MESA, Arizona — I generally like attending at least one Arizona Fall League game each year, a way to get a bit of a baseball fix before the winter with no baseball sets in (and this winter might have a much longer period with no baseball, as you know).
So I attended Wednesday’s AFL game between the Mesa Solar Sox (where Cubs prospects play) and the Salt River Rafters at Sloan Park, won by the Rafters 12-4.
Holy hell, that was an awful baseball game. And there’s a reason for it, which I’ll get to after
I describe why this game was so bad. First, because the game had no impact on the AFL playoffs, which begin today, it was scheduled for seven innings.
Even so, it ran three hours and three minutes. Why was that? Because the teams combined for 22 (!) walks and threw a total of 343 (!) pitches. That would be a lot even for a nine-inning game. The Rafters pitchers were slightly less bad than the Solar Sox pitchers. They walked only seven.
The Solar Sox pitchers, who included Cubs prospect Jhon Cabral, walked 15 — and also struck out 13. Put another way: The Rafters sent 46 men to the plate. Only 18 of them put the ball in play.
Cabral, who was signed to a minor-league deal by the Cubs after the Marlins let him go in June, faced five batters. Not one of them put the ball in play. He struck out two and walked three, 30 pitches, 12 strikes. Here’s an example of how he threw:
So, Cabral throws hard but has no idea where the ball was going. Note that pitch 4 could have been challenged — it was clearly out of the zone — but the Rafters were out of challenges by then.
Cabral is 21. A guy who throws that hard — maybe the Cubs can refine that and help him throw strikes. Otherwise he’ll wash out of the system in a couple of years.
I was discussing this with Josh and he said, “It’s kind of like what Low-A has become. Teams just don’t send any pitching prospects to the AFL anymore.”
Which is true. AFL games used to be more like Triple-A games, with prospects about ready to make the majors. Ian Happ was the AFL championship game MVP back in 2016 when he homered twice. Nelson Velázquez won the league MVP award in 2021. That same year, Caleb Kilian threw six perfect innings in the AFL championship game.
It’s not like that anymore — and it’s not just the Cubs. I met up with Samantha Bradfield, who runs the SB Nation Rockies site Purple Row (and who also helped us out with our interview with Miguel Useche), at the game and she mentioned she had heard from Rockies director of player development Chris Forbes:
“The Fall League in probably a 10-year span has really changed. It’s not quite the pedigree that it used to be. Where it used to be guys are going and next year they’re probably going to debut, and this year, as we were picking through it – reward, like, Fidel Ulloa. That’s a good reward for a kid that’s been pretty steady and a reliever. And a reliever, Hunter Mann, that’s emerged this year as a two-plus guy. But from Konner Eaton, there’s a command plan for him. We need just a little bit more time with him. And then Stu Flesland III, who had an amazing year, they’ve got this velocity thing they’re trying to do with him, and they’re going to do that and then try to get him to try it in a game. So I think Sean’s our only starter, and guys like Stu will be coming out of the bullpen with just his plan in place.“
Last week, Jim McLennan, who runs our SB Nation Diamondbacks site AZ Snakepit, had this similar comment about an AFL game he attended, quoting a D-backs beat writer:
The game ended 5-3 to the Javelinas and was… interesting. It wasn’t very well-played, to be honest. Was chatting to Jack Sommers about it, and he said, “The quality of the AFL has gone down in recent years. There are fewer and fewer good pitchers, and it has skewed towards younger, less developed position players. Fifteen years ago it was much better quality.”
So, if you go to an AFL game, the sort of baseball you’re going to see is… different… from what it used to be. Whether this is good or bad is in the eye of the beholder.
Two Cubs hitting prospects had decent games Wednesday. Kade Snell, who is gaining some attention in the system, went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base. Outfielder Harrison Feinberg went 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly.
One reason for the lopsided score, besides all the walks issued by Solar Sox pitchers, is that catcher Davis Diaz simply got run on by just about everyone. The Rafters stole 11 (!) bases and on a couple of the attempts, Diaz didn’t even attempt a throw. Diaz is a conversion guy, drafted by the A’s in the eighth round in 2024 out of Vanderbilt. He did not catch at all in college; the A’s are, well, trying to change that. Based on what I saw Wednesday, it’s not working.
The Solar Sox have prospects from the Cubs, A’s, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Angels. The Rafters have prospects from the Nationals, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Yankees and Twins.
It wasn’t great baseball, but it was baseball, the weather was gorgeous (80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky), and who knows when I’ll see players wearing Cubs uniforms on a field again… so it was still a worthwhile way to spend a Wednesday afternoon in November.
If you are interested, here’s the entire game:
