You’ll have to forgive us for not previewing the start of the Arizona Fall League last weekend. We were otherwise occupied with other, more important, Cubs events. But there is one week in the books of the Mesa
Solar Sox and so we’re not too late to remind you which Cubs are competing in the AFL and keep you up to date with the latest happenings.
In case you don’t know, the Arizona Fall League is a postseason minor league that starts right after the major league regular season ends. It was intended as a kind of “finishing school” for prospects who are close to major-league ready, but it’s evolved quite a bit from its original intent. There are still a few top prospects here that are getting some work in, so that purpose hasn’t completely gone away. Today, however, there are many other reasons why teams send players to the AFL.
The most common reason to send players to Arizona is for minor leaguers who missed a lot of time in the regular season to get some work in and make up for lost time. Sometimes players go to the AFL because their team is evaluating whether to keep them around for next year or add them to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. Occasionally a team will try to showcase a prospect for a potential trade. And with position players more than pitchers, sometimes a team thinks a player just needs more work.
The problem with the AFL lately is that teams are becoming increasingly hesitant to send top pitching prospects as they don’t want to put any more innings on those already stressed arms. So that means there are a lot of second- and third-tier pitching prospects on the rosters. Combine that with the thin, warm air of Arizona and games tend to be very high-scoring. That has in turn led teams to be less eager to send top hitting prospects (although there are still a few here this year like Detroit’s Kevin McGonigle and Texas’ Sebatian Walcott) because teams think there is limited utility to sending top hitters to such a strong offensive environment.
The AFL used to be for players in Double-A and above, with a few exceptions. They changed that rule a few years ago and now there’s only one player the Cubs sent to Mesa this year who has ever played for Knoxville.
There are six AFL teams and their rosters are each made up of player from five different organizations. Every year, Cubs prospects compete for the Mesa Solar Sox, who play their home games at Sloan Park, the Spring Training home of the Cubs in Mesa. The Athletics, who also train in Mesa, also are on the Solar Sox every year as well. The other three teams that make up the Solar Sox rotate and this year, the Solar Sox also have players from the Yankees, Athletics and Marlins on the roster. Many players say that their favorite part of the AFL is getting to know players and coaches from other organizations.
The Cubs don’t have any top prospects on the Solar Sox this year, but they have a few second-tier prospects and some guys who are “interesting,” if you know what I mean by that. Generally, when I call a prospect “interesting” it means I’m not ready to put them among the top 25, 30 or even 40 prospects in the Cubs organization, but I’ve got my eye on them and they’ve got something that could develop into a promising player later on. That’s not official scout talk. That’s just me.
The Solar Sox went 1-3 in their first week. Here’s the results of the first week’s games. The visiting team is listed first.
Tuesday, October 7: Surprise Saguaros 9, Solar Sox 6.
Wednesday, October 8: Peoria Javelinas 8, Solar Sox 6 in 10 innings.
Thursday, October 9: Solar Sox 10, Salt River Rafters 9.
Friday, October 10: Solar Sox 2, Scottsdale Scorpions 10.
Saturday and Sunday’s games were washed out by Tropical Storm Priscilla, which brought heavy rain to the Phoenix area.
Here’s how the individual Cubs did this past week in the AFL:
Catcher Owen Ayers: Ayers was a 19th-round draft pick in 2024 out of Marshall University. He’s spent the past two seasons with the Pelicans in Low-A. His 2025 season was cut short when he suffered an injury in late July.
Ayers caught Tuesday, Thursday and Friday’s games for Mesa and has been one of the team’s more productive hitters so far. He went 2 for 3 with a walk and a home run in the opener on Tuesday. He followed that up by going 3 for 5 with two doubles on Thursday and 0 for 3 with a walk on Friday.
Overall, Ayers is hitting .455 with a .538 on-base percentage and a .909 slugging. He has four RBI and three runs scored.
Shortstop Ed Howard: Most of you know that Howard was a first-round draft pick in 2020 out of high school in Chicago. Most of you also know that he’s been a very big disappointment since entering professional baseball. Howard missed most of this past season with an injury and this stint in the AFL might be his last chance to stick with the organization.
So far, he’s not making a big impression. Howard went 0 for 4 on Tuesday and 0 for 2 with two walks on Thursday. He played the whole game at shortstop in both games.
Corner infielder Cole Mathis: Mathis was the Cubs’ second-round pick in 2024 out of the College of Charleston, but he didn’t make his professional debut until this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He started the 2025 season in Myrtle Beach as a DH-only, but he was shut back down in mid-May.
Mathis started Tuesday’s game at first base and moved over to third later in the game. It’s the first time he’s played in the field as a professional. He played the entire game on Friday at first base.
On Tuesday, Mathis was a perfect 3 for 3 with a walk. He scored once and had two RBI. On Thursday, Mathis was 1 for 3 with a walk. So he’s 4 for 6 with two walks after two games. That’s pretty good.
Right-hander Thomas Mangus: Mangus was a 18th-round pick out of Navarro College in Texas in 2024. He pitched in Mesa and Myrtle Beach this past year. I don’t know if it’s because of the rain, but he hasn’t made his AFL debut yet.
Right-hander Luis Martinez-Gomez: Martinez-Gomez was a 10th-round pick in 2023 out of Temple College in Texas. He was a very effective reliever for both Myrtle Beach and South Bend this past season.
Martinez-Gomez got into Tuesday’s opener in the seventh inning. He struck out two, walked one and allowed no hits and no runs.
Right-hander Koen Moreno: Moreno was the Cubs’ fifth-round pick out of high school in North Carolina in 2020. He’s been injured most of the time since then and he threw just 12 innings for South Bend this year.
Moreno started Wednesday’s game against Peoria and he pitched very well, going four innings and allowing no runs and just two hits. He walked two and struck out three.
Right-hander Mat Peters: Peters was a 12th-round pick in 2022 out of Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana. He missed all of the 2024 season after testing positive for a banned substance. He struggled in both Mesa and Myrtle Beach in his return this year. He did, however, throw a fastball 100.5 miles per hour this past season.
Peters got into Wednesday’s game in the seventh inning with two on, two out and Mesa leading Peoria 5-2. Peters gave up a single to the first batter he faced which allowed an inherited runner to score to make it 503. He got a fly out to center field to then end the inning. Peters was credited with a hold.
Right-hander JP Wheat: Wheat was the Cubs’ 16th-round pick in 2o22 with coming off Tommy John surgery. Wheat is one of the most maddening pitchers in the Cubs organization because he regularly hits 100 on the radar gun. What he doesn’t hit very often is the strike zone.
Wheat pitched the fifth inning on Friday and did OK. He issued a one-out walk but otherwise retired the other three batters he faced, striking out one of them. But then he came out for the sixth inning and the first four batters he faced all reached—single, walk, walk, single. Wheat left the game after that and all four runners would come around to score eventually. So Wheat got the loss after throwing one inning and giving up four runs on two hits and three walks while striking out just one. Wheat threw 32 pitches and only 13 of them were strikes.
