2019 Arizona Fall League Schedule Announced
9/17 UPDATE:
SS Zack Short (replacing Nico Hoerner) and RHRP Scott Effross have been added to the Mesa Solar Sox roster.
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8/28 UPDATE #2:
One pitcher still TBA, but here are the Cubs assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox (AFL):
Miguel Amaya, C
Nico Hoerner, INF
Jordan Minch, LHRP
Keegan Thompson, RHSP
Erich Uelmen, RHSP
Jared Young, 1B-OF
TBA, P
Jamie Vermilyea, Pitching Coach
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8/28 UPDATE #1:
The Cubs have assigned SS Nico Hoerner to the Mesa Solar Sox.
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8/26 UPDATE:
Cubs (South Bend) Pitching Coach Jamie Vermilyea has been named pitching coach for the Mesa Solar Sox. (The Cubs are responsible for providing the MSS pitching coach in 2019). .
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7/31 ORIGINAL POST:
The 2019 Arizona Fall Schedule has been announced.
ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE (AFL):
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an MLB developmental league (approximately equivalent to "AA") that operates in the Phoenix metropolitan area for six weeks after the MLB-affiliated minor leagues have concluded their seasons. It was founded in 1992 (it was the "brain-child" of long-time MLB executive Roland Hemond) and has operated continuously for 27 seasons. Games are played in MLB Spring Training stadiums.
The AFL schedule will change in 2019, beginning and ending three weeks earlier than in years past. This will allow less down-time between the end of the minor league season and the start of the AFL for minor leaguers assigned to AFL teams. It also means that minor league players who are eligible to be an MLB Rule 55 free-agent (second-contract FA or 6YFA) on the 5th day after the conclusion of the World Series can play in the AFL without first signing a minor league successor contract for the next season.
NOTE: Because the AFL season formerly ended two or three weeks after the conclusion of the World Series, a player eligible to be an MLB Rule 55 minor league FA was not eligible to play in the AFL unless and until he signed a minor league successor contract for the next season.
2019 AFL Opening Day will be on the third Wednesday in September (9/17) and the AFL regular season will conclude on the Friday of the sixth week (10/25). The AFL Championship Game (pitting the winner of the East Division against the winner of the West Division) will be played on the Saturday at the end of the sixth week (10/26 in 2019).
The AFL schedule will continue to feature a 30-game "regular season" (each AFL team will play five or six games per week), and an All-Star Game (formerly called the "Rising Stars Game," but now known as the "Fall Stars Game") played on the Saturday at the end of the fourth week (10/12). For the first time AFL games will be played on Sundays, and five teams from the Mexican Pacific League (Culiacan, Hermosillo, Los Mochis, Mexicali, and Obregon) will play games against AFL teams over a ten-day period starting on 9/24.
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 catcher Miguel Amaya, 2B Chase Strumpf, SS Nico Hoerner, SS Aramis Ademan, SS Zack Short, C-INF P. J. Higgins, 1B-OF Jared Young, INF Andy Weber, OF Brennen Davis, OF Nelson Velazquez, and/or OF Cole Roederer, starting pitchers Brendon Little, Brailyn Marquez, Erich Uelmen, Jack Patterson, and/or Ryan Jensen (SP 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, rehab, or because they spent part of the season working out of the bullpen), and relief pitchers Oscar de la Cruz, Craig Brooks, Wyatt Short, Jordan Minch, Tommy Nance, Ryan Lawlor, Chad Hockin, and/or Danny Hultzen. .
Here are the current (2019) AFL eligibility rules & restrictions.
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. (The Scottsdale Scorpions will be playing home games in the stadium at Salt River Fields while Scottsdale Stadium is under renovation).
NOTE: CLE, DET, LAA, and OAK will be the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox in 2019. (BOS, DET, LAA, and OAK were the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox in 2018, DET, HOU, OAK, and WAS were the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the Solar Sox in 2017, and BAL, CLE, MIA, and OAK were the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the MSS in 2016).
2. Each MLB organization must assign a minimum of seven players under its control to its AFL affiliate, including a minimum of four pitchers (preferably at least one pitcher capable of starting) 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: RHRP Bailey Clark, INF-OF Trent Giambrone, C-INF P. J. Higgins, SS Nico Hoerner, C Jhonny Pereda, LHSP Justin Steele, RHSP Erick Leal, LHRP Manuel Rondon, and OF D. J. Wilson were the Cubs players assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox in 2018, RHSP Adbert Alzolay, RHRP Pedro Araujo, INF David Bote, OF Charcer Burks, RHSP Alec Mills, C-1B Ian Rice, RHRP Jake Stinnett, and 3B-1B Jason Vosler were the Cubs players assigned to the Solar Sox in 2017 (RHSP Oscar de la Cruz was removed from the Solar Sox roster on 9/18 due to injury and was replaced Alzolay), and 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 MSS in 2016.
3. An MLB organization can assign additional position-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 or inactive player.
NOTE: INF-OF Trent Giambrone and C Jhonny Pereda were assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox Taxi Squad in 2018, C-1B Ian Rice was assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox Taxi Squad in 2017 and he replaced David Bote on the MSS Active Roster with about two weeks left in the AFL season after Bote left the team to attend to a personal matter, and while the Cubs initially did not assign any players to the Solar Sox Taxi Squad in 2016, OF-DH Kyle Schwarber was briefly assigned to the MSS Taxi Squad 10/22-10/25 while preparing to play in the World Series.
4. A player can be selected to play in the AFL more than once.
5. All MLB and minor league players under the control of an MLB organization are now eligible to play in the AFL.
NOTE: Prior to 2019, an MLB player (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 an Injured List) as of September 1st and players who were on the Active List, Injured List, or Temporariliy Inactive List of an MLB minor league affiliate (regardless of classification) on August 15th were eligible, international players frrom the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, and/or Australia were eligible only if the player was not on the reserve list of a Winter League club from the player's home country, and a player who was on a minor league or MLB Injured List at the close of the regular season was eligible to play in the AFL as long as the player had been reinstated, but there could 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").
6. A player must be invited by his MLB organization to participate in the AFL and then the player must accept the invitation before he can be assigned an AFL team.
7. A player on an MLB or minor league injured list must be reinstated before he can be assigned to the AFL.
NOTE: OF-DH Kyle Schwarber was added to the 2016 Mesa Solar Sox Taxi Squad on 10/22 only after being reinstated from the Cubs MLB 60-day DL (so therefore 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.
8. A player on the Restricted List, Military List, Disqualified List, Ineligible List, or Voluntary Retired List is not eligible to participate in the AFL.
9. A player assigned to the AFL who is not on an MLB Active List does not accrue MLB Service Time, and MLB Service Time can only be accrued prior to the conclusiion of the MLB regular season.
10. Beginning on the day after the conclusion of the MLB regular season all players receive the same salary and the salaries are paid out of a special fund managed by MLB.
NOTE: A player assigned to the AFL is paid by his club prior to the conclusion of the MLB regular season.
11. 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 provided the hitting coach to their affiliated AFL club in 2018.
CUBS ASSIGNED TO MESA SOLAR SOX in 2019 (updated 8-28-2019):
Miguel Amaya, C
Nico Hoerner, INF
Jordan Minch, LHRP
Erich Uelmen, RHSP
Keegan Thompson, RHSP
Jared Young, 1B-OF
TBD (pitcher)
Jamie Vermilyea (Pitching Coach)
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