Each team sends their top prospect and they play each other. The Arizona Fall League is broken up into six different teams and two divisions: East: Salt City Rafters, Scottsdale Scorpions, Mesa Solar Sox. West: Phoenix Desert Dogs, Peoria Javelinas and Surprise Saguaros.
Gary and I went to 4 games, and I went to the Championship Game. He had to work the football game. It is no secret that baseball is probably my favorite next to college football. I could sit and watch baseball all day.
Prior to the game Commissioner Steve Cobb handed out two awards. The first was the Dernell Stenson Leadership Award. Stenson was player in the Arizona Fall League who passed away while playing in the 2003 season. Since 2004 the award has been given to the player who best exemplifies unselfishness, hard work and leadership.
Each team piced one player that best shows all the above characteristics. It is all based on the little things, and not just what happens on the field. This year the nominees were:
Mike O'Neill, Surprise Saguaros, St. Louis Cardinals
Nate Freiman, Peoria Javalinas, San Diego Padres
Nick Ahmed, Phoenix Desert Dogs, Atlanta Braves
David Adams, Scottsdale Scorpions, New York Yankees
Tyler Clark, Mesa Solar Sox, Detroit Tigers
Cole Hamel, Salt River Rafters, Washington Nationals
This years winner: Cole Hamel. He has had an interesting story with the amount of injuries. He was coming off a shoulder injury, and didn't get a lot of playing time. This season in the AFL he finsihed with a 4.80 ERA over 15 innings.
The other award is the Joe Black Most Valuable Player. A little background on Joe Black is that he was the 1st African American to win a World Series game. Each year starting in 2002 the league has selected one person has the MVP for the Arizona Fall League. This year's winner was from the Rangers' organization, Chris McGuiness.
In 2012, he finished with the Double A team, Frisco RoughRiders. He finished fourth in the Texas League with 23 homers and 7th with 77 RBIs. He continued with 27 RBI's in 25 games. Was 2nd in game played. 3rd in the league in homeruns. 9th in total hits.
