Atlanta Braves Announce AFL Players
By Fred Owens
Former Int’l signee Mauricio Cabrera. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
The Atlanta Braves announced their preliminary Arizona Fall League crew roster and guess what, it’s almost all pitchers.
Fall Baseball For Future Stars
The Arizona Fall League is MLB’s an off-season player development league. It was formed in 1992 to allow for low level minor league player development to continue in a sanctioned setting after the official minor league season is over. The six team, two division league was formed in 1992 with teams playing approximately 30 games. I say approximately because the number can run from 28 to 32 depending on weather and scheduling.
Every team is supplied up to six players players by five major league franchises with the Braves players heading to the Peoria Javelinas.
| Division | Team | Major League Affiliates |
| East | Mesa Solar Sox | Cubs, Angels, Athletics, Marlins, Rays |
| Salt River Rafters | Diamondbacks, Rockies, Mets, Jays, Nationals | |
| Scottsdale Scorpions | Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, Twins, Giants | |
| West | Peoria Javelinas | Braves, Orioles, Reds, Padres, Mariners |
| Surprise Saguaros | Royals, Brewers, Yankees, Cardinals, Rangers | |
| Glendale Desert Dogs | White Sox, Astros, Dodgers, Phillies, Pirates |
Every August, Major League clubs hold a position draft to select the players,mostly AA and AAA although a franchise may send one player from A ball – who will go to Arizona. According to a post by Jonathan Mayo, this year the Braves will send four pitchers, a catcher an outfielder a shortstop to the Valley of the Sun.
| Pos | Pitchers | B/T | Rank |
| RHP | Mauricio Cabrera | R-R | 21 |
| RHP | Lucas Sims | R-R | 7 |
| RHP | Andrew Thurman | R-R | 18 |
| RHP | Daniel Winkler | R-R | 26 |
| C | Joseph Odom | R-R | NR |
| IF | Johan Camargo | S-R | NR |
| OF | Connor Lien | R-R | NR |
The title of the Mayo post indicates a fall league packed with elite prospects but our highest ranking attendee is Sims who isn’t in MLB’s top 100 and the three position players are unranked.
The Javelinas are managed by former major league catcher Rod Barajas. Their hitting coach is Sean Berry and they have three pitching coaches on the staff; Derrin Ebert, Gabriel Luckert and Rich Dorman. They need three pitching coaches because the roster include 18 pitchers and they play every day except Sunday’s beginning October 13th. Here’s the schedule for our players.
| Peoria Javelinas Schedule | ||||
| 13-Oct | Saguaros @ Javelinas | 2-Nov | Javelinas @ Solar Sox | |
| 14-Oct | Javelinas @ Saguaros | 3-Nov | Solar Sox @ Javelinas | |
| 15-Oct | Rafters @ Javelinas | 4-Nov | Scorpions @ Javelinas | |
| 16-Oct | Javelinas @ Rafters | 5-Nov | Javelinas @ Scorpions | |
| 17-Oct | Bowman Hitting Challenge | 6-Nov | Javelinas @ Saguaros | |
| 19-Oct | Desert Dogs @ Javelinas | 7-Nov | All Star Game | |
| 20-Oct | Javelinas @ Desert Dogs | 9-Nov | Saguaros @ Javelinas | |
| 21-Oct | Solar Sox @ Javelinas | 10-Nov | Javelinas @ Saguaros | |
| 22-Oct | Javelinas @ Solar Sox | 11-Nov | Javelinas @ Rafters | |
| 23-Oct | Javelinas @ Scorpions | 12-Nov | Rafters @ Javelinas | |
| 24-Oct | Scorpions @ Javelinas | 13-Nov | Javelinas @ Desert Dogs | |
| 26-Oct | Saguaros @ Javelinas | 14-Nov | Desert Dogs @ Javelinas | |
| 27-Oct | Javelinas @ Saguaros | 16-Nov | Javelinas @ Solar Sox | |
| 28-Oct | Rafters @ Javelinas | 17-Nov | Scorpions @ Javelinas | |
| 29-Oct | Javelinas @ Rafters | 18-Nov | Javelinas @ Scorpions | |
| 30-Oct | Javelinas @ Desert Dogs | 19-Nov | Saguaros @ Javelinas | |
| 31-Oct | Desert Dogs @ Javelinas | 21-Nov | Championship Game |
Last year the MLB Network carried five of AFL games and they plan to carry games this year as well, that schedule has not yet been released.
That’s a Wrap
The rosters are preliminary at this time, clubs may shuffle players due to injury. The value of the fall league varies with the person you ask. In general it’s a development league and numbers posted there have very little predictive value.
In case you’re wondering – I was thus you get to find out as well – according to the Arizona Vacation guide a Javelina are “. . . arguably rather ugly animals and possess a rather unpleasant odor which is why some people refer to them as ‘musk hogs’. . .” Now I wish I hadn’t looked. At least if their play stinks they have an excuse. (sorry, couldn’t resist)
Stay tuned here at the Take and we’ll keep you update on the happenings in Arizona once the season gets underway.