Arizona Fall Loop Finishes Regular Season
ALSO: NEW BOOK GETS FANS EXCITED ABOUT SPRING TRAINING
IBWAA members love to write about baseball. So much so, we've decided to create our own newsletter about it! Subscribe to Here's the Pitch to expand your love of baseball, discover new voices, and support independent writing. Original content six days a week, straight to your inbox and straight from the hearts of baseball fans.
Here’s the Pitch 2025 book discount order form:
https://actasports.com/heres-the-pitch-2025-pre-order-at-10-discount-from-24-95-price/
Readers React
Andrew Sharp is mistaken about the sacrifice fly rule not being in effect during Joe DiMaggio's entire career, though he's close -- DiMag had benefit of it for just one season. The SF rule was revoked in 1931, reinstated in 1939, revoked again in 1940, and reinstated for good in 1954. Source: the old Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia.
— Bill Deane
Is it just me or are the cameras imbedded in the bases useless? Also, I hate seeing camera people run onto the field to catch a runner rounding the bases.
— Doug Lyons
Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Kudos to the Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays for winning the Rawlings Gold Glove defensive team of the year award in their respective leagues and to Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who won the Platinum Glove for the American League, and Brewers second baseman Brice Turang, who won the Platinum Glove in the National League . . .
Defensive miscues by their catcher and infielders doomed the Yankees in the decisive fifth game of the 2024 World Series against the Dodgers . . .
Will Smith won a World Series ring five years in a row. The left-handed relief pitcher who answers to that name won rings with Atlanta (2021), Houston (2022), and Texas (2023), while the catcher won with the Dodgers in 2020 and 2024, even homering against the pitcher during the 2020 post-season . . .
Not surprised ex-Braves executive Perry Minasian, now running the Angels, keeps stocking up on ex-Braves: Jorge Soler, Travis d’Arnaud, and manager Ron Washington for starters . . .
No teams won 100 games this year but three lost that many: the Rockies in the National League and both the Athletics and woeful White Sox in the American.
Leading Off
Arizona Fall League primer and playoff preview
By Matthew Vecsey
Competition in the 2024 Arizona Fall League draws to a close over the next couple of days with a play-in Semi-Final game today and the Championship game Saturday.
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an annual prospect showcase venture made up of six teams, each of which is stocked with minor-leaguers from five different Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations. Those clubs provide seven players each, making for a 35-man AFL roster.
This year, 13 of Baseball America’s current Top 100 MLB prospects played in Arizona. The list includes this year’s sixth overall pick in the MLB Draft, first baseman Jac Caglianone of Kansas City; #11-ranked BA prospect, shortstop Colt Emerson of Seattle; and BA’s #17-ranked prospect, catcher Ethan Salas of San Diego,
Inaugurated in 1992, the AFL has all six of its teams located in the greater Phoenix area since the 1994 campaign. The current teams are Surprise Saguaros, Glendale Desert Dogs, Salt River Rafters, Scottsdale Scorpions, Mesa Solar Sox, and Peoria Javelinas. Each plays home games in their own ballpark, holding 10,000+ fans.
The Peoria Javelinas, with seven championships to their name over the 31 years of competition (there was no play during the 2020 COVID pandemic), have won the most titles. The Devil Dogs, playing then in the city of Phoenix rather than their present Glendale location, won a record five AFL crowns in a row from 2004-08.
The MLB players affiliated with each AFL club this season are as follows:
Glendale – Cardinals, Dodgers, Phillies, Reds, White Sox
Mesa – Angels, Athletics, Cubs, Rays, Red Sox
Peoria – Braves, Brewers, Mariners, Marlins, Padres
Salt River – Diamondbacks, Nationals, Rockies, Twins, Yankees
Scottsdale – Blue Jays, Giants, Mets, Pirates, Tigers
Surprise – Astros, Guardians, Orioles, Rangers, Royals
On Saturday, November 9th, the AFL held its annual Fall Stars Game, showcasing the top players in this year’s competition with the two teams divided into American and National League prospects. The AL team pulled out a 6-5 victory when Thayron Liranzo of the Detroit Tigers blasted a solo home run off Griff McGarry of the Philadelphia Phillies with one out in the top of the ninth inning.
A few current MLB stars have been named as Most Valuable Player of the AFL. Those include Nolan Arenado (2011), Kris Bryant (2013), Gleyber Torres (2016), Ronald Acuña Jr. (2017), and Royce Lewis (2019).
The award is named for Joe Black, who pitched with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the early 1950s and in 1952 became the first black pitcher to start a World Series game. Black was named as the NL Rookie of the Year that season after beginning his career playing nine years in the Negro Leagues.
In 2004, the AFL began presenting a Sportsmanship Award named after Dernell Stenson. The former Cincinnati Reds outfielder was murdered in a robbery during the 2003 AFL season while playing for Scottsdale.
Sam Fuld, the Philadelphia Phillies’ current president of baseball operations, is the only AFL player to win both the MVP and Sportsmanship Awards, receiving each honor for his performance in the 2007 fall campaign.
The AFL currently holds a two-tiered playoff setup. The top three teams all reach those playoffs, with the second and third-place clubs battling for the right to meet the first-place finishers in the league championship game.
In this year’s final regular-season standings, Surprise finished on top with an 18-10 record. The Saguaros thus advanced automatically to Saturday’s championship contest.
Surprise has received dynamic performances from its Texas Rangers middle infield combo of second baseman Cody Freeman and shortstop Max Acosta, the club’s OPS leaders. Caglianone leads the Saguaros with 18 RBIs.
