After a year off due to COVID-19 the Arizona Fall League, major league baseball’s finishing school for the games best prospects is back and will start play on October 13. The rosters of the six teams, announced today, are once again chock full of elite-level talent. There are 17 of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects slated to play in the AFL this year, headlined by four in the top 10.
The AFL has also long been a place where Major League Baseball has tried out new ideas. This year is no exception as MLB has announced that after extensive testing this season in the Minor Leagues, the following experimental rules will be used in the Arizona Fall League: pitch timer, restriction on defensive positioning, larger bases and the Automatic Ball-Strike System (“ABS”). Pitchers and catchers also will be permitted to use PitchCom, a pitcher-catcher communication device.
The AFL is composed of six teams – the Glendale Desert Dogs, Mesa Solar Sox, Peoria Javelinas, Salt River Rafters, Scottsdale Scorpions and Surprise Saguaros. Each Major League team is allowed to send up to seven top prospects to fill the rosters of the six teams.
Prospects from the Minnesota Twins along with the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Rays, Cleveland Indians and San Francisco Giants will make up the roster of the Scottsdale Scorpions.
The Twins have announced that they will be sending outfielder Matt Wallner (A+ Cedar Rapids Kernels), second baseman Michael Helman (A+ Cedar Rapids Kernels), third baseman Andrew Bechtold (AA Wichita Wind Surge), RHP Cody Laweryson (A+ Cedar Rapids Kernels) and LHP’s Zach Featherstone (A+ Cedar Rapids Kernels), Kody Funderburk (AA Wichita Wind Surge), and Evan Sisk (AA Wichita Wind Surge).
The Twins took Wallner who is from Forest Lake, Minnesota in 2019 for his power, and he showed it off with 15 homers (.504 SLG) in 68 games. They also knew there was swing-and-miss in his game, and that showed up (33.3 percent strikeout rate). He played in just 68 games due to a wrist injury, so he can work on his approach and make up for lost at-bats at the same time. Helman (19) and Bechtold (18) were also among the system’s leaders in home runs.
The league’s annual Fall Stars Game will be played on Saturday, November 13, and the AFL Championship Game is scheduled for Saturday, November 20, both of which will air LIVE beginning at 7 p.m. ET/5 p.m. MT on MLB Network as well as streaming on MLB.com and in the MLB App.
