The Arizona Fall League has long been a showcase for some of the absolute best and brightest young talents the game has to offer, a place where upstart A-ballers can hone their skills for six weeks against
pitchers with big-league experience. Of late, it’s even become a place for players who’d otherwise have been big leaguers all year to emerge from injury rehab and shake off rust against elite talent – especially for the Cincinnati Reds.
AFL play begins tonight – Monday, October 6th – and the Reds once again are going to feature prominently. Their contigent will join the ranks sent by the Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, and Seattle Mariners to form the Peoria Javelinas, who will play the Scottsdale Scorpions at 9:30 PM ET in the league’s first game of 2025.
As Brendan Samson of MLB.com noted, there are 11 players headed to the AFL this year who are included in MLB Pipeline’s current Top 100 overall prospect list, and 3 of those – catcher Alfredo Duno (#48), righty Rhett Lowder (#80), and 3B Cam Collier (#94) – are part of the Reds franchise. Add in that Seattle outfield prospect Jonny Farmello (#75) will also be on the Javelinas, and it’s pretty clear that the Javelinas are boasting some of the top-tier talent this showcase has to offer.
For the record, Detroit Tigers shortstop prospect Kevin McGonigle (#2) is the highest rated prospect participating this year, and he’ll be on the Scottsdale Scorpions that Peoria will face tonight.
Games will be available to stream via MLB.com beginning tonight, and the entirety of AFL play will run from today (October 6th) through the Championship Game of their playoffs on November 15th. For the full schedule, I’ll point you towards MLB.com’s Arizona Fall League site for more information.
