By james art While much of the baseball world is focused on the postseason and the World Series, there is a small subset of those in baseball focused on an entirely different season: the Arizona Fall League
If you ask around, people will say it’s a lot like spring training, only with a much smaller crowd, even with the relatively cheap price of $13 a ticket and kids getting in for free. But the die-hards who do emerge are catching early glimpses of who the next batch of young superstars could be long before they reach the big leagues.
Since the Arizona Fall League was founded in 1992, Hall of Famers like Derek Jeter, Roy Halladay and Mike Piazza have come through, as have future Cooperstown rookies like Mike Trout, Max Scherzer and Albert Pujols. Depending on how you feel about Nolan Arenado, Ronald Acuña Jr., Buster Posey or Chase Utley, you can also add their names to the list.
“It’s fun to see, and when you go to a major league game, you can say you saw them when they were in the minors,” fan Patrick Devine said.
There are six teams that make up the Fall League: Salt River Rafters, Scottsdale Scorpions, Peoria Javelinas, Mesa Solar Sox, Surprise Saguaros and Glendale Desert Dogs. These teams are tied with five MLB teams each who are allowed to send four pitchers and three batters to compete in the Fall League.
These players tend to be at the top of each team’s top prospect lists, giving their major league teams a chance to see what’s real and what’s distorted in the mirror maze of player progression.
“Clubs have the ability to send prospects they feel are close to being ready for the big leagues,” said Chuck Fox, director of the Arizona Fall League. “It gives these top prospects an opportunity to play with and against the top prospects in professional baseball. Playing at a high level in professional spring training facilities, you know, an intense schedule similar to what they’re going to face at the next level.”
One of the bright young stars taking the mound for the Salt River Rafters, the D-backs affiliate, is Taiwanese left-hander Yu-Min Lin, who ranks as the seventh best player on the Arizona Diamondbacks farm.
Through three starts, Lin found the Fall League an excellent opportunity to work on his craft, especially after missing part of the 2024 minor league season with a facial fracture after taking a rough ball to the jaw and inconsistent play since his return.
“I’m here now, still playing baseball,” Lynn said.
He has spent much of his time tinkering with his pitches, building in bullpen sessions and generally working to become the best version of himself.
“I’m a starter, so I have to throw at least 75 pitches, so I threw a lot of live BP and bullpen,” Lynn said. “We have a pretty good pitching coach in the complex, so that was a big moment for me. Not big adjustments, but I’ll improve my hand.”
It also gives players an opportunity to work on the skills they already have. In the case of D-backs No. 5 shortstop Tommy Troy, he has shown his ability to get out of slumps.
Troy found itself mired in the middle of a 1-25 slump that included 11 strikeouts. Since then, he’s raised his batting average to .269, and he’s done it with plenty of hard contact and extra on-base power, demonstrating why he’s rated so highly and worthy of a spot on the Fall League roster.
“It’s pretty cliche, but like they always say, just trust the process,” Troy said. “You have to accept it. It’s a tough game and there’s a lot of failure in it, but the more you’re able to accept it and just stick to your plan, stick to your approach, make adjustments, don’t go crazy, everything will figure out just yourself out. You just have to trust him.”
The Arizona Fall League not only serves as an environment to test a player’s skills, but it is also an environment to test new rules. Over the years, the league has tested rules that have since made their way into the majors, such as widening the base runner’s lane, larger bases and the pitch clock, as well as changes to it (such as the timer with runners on changing from 20 seconds to 18 seconds ).
This year, the AFL continues to introduce challenges to kick-the-ball calls and, for the first time in history, the ability to challenge verified swing calls.
“I think it’s pretty lenient on hitters,” Troy said. “I like how we try it out in that setting, we can make adjustments from there. I like it.”
“The fall league is a testing ground for new technology, testing potential rule improvements, rule changes that can be considered at the Major League Baseball level,” Fox said. “It’s definitely an opportunity for a very talented group of players, umpires and coaches to get real-time experience with some of the new technology and again, a great laboratory or think tank for some rules that might be looked at in the future.”
The fall league also gives players the opportunity to interact with different coaches and players they would otherwise never know. For Lynn, it was a rewarding experience.
“I met a lot of new teammates from different teams, it’s kind of a new experience for me,” Lin said. “You never know in the future, you could be traded or go to another team and this is a time when you have to introduce yourself to new guys. I have met many guys of different levels. I mostly hang out with the pitchers, but we talk about days off, what we do. Play some poker, play some golf, try not to always focus on baseball. It’s pretty good!”
While most of the baseball world will be focused on the World Series and the start of free agency, baseball on the Arizona spring training fields will continue to move forward.
“The Arizona Fall League is the best-kept secret in baseball,” Fox said.