Arizona Fall League

The Arizona Fall League was founded by 1992 due to dissatisfaction with the traditional winter leagues on the part of Major League Baseball teams. It is a six-team instructional league which operates out of the Arizona Spring Training facilities of the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Oakland A's, Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers. Often refered to as the "Graduate School of the Minors", each of these clubs are the parent club for one Arizona Fall League team. The remaining 24 MLB teams rotate among the Arizona Fall League Teams, for example, the Detroit Tigers sent their prospects to the Grand Canyon Rafters in 2004, the Mesa Solar Sox in 2005, and the Phoenix Desert Dogs in 2006.

The first winter league operated by the major league organizations, it was followed by the Hawaii Winter League, California Fall League and Maryland Fall League.

Each of the 30 MLB teams sends six players, 180 players in all, to the AFL each year. Each August, MLB holds a draft to determine which players will spend the season in Arizona. Most players are AA or AAA prospects of the parent clubs, however each team may option to send one player from their Single A affiliates. Players must not have more than one year of credited Major League service. Each club is only allowed to send one foreign player to the AFL each year, as long as that player does not reside in a country that participates in Caribbean Confederation or Australian winter league baseball.

Many Major League players have come through the Arizona Fall League. The proof of the league's success comes in the fact that 41 AFL alumni took the field at the 2011 All-Star Game in St. Louis, MO, including both starting pitchers Roy Halladay and Jered Weaver.

The AFL is known as a hitter-friendly league.

Current AFL Teams[edit]

Team	Stadium
Glendale Desert Dogs	Camelback Ranch
Mesa Solar Sox	Sloan Park
Peoria Javelinas	Peoria Sports Complex
Salt River Rafters	Salt River Field at Talking Stick
Scottsdale Scorpions	Scottsdale Stadium
Surprise Saguaros	Surprise Stadium

Note: The Scottsdale Scorpions are the only team to have played in every season of the AFL without moving.

Former Teams[edit]

Phoenix Saguaros, 1992
Mesa Saguaros, 1993-1997
Maryvale Saguaros, 1998-2002
Peoria Saguaros, 2003-2010
Grand Canyon Rafters, 1992, 1997-2006
Tempe Rafters, 1993-1996
Surprise Rafters, 2007-2010
Tucson Javelinas, 1992-1993
Chandler Diamondbacks, 1992-1994
Phoenix Desert Dogs, 1995-2012
Sun Cities Solar Sox, 1992-1998
Surprise Scorpions 2005
Mesa Desert Dogs 2003

League Champions[edit]

Year	Champion	Manager
1992	Sun Cities Solar Sox	Jerry Royster
1993	Tempe Rafters	Tim Johnson
1994	Peoria Javelinas	John Stearns
1995	Mesa Saguaros	Bruce Kimm
1996	Scottsdale Scorpions	George Hendrick
1997	Peoria Javelinas	Mike Scioscia
1998	Sun Cities Solar Sox	Fredi Gonzalez
1999	Mesa Solar Sox	Chris Cron
2000	Grand Canyon Rafters	Butch Wynegar
2001	Phoenix Desert Dogs	Thad Bosley
2002	Peoria Javelinas	Razor Shines
2003	Mesa Solar Sox	Pat Kelly
2004	Phoenix Desert Dogs	Dean Treanor
2005	Phoenix Desert Dogs	Scott Little
2006	Phoenix Desert Dogs	Tony DeFrancesco
2007	Phoenix Desert Dogs	Rafael Santana
2008	Phoenix Desert Dogs	Stan Cliburn
2009	Peoria Javelinas	Kevin Bradshaw
2010	Scottsdale Scorpions	Randy Knorr
2011	Salt River Rafters	Stu Cole
2012	Peoria Javelinas	Dusty Wathan
2013	Surprise Saguaros	Gary Kendall
2014	Salt River Rafters	Andy Haines
2015	Scottsdale Scorpions	Matt Quatraro
2016	Mesa Solar Sox	Ryan Christianson
2017	Peoria Javelinas	Luis Salazar
2018	Peoria Javelinas	Daren Brown
2019	Salt River Rafters	Keith Johnson