Texas outfielder Alejandro Osuna has followed up a breakout regular season with a strong fall, slashing .316/.444/.463 with a .907 OPS. His 16 RBIs are tied with Acosta for second on the team.
Yet another Texas Rangers prospect, Josh Stephan, has been the Saguaros pitching leader. The right-hander, who just turned 23-years-old at the start of the month, has thrown a staff-high 20 innings in six appearances including three starts. Stephan allowed 15 hits and struck out 21 batters while fashioning a 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and .200 BAA.
Alex Santos, a righty in the Houston Astros system, has matched Stephan’s six appearances and three starts with Surprise. The 22-year-old has allowed 12 hits over 17.2 innings with 26 strikeouts, 3.57 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and .188 BAA.
Behind Surprise in the standings there was a three-way tie among Scottsdale, Salt River, and Glendale at 16-14. That tie was broken by the head-to-head results of matches among those teams. In the end, Glendale’s losing mark against both Scottsdale and Salt River resulted in the latter two teams advancing to the Friday play-in Semi-Final game.
During the regular season, Scottsdale went 4-2 in its six games against Salt River. The Scorpions outscored the Rafters by 27-23 in those contests.
Scottsdale’s 4-1 win in the last matchup back on November 1st was the only game between the two with a margin of more than two runs. Thanks to that regular season series win, Scottsdale will host the Semi-Final matchup at Scottsdale Stadium. The game can be streamed live from the AFL site at this link beginning at 8:30 PM ET on Friday, November 15: AFL Semi-Final live stream.
In looking ahead to Saturday’s title tilt, Surprise went 5-1 against Scottsdale. The Saguaros outscored the Scorps by 42-24 in winning each of the first five matchups. However, Scottsdale showed that it could defeat Surprise by winning the final game, 5-2, this past Monday. Also, Scottsdale enters the post-season as the hottest team in the AFL, having won its final seven straight games.
Against Salt River, Surprise also had a winning mark, but it was much closer at 4-2. The Rafters scored in double-digits during each of their first two match-ups, including a 14-1 beat-down of Surprise back on October 12.
Whether the Rafters make it or not, the 2024 Arizona Fall League championship game will be played in their home ballpark, Salt River Fields. That championship game will be televised on MLB Network beginning at 8:00 PM ET on Saturday, November 16.
Matt Veasey is a retired three-decade Philadelphia Police supervisor and instructor, now the voice behind @PhilliesBell on the ‘X’ social media platform, the most informative and interactive Philadelphia Phillies news and history account. His email is matthew.veasey@verizon.net
Cleaning Up
New Book Whets The Appetite For Grapefruit League Games
By Dan Schlossberg
It’s not even Thanksgiving yet but baseball spring training schedules are already published.
So is the most comprehensive guidebook to the Grapefruit League, as games in Florida are classified.
Fifteen teams train in the state, historically the home of spring training, at sites that stretch from Port St. Lucie to West Palm Beach on the Atlantic coast and Tampa-to-Fort Myers on the Gulf coast.
Hurricane damage aside, baseball spring training is blessed by a benign climate, swaying palms, and a schedule made up mainly of day games — allowing players ample time to play golf afterwards.
As explained in The Complete Guide to Spring Training, a 214-page paperback from August Publications, two facilities house two teams and a third municipality hosts two teams in separate ballparks.
The book not only contains a complete history of spring training but also information on such long-ago ballparks as Al Lang Field and Terry Field. And each chapter profiles ballparks, providing such information as phone numbers, directions, parking, concessions, best places for autographs, nearby hotels, and where to go after the game, and how to get home (nearby airports). Even retired numbers are listed, especially in places like CoolToday Park (Braves) where they are on display.
Spring training parks often look like their big-league affiliates — only smaller. That’s especially true of jetBlue Park, where the Red Sox train in Fort Myers, and George M. Steinbrenner Field, home of the Yankees in Tampa.
The $18.99 paperback, written by the founder and editor of springtrainingonline.com, even reveals historical baseball attractions throughout Florida, a detailed sampler of Orlando even though spring training has left Disney after 20 years, and what’s new in places from Jupiter to Clearwater.
It’s too bad Vero Beach is gone, however. The Dodgers spent 60 years there before moving closer to their Los Angeles fan base in Glendale, Arizona. Holman Stadium was unique in many ways, including fan access to players, uncovered benches rather than dugouts, and — for many years — no warning track for outfielders. When they were running uphill, they were running out of room.
As the author writes, “A day away from snow and ice is always a good day.”
There’s a companion book on The Cactus League, where the other 15 teams train, but Florida takes more planning because the sites are so spread out.
Still, spring training is the best part of the baseball calendar.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ has covered baseball spring training in Florida since 1971. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: Japanese Pitchers New and Old
Ace Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki, 23, appears headed to the U.S. majors. The consensus top young pitcher in Japan, he has been posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball. He made his NPB debut in 2021 and has dominated the competition over four seasons with the Marines. With a fastball that touches 100 mph, a devastating splitter and an improving slider, Sasaki has posted a lifetime 2.02 ERA with 524 strikeouts and 91 walks in 414 2/3 innings . . .
Previous pitching stars who jumped from Japan to the majors without skipping a beat include Hideo Nomo, Daiske Matsuzaka, Masahiro Tanaka, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and of course Shohei Ohtani . . .
Nomo pitched no-hitters in both leagues, including the only one ever pitched in Colorado’s Coors Field bandbox . . .
Not all imports were successful, as evidenced by Hideki Irabu (pronounced I-Rob-You by Yankee fans) . . .
Masanori Murakami was the first Japanese pitcher to reach the majors, with the 1964 San Francisco Giants.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.