Call it a last-chance saloon in the middle of the desert. The Arizona Fall League provides more than just an opportunity to see some of the game’s top prospects in one spot. It’s also the final place certain Minor Leaguers can prove they are deserving of a 40-man roster spot

Call it the mid-autumn classic. The Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars Game arrives Saturday at Mesa’s Sloan Park at 8 p.m. ET/6 p.m. local, placing some of the game’s best prospects and the circuit’s best performers on the same field. The game will be broadcast on MLB Network and streamed

Defense is increasingly becoming a young man’s game. From 1957, the year they were first handed out, to 2012, only nine rookies won Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. The same amount have captured the game’s top defensive prize since 2013, including six in the past three seasons alone. Red Sox right

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Eriq Swan is essentially in his pitching infancy, and that could be a scary thought for the rest of the league. The 23-year-old, 6-foot-6 right-hander picked up pitching late at Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, having primarily been a tall shortstop in his prep years. He

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Late in the 2024 season, Thomas Saggese had an illuminating conversation with Cardinals right-hander and 2021AL All-Star Andrew Kittredge about the young infielder’s approach at the dish. “He was telling me he has good command, and sometimes to him, that means he can throw strikes when he

PHOENIX -- Drake Baldwin has had a busy 2024 already with stops in Double-A Mississippi, Triple-A Gwinnett and Peoria in the Arizona Fall League. That itinerary is about to add a few international stops. The Braves' No. 5 prospect was included in Team USA's Premier12™ roster announcement on Monday. He

PHOENIX -- Josh Stephan had been through enough already. He underwent elbow surgery as a freshman pitcher at South Grand Prairie (Texas) High School, and two later knee surgeries limited his amateur career further. Just when he was breaking out as a senior in 2020, that season was cut short

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Colson Montgomery put the final word on his second turn in the Arizona Fall League, and that word was boom. The White Sox No. 3 prospect homered on Friday in Glendale’s 7-6 loss to Salt River at Camelback Ranch in what he confirmed would be his final

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- In many ways, Glendale’s starter Thursday was the old Andrew Painter, the one who posted a zero in 11 of his 22 appearances and finished with a 1.56 ERA across three levels during a legendary 2022 run. In other ways, it was a new Painter. Sure, he’s

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- As the Arizona Fall League heads toward the midpoint of its season, samples are beginning to widen, hot players are beginning to cool, cold players are beginning to heat up. The cycle of baseball is working its wonders. One constant through all the games has been Juan

It’s one of the great sports debates – was that a swing? Every baseball fan has participated in the discourse at one point or another. You’re watching a game when a pitcher throws, say, a nasty changeup that dives below the zone. Fooled only briefly, the hitter begins to swing

SURPRISE, Ariz. – Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen just missed each other during the summer. Jensen was promoted from High-A Quad Cities to Double-A Northwest Arkansas on July 18, four days after the Royals selected Caglianone sixth overall in the Draft. The former Florida star joined the River Bandits on

PEORIA, Ariz. -- The last time Edwin Arroyo had a four-hit game in a professional setting was with Single-A Modesto on June 3, 2022. That feels like a lifetime, or maybe even two, ago in the career of the 21-year-old shortstop. Arroyo was traded from the Mariners to the Reds

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Eleven games into the 2024 season, Jett Williams had to sit. A right wrist issue that bothered him at the end of Spring Training was carrying into his start to the year at Double-A Binghamton, and a 7-for-39 (.180) start confirmed that it was holding him back.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- On an off-day in late April in the High-A Wisconsin schedule, Luis Lara sought out his fellow countryman nearby. He and Jackson Chourio were Venezuela natives and homegrown Brewers outfielders who had been pushed aggressively through the Milwaukee system, both skipping over the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The world looked a lot different the last time Matt McLain and Sean McLain started in the same lineup on Aug. 10, 2020. No longer with their college teams at UCLA and Arizona State, the Orange County natives joined the Santa Barbara Foresters of the California Collegiate

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Bo Davidson is the Giants’ No. 25 prospect. He signed for $50,000 as an undrafted free agent in July 2023 and enjoyed a breakout age-21 season at Single-A San Jose. He was limited to 63 total Minor League games by a hamstring injury and was sent to

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Kemp Alderman has been putting on a power show in the Arizona Fall League. But on Friday, he managed to one-up himself and set a new slugging standard for the showcase circuit. The Marlins' No. 12 prospect hit a 119.5 mph, 443-foot homer in Peoria's matinee against

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Cubs didn’t give Jonathon Long specific instructions after taking him in the ninth round of last year’s Draft. That was by design. The Long Beach State first baseman/third baseman was coming off his best collegiate season yet, hitting .312/.404/.600 with 15 homers in 55 games, but

Brock Wilken might already have won the award for Understatement of the Arizona Fall League. On the topic of the plunking that resulted in facial fractures on April 11 with Double-A Biloxi, just the fifth game of his first full season, he said: “The hit-by-pitch didn’t feel great.”

MESA, Ariz. – Tre' Morgan wanted the heater. His Mesa Solar Sox had faced the Scottsdale Scorpions already on Oct. 9, the date of Morgan’s first four-hit game of the Arizona Fall League. Their pitchers had thrown the Rays’ No. 10 prospect early fastballs then, so Morgan knew what to

PEORIA, Ariz. -- The season is meant to be measured in growth. In many ways, Ethan Salas has been just trying to get back to equilibrium. He appears to be getting there. Need proof? Look at one statistic in particular. “I’ve been like that my whole life ever since I

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Moises Ballesteros can be found at the following address this autumn: Home Plate Valley of the Sun, Arizona MLB No. 44 overall prospect is making a residence at and behind the dish during his time in the Arizona Fall League, and as Ballesteros proved Sunday for Mesa

The wheel never stops turning in these parts. The Minor League season may be over and the Majors might be in the midst of the postseason, but the Arizona Fall League begins with its Opening Day on Monday. So let’s give the MLB Pipeline Top 100 Prospects list a quick

It's almost time for the Arizona Fall League, which opens play on Oct. 7. Since the developmental league began play in 1992, it has spawned more than 3,000 big leaguers, including Hall of Famers Roy Halladay, Todd Helton, Derek Jeter and Mike Piazza and current stars including Mookie Betts, Bryce