejia, and Pirates infielders Kevin Kramer and Cole Tucker being the highlights. In the outfield, Dodgers enormous (6’6″, 230-pound) outfielder DJ Peters will be coming off of his Cal League MVP season to the Glendal outfield, where he’ll be joined by fellow Dodger prospect Yusniel Diaz and former top draft pick Cornelius Randolph of the Phillies.
Next, we’ll look at Peoria…
Peoria Javelinas
MLB affiliate teams: Braves, Red Sox, Padres, Mariners, Blue Jays
Pitching – The pitching of the Peoria team is incredibly intriguing, even though there may not be a top 100 pitcher among them, depending on who is doing the ranking. Pitchers like Max Fried and Touki Toussaint of the Braves and T.J. Zeuch had up and down seasons but have very impressive days when they are at their best. The bullpen should be fun to watch with Corbin Clouse of the Braves, Matthew Festa of the Mariners, and T.J. Weir of the Padres in that bullpen among others. Add in former top prospects Brian Johnson and Henry Owens of the Red Sox, who were injured this season and need the innings, and this could be a very intriguing pitching staff indeed.
Hitting – The lineup for Peoria may be one of the most talented that I’ve ever seen in the Arizona Fall League. There is a legit argument for Ronald Acuna of the Braves as the #1 prospect in all of baseball. Michael Chavis and Austin Riley both had big showings as they moved up this season, both in their defense at the hot corner and in their offensive production. Josh Naylor can decorate the stands during batting practice. Up and down, the lineup is incredibly talented.
Where I see a lot of intrigue with the Peoria team is behind the plate. The Braves converted former top draft pick Alex Jackson behind the plate after acquiring from the Mariners after the 2016 season, and he’s been injured and missed some of that development time. Max Pentecost has spent a lot of his minor league career on the DL. However, both of them on pure ceiling would be top 100 guys no question if they can show the ability to handle the position behind the plate with their abilities with the bat.
Pitching – The River Rafters may not have a single player as elite as players on basically every roster out there right now. However, that does not mean that there are not guys to be interested in here. In fact, two lefties on the team are two of my favorite pitchers to watch. The Marlins’ Dillon Peters is one of the smallest starters you’ll ever watch on the mound, likely exaggerating his 5’9″ listed height, yet watching him on the mound is always entertaining as he’s an incredible competitor on the mound. Keegan Akin was drafted last year by the Orioles, and while his stuff wouldn’t make him an elite prospect nationally, he’s the type of guy who mixes well and has the mentality on the mound that I could see being a 10-year major league veteran when all is said and done.
I’m very intrigued to watch Ryan Atkinson of the Diamondbacks farm system, a 2016 draft pick out of Cincinnati, who jumped from low-A all the way to AA this season. I’m also personally intrigued to see former University of Minnesota pitcher Ben Meyer in the Marlins system after he had an excellent season.
Hitting – The guy who is likely to rank highest on the team in top 100 lists is Baltimore infielder Ryan Mountcastle, who has really exploded onto the scene this year after showing all the tools previously. Also very interesting will be a pair of prospects from the Brewers system who were very highly thought of before the 2017 season but struggled through poor performance and injury in Corey Ray and Lucas Erceg.
The Salt River team is the “smallest” of the rosters currently announced, so it could very well be that the team has a number of players added in the next few weeks. A few guys that people were hopeful to see this year were Brewers pitcher Corbin Burns and Orioles outfielder Austin Hays. While teams are typically slotted as far as what position they are to send (Orioles send two infielders and two pitchers, for instance), injuries can allow those slots to get fudged. That would allow for these other players to find their way to the AFL.
Pitching – Surprise has some very intriguing pitchers, though it’s likely the one pitcher that will make any appearances on top 100 lists is Cardinals flame-throwing righty Sandy Alcantara. The most well known name beyond Alcantara is likely former top draft pick Tyler Jay, the left-handed pitcher for the Twins, who has now converted to relief.
Some intriguing arms are on the staff, however, including Cardinals starter Jordan Hicks, Tampa Bay righty Burch Smith, and Rays righty Benton Moss.
Hitting – While there is not an elite prospect, there are some incredibly intriguing prospects on the Surprise roster. Cardinals catching prospect Andrew Knizner has made significant progress this season after being drafted out of North Carolina State in 2016, reaching AA this year. However, the most intriguing guy to watch will likely be Cuban signee Luis La O, a third baseman in the Rangers system, who has hit .290/.337/.404 this season in high-A with 8 home runs and 11 stolen bases. He’ll be joined by fellow countryman and Ranger teammate, outfielder Yanio Perez.
A few older prospects have a chance to make a splash this year with Surprise, like Rays infielder Brandon Lowe, Twins infielder/outfielder Chris Paul, and Rangers outfielder Michael O’Neill.
Pitching – The Scottsdale pitching staff is fairly top-heavy, but that top is very talented, with three top 100 caliber prospects in Tyler Beede of the Giants and Justus Sheffield and Dillon Tate of the Yankees. While they’re the headliners, the pitching will also have some other very interesting arms to watch including Giants reliever Tyler Cyr and Reds reliever Joel Bender, who missed much of 2017 and is likely hoping to make up innings in this season’s AFL work.
Hitting – While there are other impressive players on the team, the real story for the lineup is behind the plate. Aramis Garcia of the Giants, Tomas Nido of the Mets, and Taylor Ward of the Angels are all excellent prospects among catchers, with many having missed the elite season that Garcia had in the Cal League this season, clubbing 17 home runs in just 81 games.
Joining the catchers is likely the most dynamic young player in the Yankees system, behind only Gleyber Torres in ultimate ceiling among Yankee position prospects in Estevan Florial. Florial has an incredible depth of talent, with power, speed, excellent defense, and youth. He simply needs to work out the kinks of that youth to take the step into superstardom, but Torres was in a similar spot when he showed up to the AFL last fall before leaving as a top 5 prospect in the game.
– The arms for Mesa will be volatile, but when they’re on, they’ll be very, very fun to watch. The one steady arm of the bunch should be A’s starter Logan Shore, a consistent arm that could make the leap from college in 2016 to the majors in 2018 the way he’s shown himself so far. What will be fun to watch, however, will be the arms of guys like Oscar De La Cruz (Cubs), Pedro Araujo (Cubs), Miguel Romero (A’s), and Framber Valdez (Astros), who can all make batters look silly but can also frustrate fans and managers as well.
Hitting – While the pitching is volatile, the offense is absolutely incredible in the depth and talent of the team. Going around the infield is plenty impressive, with excellent catchers from the 2016 draft in Sean Murphy and Jake Rogers. Then you have excellent talents, led by the Astros breakthrough prospect Yordan Alvarez, around the entire infield.
However, the real incredible talent will shine through whenever the team has Nationals prospect Victor Robles and Astros prospect Kyle Tucker, two of the top 10-15 prospects in the entire game, and they’ll share the Mesa outfield on a nightly basis throughout the fall.
The Arizona Fall League will kick off on October 10th. The Fall Stars game will be November 4th, and the championship game will be November 18th.
Be on the lookout for typically numerous games that will be broadcast on MLB Network or online through different channels. These games are always well worth the view!
