A Walk in the Park: A Field Guide to the Arizona Fall League
By Jess Henderson ·
Every fall, the spring training parks around Phoenix get a second season that most of the country never sees. The Arizona Fall League opened its 34th season on Saturday, Oct. 3, and for the next six weeks some of the best prospects from all 30 organizations will play on fields built for February.
The setup is simple. Each big-league club sends at least seven players, and the 30 farm systems are split five apiece across six teams: the Glendale Desert Dogs, Mesa Solar Sox, Peoria Javelinas, Salt River Rafters, Scottsdale Scorpions and Surprise Saguaros. Each team plays 30 games. MLB.com's Sam Dykstra lists the three usual reasons a player gets sent: he's a top prospect rounding out his game, he has a Rule 5 roster decision coming, or he's making up for time lost to injury. A lot of this year's best names fit the third reason.
It's also where MLB tries things out. The pitch clock and the automated ball-strike system both ran in the Fall League before they reached the majors. The alumni list runs through Derek Jeter, Mike Trout and Aaron Judge, and it includes Michael Jordan, who played for Scottsdale in 1994. Last fall, Kevin McGonigle won league MVP for Scottsdale. This year, as a 21-year-old Tigers rookie, he led the American League in bWAR, per MLB.com.
This is not a roster rundown. These are the players I would plan an afternoon around, grouped by team, with ranks from 80Grade's prospect rankings.
Glendale plays its home games at Camelback Ranch and hosted the first game of the season, against Salt River, at 12:30 p.m. Arizona time. Eduardo Quintero is the highest-ranked player in a deep lineup: 80Grade has him No. 14 overall and No. 2 in the Dodgers system. A full-time center fielder now, he hit .309/.445/.495 with 44 stolen bases in 111 games at High-A Great Lakes and walked 88 times against 102 strikeouts. A center fielder who gets on base and then keeps going is my favorite type of player, and I see no reason to hide that.
His teammate Caleb Bonemer, No. 21 overall and No. 2 for the White Sox on 80Grade, hit 37 home runs between High-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham. He came up as a shortstop and played mostly third base this year, and the White Sox want him in center field in Glendale, per MLB.com. I will be watching his first few routes more closely than his swings.
Scottsdale has the most interesting mix. Zyhir Hope, 80Grade's No. 22 overall prospect and No. 1 in the Tigers system, changed organizations at the deadline as the headliner in the Tarik Skubal trade. He hit 29 homers and stole 26 bases this year, split between Double-A Tulsa and Double-A Erie, and he played in this league once before, for Glendale in 2024.
Bryce Rainer, No. 46 overall and No. 2 for Detroit on 80Grade, is a shortstop with power, speed and a good glove, according to MLB.com's scouting report. He also struck out 151 times in 429 plate appearances at High-A West Michigan, a little over 35 percent. Six weeks against pitchers from 29 other organizations is a reasonable place to work on that.
The one I would sit behind home plate for is Nathan Flewelling, the Rays catcher whom 80Grade ranks No. 96 overall and No. 4 in Tampa Bay's system. He hit 21 homers and drew 71 walks at High-A Bowling Green, was the Futures Game MVP in Philadelphia in July, and won't turn 20 until Nov. 11, the last day of the AFL regular season. The fall gives him a new staff of pitchers to learn, which is a large part of what catching is. Brewers outfielder Braylon Payne (No. 92 overall, No. 4 in the Brewers system on 80Grade) is on this roster too, after 28 homers and 25 steals between High-A and Double-A.
Surprise picked up three of its best players late, all added on Sept. 28. Sebastian Walcott, 80Grade's No. 11 overall prospect and No. 1 for Texas, is back after one game in last year's league and internal brace surgery on his elbow. The Rangers plan to play him two or three days a week, and Nate covered that plan in detail.
Aidan Miller, No. 45 overall and the Phillies' No. 1 on 80Grade, missed nearly all of 2026 with a back issue and played eight games, half of them in the postseason. He has played only shortstop as a pro, and he's expected to focus on third base in Surprise, per MLB.com.
Angeibel Gomez is 17. The Royals outfielder, No. 41 overall and No. 2 for Kansas City on 80Grade, is the second-youngest player in Fall League history, behind Michael De Leon in 2014. In 47 games in the Dominican Summer League he hit .361/.467/.653 and walked 28 times against 19 strikeouts. Teammate Zion Rose, whom the Royals drafted sixth overall this summer, ranks No. 69 overall and No. 3 for Kansas City on 80Grade. He stole 14 bases in 19 games at High-A Quad Cities.
Two more are worth the drive to the East Valley. Mesa's Arjun Nimmala, 80Grade's No. 30 overall prospect and No. 1 for the Angels, came over from Toronto at the deadline in the José Soriano deal and then hit seven home runs in 11 September games for Double-A Rocket City. Salt River's Dax Kilby, No. 36 overall and No. 1 in the Yankees system on 80Grade, played only 36 games because of a hamstring injury. At Single-A Tampa he walked 39 times and struck out 31, and I would like to see more of that.
If You Go
Tickets are $14 for adults and $12 for seniors and teens. Kids 10 and under get in free, and once you're inside you can sit wherever you like. A season pass covering every game at every park is $160. I have paid more than $14 for an airport sandwich.
Mesa, Salt River and Scottsdale are close together in the East Valley, and Glendale, Peoria and Surprise sit out west. Scottsdale Stadium is the one I would walk to, at the corner of Osborn Road and Drinkwater Boulevard in Old Town, where a ballpark has stood since 1956. Salt River Fields was the first spring training complex built on tribal land, a partnership of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community with the D-backs and Rockies, and its site looks out at Camelback Mountain, the McDowells, Four Peaks and the Superstitions. Peoria Sports Complex is the Mariners' spring home, and Seattle's prospects play for Peoria this fall, which would be reason enough for me to make the drive.
A few dates are worth circling. The league goes on the road to Tucson's Kino Sports Complex on Oct. 10 and plays tripleheaders at Goodyear Ballpark on Oct. 17 and Camelback Ranch on Oct. 24. The Fall Stars Game is Sunday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m. Arizona time at Salt River Fields, with the Home Run Derby the night before. The championship game is Saturday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. at Peoria Sports Complex. Both the Fall Stars Game and the championship air on MLB Network.
For everyone else, the 90-game regular season streams free on MLB.com. One scheduling note from the Pacific side: Arizona does not change its clocks. Through October it shares a clock with Seattle, and after Nov. 1, when the rest of us fall back, Arizona is an hour ahead.