A look at Arizona Fall League alum in the 2026 World Series

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Over the years, I’ve written a ton about what a terrific proving ground and springboard the Arizona Fall League is. The numbers back that up, with a majority of AFL alum at least touching the big leagues.

And we don’t have to wait long for a lot of them. There were 25 players from last year’s Fall League rosters who spent time in the Major Leagues at some point in 2026, led by 2025 AFL MVP Kevin McGonigle. A total of 25 Fall Leaguers were on All-Star rosters this July, as well.

The trend has continued with the postseason. The Wild Card Series saw 94 of the 208 (45.2 percent) active players having spent time in the AFL. In the Division Series, it was 87 of 208 (41.8 percent). It dropped to 35.6 percent in the League Championship Series (37 out of 104).

This World Series doesn’t provide quite as much representation. There are 14 players on the Brewers and Rays rosters combined who are Fall League alum. That 27 percent rate is down from last year, when 21 former AFLers (40.4 pct) were on Fall Classic rosters, but Rays manager Kevin Cash and 11 other coaches were in the Fall League in the past. And perhaps special dispensation should be given to Brice Turang, whose father Brian played in the league in its debut season (1992).

It’s still an impressive list, led by Brewers captain Christian Yelich. He has more than twice the amount of career bWAR as any of the other alumni still playing big league games currently, and he’s one of three who are eligible for the Arizona Fall League Hall of Fame.

That honor isn’t about how well they played in the AFL -- you’ll see their numbers below were often quite modest -- but rather is based on big league accomplishments. Each inductee must have five-plus years of Major League service time and collected at least two major awards. Here’s the list of all 14 alum, ranked by WAR, with their team and AFL stats included (*eligible for AFL Hall of Fame based on MLB accomplishments).

*Christian Yelich (45.1 WAR)
2012 Phoenix - .301/.343/.387, 11 RBI, 3 SB, 99 PA

*Yandy Díaz (20.5 WAR)
2015 Scottsdale - .246/.343/.328, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB, 70 PA

*Gary Sánchez (14.8 WAR)
2015 Surprise – .295/.357/.625, 7 HR, 21 RBI, 4 SB, 98 PA

Abner Uribe (5.6 WAR)
2021 Salt River - 13.00 ERA, 9 IP, 9 H, 17 BB, 16 K
2022 Glendale - 0.90 ERA, 10 IP, 10 H, 2 BB, 14 K

David Hamilton (5.5 WAR)
2021 Salt River - .293/.453/.463, 5 RBI, 4 SB, 53 PA

Liam Hicks (4.6 WAR)
2023 Surprise - .449/.553/.522, 12 RBI, 2 SB, 85 PA

Griffin Jax (4.6 WAR)
2018 Salt River - 3.86 ERA, 21 IP, 21 H, 11 BB, 14 K

Richie Palacios (4.0 WAR)
2021 Scottsdale - .269/.387/.513, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 4 SB, 93 PA

JoJo Romero (3.4 WAR)
2019 Scottsdale - 0.84 ERA, 10.2 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 5 K

Garrett Cleavinger (3.0 WAR)
2017 Glendale - 6.35 ERA. 11.1 IP, 14 H, 4 BB, 10 K

Victor Mesa Jr. (3.0 WAR)
2022 Mesa - .207/.313/.431, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 67 PA

Jake Bauers (2.0 WAR)
2015 Mesa - .254/.342/.403, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 76 PA

Luis Lara (1.2 WAR)
2024 Peoria - .256/.350/.360, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 10 SB, 100 PA

Ryan Vilade (-0.2 WAR)
2021 Salt River - .253/.344/.304, 12 RBI, 3 SB, 90 PA