Arizona Fall League
From Free net encyclopedia
The Arizona Fall League is a minor league baseball league which operates during the Fall in Arizona at four spring training complexes. Each August, Major League Baseball clubs hold a position draft to determine the players who will go to Arizona. Most are AA and AAA Minor League players. Each club can opt to send one player considered a Class A player. Only one foreign player is allowed, but only if that player does not come from a region that participates in winter ball. Play begins shortly after the end of MLB's regular season in early October, and ends in mid-November.
The Arizona Fall League teams are not exclusive affiliates of any one team; instead, each MLB team provides six players who team up to fill the 30-man roster of each team. MLB teams also send coaches. The affiliations generally change every year.
A number of famous ballplayers have had stints in the Arizona Fall League. In 1992, a player named Ernest Jeter, later to change his name to Derek Jeter, was the league's player of the year. In 1994, the league got worldwide attention as Michael Jordan's first professional baseball league, when he played for the Scottsdale Scorpions. Other notable ballplayers who have played at one time in the Arizona Fall League include Nomar Garciaparra and Albert Pujols. Over sixty percent of the players who are sent to the league make the majors.
Games are played at Surprise Stadium, Peoria Sports Complex, Phoenix Municipal Stadium, and HoHoKam Park.
Current member teams: