2017 Arizona Fall League Schedule Released
The 2017 Arizona Fall League schedule has been released and rosters should be announced later this month.
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an MLB developmental league (approximately equivalent to "AA") that operates for six weeks after the conclusion of the MLB regular season.
The 2017 AFL schedule features a 30-game "regular season," plus the "Bowman Hitting Challenge" held at Sloan Park in Mesa on Saturday October 21st, an All-Star Game (formerly called the "Rising Stars Game," but now known as the "Fall Stars Game") played in the stadium at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Saturday November 4th, and the AFL Championship Game (pitting the winner of the East Division against the winner of the West Division) played at Scottsdale Stadium on Saturday November 18th. There are no games played on Sundays or on the day of the Bowman Hitting Challenge and on the day of the Fall Stars Game, but otherwise there are three games scheduled every day Monday through Saturday (except for one off day on Wednesday October 8th), beginning with Opening Day on Tuesday October 10th and extending up through Thursday November 16th.
The Cubs (as well as the other 29 MLB clubs) usually assign some of their better prospects to the Arizona Fall League, and sometimes minor leaguers who are eligible for selection in the MLB Rule 5 Draft might be sent to the AFL to give them a chance to play their way onto the MLB 40-man roster. Depending on what positions they are asked to fill on the Mesa squad, I would not be surprised to see the Cubs assign some combination of position players and pitchers such as catchers Ian Rice or P. J. Higgins, INF Chesny Young, third-baseman Jason Vosler, super-sub IF-OF David Bote, OF Charcer Burks, and OF Eddy Julio Martinez (Young, Vosler, Bote, and Burks will be first-time Rule 5 Draft eligible post-2017), starting pitchers Alec Mills, Oscar de la Cruz, Jose Paulino, Michael Rucker, Tyson Miller, or Ryan Kellogg, or possibly even one of the Cubs 2017 draft picks like Alex Lange or Brendon Little (starting pitchers assigned to the AFL are usually pitchers who didn't throw a whole lot of innings in the minor league regular season either because of injury or because they spent part of the season working out of the bullpen), and relief pitchers Dillon Maples, Dakota Mekkes, Craig Brooks, James Norwood, Jake Stinnett, Brad Markey, David Garner, Wyatt Short, and/or Tommy Thorpe (de la Cruz, Paulino, Maples, Norwood, Stinnett, Markey, Garner, and Thorpe are Rule 5 Draft-eligible post-2017). NOTE: Post-2017 Cubs minor league free-agents like RHRP Daury Torrez, RHP James Pugliese, RHP Justin Hancock, C-1B Tayler Davis, SS Carlos Penalver, OF John Andreoli, and CF Trey Martin can be assigned to the AFL ONLY if the player signs a 2018 Minor League successor contract or is added to an MLB 40-man roster.prior to the start of the AFL season.
Here are the current AFL eligibility rules & restrictions. NOTE: Some of the eligibility rules & restrictions have been changed (relaxed) over the past couple of years:
1. There are six AFL teams, and each AFL team is affiliated with five MLB clubs. SEA & SD (Peoria Javelinas), KC & TEX (Surprise Saguaros), LAD & CHW (Glendale Desert Dogs), AZ & COL (Salt River Rafters), CUBS (Mesa Solar Sox), and SF (Scottsdale Scorpions) are the "host organizations" for the six AFL teams, but the affiliations of the other twenty MLB clubs can vary from year-to-year. NOTE: Besides the Cubs, DET, HOU, OAK, and WAS will be affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox in 2017. (BAL, CLE, MIA, and OAK were the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox in 2016).
2. Each MLB organization must assign a minimum of seven players to its AFL affiliate, including a minimum of four pitchers (preferably one pitcher capable of starting plus three relievers) and a minimum of three position players (specific positions needed to be filled by each organization TBD by a conference call "position draft" between the Player Development Directors of the five MLB organizations affiliated with that particular AFL team). NOTE: C-1B Victor Caratini, RHRP James Farris, 2B-OF Ian Happ, LF Eloy Jimenez, RHRP Ryan McNeil, RHRP Steve Perakslis, and RHSP Duane Underwood Jr were the Cubs players assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox in 2016.
3. An MLB organization can assign additional pitchers and/or players to its AFL team's "Taxi Squad." Players assigned to an AFL team's "Taxi Squad" can play in no more than two games per week (it used to be Wednesday and Saturday games only, but now it's just no more than two games per week regardless of the day), but a player can be transferred from the Taxi Squad to the 35-man Active Roster to replace an injured player. NOTE: The Cubs initially did not assign any players to the Mesa Solar Sox Taxi Squad in 2016, but OF-DH Kyle Schwarber was briefly assigned to the MSS Taxi Squad 10/22-10/25.
4. A player can be selected to play in the AFL more than once, as long as the player continues to meet eligibility for selection.
5. MLB players (including players selected in a preceding Rule 5 Draft) with less than one year (1+000) MLB Service Time accrued (not including time spent on a Disabled list) as of September 1st are eligible.
6. Any player on a AA or AAA Active Roster or Disabled List on August 15th is eligible.
7. Two players on an organization's Advanced Class-A (A+) affiliate's Active Roster (or Disabled List) on August 15th can be assigned to the AFL.
8. Two additional players who were on the Active Roster or Disabled List of a minor league affiliate below AA (A+, A, SS-A, R) on August 15th can be assigned to the AFL.
9. International players from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and/or Australia are eligible only if the player is not on the reserve list of a Winter League club from the player's home country. Otherwise, there is no maximum limit on the number of international players an MLB organization can assign to its AFL team.
10. A player on the Restricted List, Military List, Disqualified List, Ineligible List, or Voluntary Retired List is not eligible to participate in the AFL.
11. A player who was on a minor league or MLB DL at the close of the regular season is eligible to play in the AFL as long as the player has been reinstated, but there can be no special limits or restrictions placed on the player's playing time (other than the automatic restrictions imposed on a player assigned to an AFL team's "Taxi Squad").
12. A player cannot be assigned to the AFL on an Article XIX-C Minor League Injury Rehabilitation Assignment by a club participating in an MLB post-season series (LDS, LCS, and World Series). NOTE: OF-DH Kyle Schwarber was added to the 2016 Mesa Solar Sox Taxi Squad on 10/22 after being reinstated from the Cubs MLB 60-day DL (so it was NOT considered a "rehab assignment"), and he played in two AFL games before re-joining the Cubs for the World Series on 10/25.
13. Players assigned to the AFL do not accrue MLB or minor league service time, each player receives the same salary, and the salaries are paid out of a special fund managed by MLB.
14. Only players who are under control of an MLB organization are eligible to play in the AFL. A free-agent (unsigned player) is not eligible to play in the AFL.
Each MLB organization provides either the manager, a pitching coach, or a hitting coach to its affiliated AFL club (assignments rotate every year). The Cubs are responsible for providing a hitting coach to their affiliated AFL club in 2017. NOTE: Cubs AA (Tennessee) hitting coach Jacob Cruz will serve as hitting coach for the Mesa Solar Sox in 2017.
CUBS ASSIGNED TO 2017 MESA SOLAR SOX (updated 7-26-2017)
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Jacob Cruz (Hitting Coach)
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