Arizona Fall League Preview

Yes!  We're back in action with the Arizona Fall League Preview!

There are six teams in the Arizona Fall League.  They are divided into two divisions, east and west.  They play a thirty-two game schedule, with an all-star game in early November and a championship game between the two division winners.  The season starts today.

The teams are the same as last year with the exception of the Phoenix Desert Dogs, which are now the Glendale Desert Dogs.  Each of the teams gets its players from the farm systems of five major league teams.  The Twins have contributed players to the Glendale Desert Dogs.  Those players are A. J. Achter, Zach Jones, Trevor May, Alex Meyer, Max Kepler, Eddie Rosario, and Byron Buxton.  They are managed by Jeff Smith.  There appear to be thirty-eight players on the Desert Dogs roster.

Given the number of games and the number of players, no one gets enough playing time to be more than a small sample size.  You'd obviously rather do well than to do poorly, but I don't know if there are any studies to show the extent to which success in the AFL correlates to eventual success in the majors.  We follow it not because we think it's significant, but because it's baseball and it's fun.

So, here's a little info on each team:

GLENDALE DESERT DOGS

Manager:  Jeff Smith

Coaches:  Johnny Washington, Tom Browning

Teams:  White Sox, Cincinnati, Dodgers, Miami, Minnesota

Names you might recognize:  Charlie Leesman, Chad Rogers, Brian Cavazos-Galvez, Brandon Jacobs, Brent Keys

MESA SOLAR SOX

Manager:  Bill Richardson

Coaches:  Troy Gingrich, Brian Harper, Mike Maroth, John Wasdin

Teams:  Cubs, Detroit, Angels, Oakland, Washington

Names you might recognize:  Cam Bedrosian, Kenny Faulk, Dixon Machado, Jorge Soler, Steven Souza

PEORIA JAVELINAS

Manager:  Jim Pankovits

Coaches:  Tommy Gregg, Tim Worrell, Dave Borkowski

Teams:  Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle

Names you might recognize:  Noel Arguelles, Brandon Maurer, Alex Sogard, Japhet Amador, Delino DeShields

SALT RIVER RAFTERS

Manager:  Mike Shildt

Coaches:  Ozzie Timmons, Darryl Scott, Tim Leiper

Teams:  Arizona, Colorado, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Toronto

Names you might recognize:  Sam Gaviglio, Drew Hutchison, Richie Shaffer, Todd Glaesmann, Stephen Piscotty

SCOTTSDALE SCORPIONS

Manager:  Russ Morman

Coaches:  John Moses, Luis Rivera, Stan Kyles

Teams:  Atlanta, Mets, Yankees, Pittsburgh, San Francisco

Names you might recognize:  Jeurys Familia, Cody Satterwhite, Jameson Taillon, Andrew Susac, Gift Ngoepe

SURPRISE SAGUAROS

Manager:  Gary Kendall

Coaches:  Rich Gedman, Steve Karsay, Alan Mills

Teams:  Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Texas

Names you might recognize:  Kevin Shackelford, Garin Cecchini, Derrik Gibson, Henry Urrutia, Jonathan Schoop