Arizona Fall League primer: MLB prospect league set to return to Tucson

The doubleheader slated to be played at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium was still on as of Wednesday morning, no doubt a relief to the stakeholders in Pima County who’ve been planning the AFL’s 520 comeback.

It was supposed to happen last year, but a tropical storm, of all things, resulted in a scheduled tripleheader being canceled. That was just the start of a run of bad luck for pro baseball at Kino; Tucson was supposed to be the home of a relocated Mexican Pacific Winter League franchise, but it never came to fruition because of visa issues.

The 2026 AFL season began this past weekend. Assuming the weather doesn’t take a turn for the worse, four teams filled with MLB prospects will make the bus ride from the Phoenix area to Tucson for a pair of games Saturday afternoon.

Here’s everything you need to know about the AFL doubleheader at Kino:

What is the Arizona Fall League?

The AFL is a league for MLB prospects. Each MLB team sends seven prospects to the AFL. Those 210 players are spread across six teams, creating 35-man rosters.

The AFL plays most of its games at spring-training facilities in and around Phoenix. The six teams are the Glendale Desert Dogs, the Mesa Solar Sox, the Peoria Javelinas, the Salt River Rafters, the Scottsdale Scorpions and the Surprise Saguaros.

The league first began playing in 1992. Future MLB standouts who played in the AFL include Garret Anderson, Mike Piazza, Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, Jermaine Dye, Torii Hunter, Albert Pujols, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Shawn Green, Todd Helton, Roy Halladay, Ryan Howard, Alfonso Soriano, Andrew McCutchen, Max Scherzer, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Nolan Arenado, Kris Bryant, Gleyber Torres and Ronald Acuna Jr.

Does Tucson have a history with the AFL?

It very much does. When the AFL launched in 1992, it had Northern and Southern divisions. The Tucson Javelinas played in the Southern Division.

That lasted only two years. Before the 1994 season, the Javelinas relocated to Peoria — foreshadowing the departure of spring training from Tucson 17 years later.

But Tucson wasn’t done with the AFL just yet. Mike Feder, the general manager of the Tucson Toros at the time, badly wanted a one-off game featuring the Scottsdale Scorpions.

Why? Because the Scorpions had a player by the name of Michael Jordan, who had recently taken up baseball after retiring from the NBA.

So it was that Jordan played a baseball game in front of a sellout crowd at Hi Corbett Field on Nov. 28, 1994. Former UA baseball standout Terry Francona was the Scorpions’ manager.

Jordan served as the Scorpions’ DH and went 2 for 4 with two stolen bases.

Who’s playing Saturday and how do I get tickets?

A doubleheader is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

The first game pits Peoria against Mesa. The second game features Scottsdale against Salt River.

Tickets can be purchased online at brushfire.com/arizonafallleague, or at the Kino Stadium box office on the day of the game (one hour before first pitch). Prices are as follows:

– Adults (18-plus): $25

– Seniors (60-plus): $20

– Youth (11-17): $20

– Children (10 and under): free

Tickets are good for both games.

Do any prospects have local ties?

Yes. Four players have roots in or connections to Southern Arizona.

The first game will feature two graduates of Salpointe Catholic High School, infielders Mason White and Cade McGee.

White is playing for Mesa, whose roster includes prospects from the Boston Red Sox. After a record-setting three-year career at Arizona, White was picked by Boston in the fourth round of the 2025 MLB Draft.

White — who finished his college career with the most extra-base hits (111) and the second-most home runs (49) in UA history — played at the high-A and double-A levels this past season. He slashed .251/.353/.480 with 18 home runs and 55 RBIs in 350 at-bats between the two stops.

McGee, who’s with Peoria, began his college career at Gonzaga before transferring to Texas Tech. A ninth-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2024 draft, McGee also split time between high-A and double-A this past season. He slashed .232/.373/.456 with 17 homers and 51 RBIs in 327 at-bats.

Game 2 features another former Wildcat, outfielder Brendan Summerhill. Summerhill played alongside White from 2023-25 and was the 42nd overall pick by the Tampa Bay Rays in the ’25 draft.

Summerhill slashed .323/.424/.535 at Arizona, where his junior year was disrupted by injury. In his first full season of pro ball, Summerhill hit .251 with a .351 on-base percentage and 24 stolen bases across three levels.

Summerhill and Scottsdale will face a Salt River squad featuring Nogales High grad Demetrio Crisantes, who is the Diamondbacks’ No. 1 prospect and No. 84 overall, per MLB.com.

Crisantes, an infielder, signed with the UA but went pro after the Diamondbacks took him in the seventh round of the ’22 draft. Crisantes has hit .312 with a .399 on-base percentage across four minor-league seasons.

Who are the top prospects expected to play in Tucson?

The six AFL rosters include 14 of MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects. Besides Crisantes, seven of those prospects are playing for Mesa, Peoria, Salt River or Scottsdale. They are:

– No. 26, OF Zyhir Hope, Tigers (Scottsdale)

– No. 34, SS Arjun Nimmala, Angels (Mesa)

– No. 44, SS Bryce Rainer, Tigers (Scottsdale)

– No. 63, C Nathan Flewelling, Rays (Scottsdale)

– No. 66, RHP Jarlin Susana, Nationals (Salt River)

– No. 78, SS Dax Kilby, Yankees (Salt River)

– No. 95, OF/1B Ike Irish, Orioles (Peoria)

Hope and Nimmala were part of major trades this past season.

Hope was one of the prospects sent by the Dodger to the Tigers in the Tarik Skubal deal. Nimmala was part of the package that went from the Blue Jays to the Angels for right-hander Jose Soriano.