2014 Minor League Ball AFL Gameday - Opening Day, 10/7

Hello everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball AFL Gameday for Tuesday, October 7th. It is Opening Day for the Arizona Fall League, which is the only stateside Winter league.  The AFL is considered to be a finishing school of sorts for top prospects and players that will need to be protected on the 40 man roster for the upcoming Rule 5 draft. Last year the league MVP award went to Cubs uber-prospect Kris Bryant who had just completed his first year of professional baseball. This will be the 23rd year for the developmental league in the desert.

There are only six teams in the Arizona Fall League with three games per day from Monday through Saturday with a league-wide off day on Sunday's. There are also players on each team called "taxi squad" players that are only eligible to play on Wednesday's and Saturday's. These six teams will play at five different Cactus League locations - Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Cubs Park in Mesa, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, Scottsdale Stadium, and Surprise Stadium. The AFL also has their own all-star game dubbed the "Fall Stars Game", which is currently scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 1st. They will also have a Military Appreciation game the following Saturday at Surprise Stadium as the Mesa Solar Sox take on the Surprise Saguaros. The Championship Game is set for November 15th at Scottsdale.

Here are a few facts about the Arizona Fall League which has been running since 1992 -

• 58% of AFL players have gone on to play in the MLB.
• 212 AFL players have gone on to be selected as MLB All-Stars.
• There have been 12 players who have participated in the AFL to win the MVP award and 4 Cy Young awards.
• Three players have gone on to win World Series MVP honors and 8 have won MVP honors for the All-Star game.
• There have been 25 Rookies of the Year to partake in the AFL.
• 66 Silver Sluggers, 58 Gold Gloves have been awarded to AFL participants in their careers.

Please feel free to use these gameday threads to discuss anything prospect related here as well as predictions, links you find from around the interwebs, or anything else you find interesting.

Probable Starters -

Mesa Solar Sox at Glendale Desert Dogs - 2:35 PM EST

Felipe Rivero (LHP - MSS) vs Zach Davies (RHP - GDD)

Peoria Javelinas at Surprise Saguaros - 2:35 PM EST

Kyle Zimmer (RHP - PJ) vs Taijuan Walker (RHP - SUR)

Scottsdale Scorpions at Salt River Rafters - 8:35 PM EST

Tyler Glasnow (RHP - SCD) vs Archie Bradley (RHP - SRR)