21 players on World Series rosters are Arizona Fall League alumni

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – We spend a lot of time at this point of the year looking at players still playing in the big leagues through a prospect lens. And because I just arrived in Arizona for my two-week stint of covering the Fall League, my brain automatically started thinking about how many great players have used the AFL as a springboard to a big league career. The next logical step, of course, was wondering how many players currently in the World Series (on the active roster) are AFL alumni.

Any guesses?

The answer is 21. With 52 active players, that’s 40.4 percent. That’s right in line with the 41 percent of players named to the Major League All-Star Game this past summer (33 of 80). According to the AFL, 53 percent of all players on Opening Day rosters at the start of the 2025 season once cut their teeth here.

Of that 21, the one who might stand out the most is veteran right-hander Max Scherzer. That’s not just because he played in the AFL earlier than anyone else, throwing 12 2/3 innings for the Scottsdale Scorpions in 2007 and 24 more for the Phoenix Desert Dogs in 2008. No, he deserves a spotlight because he’s the one person on a World Series roster in the Arizona Fall League Hall of Fame. He was inducted back in 2017.

For the uninitiated, gaining entrance into the AFL Hall isn’t about performance while in the league, though Scherzer threw well here, posting a combined 2.95 ERA and 10.3 K/9 rate. Each inductee must have five-plus years of Major League service time and collected at least two major awards. Scherzer’s three Cy Young Awards certainly qualify.

He also is the leader in bWAR with 75.6 as another Hall of Fame awaits once he calls it a career. But how do the other 20 alums stack up after him? Let’s take a look, based on WAR, with their team and AFL stats included (* eligible for AFL Hall of Fame based on MLB accomplishments).

*Mookie Betts (75.1 WAR)
2013 Surprise – .271/.368/.373, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 8 SB, 68 PA

*Freddie Freeman (64.2 WAR)
2009 Peoria – .267/.353/.400, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 51 PA
2010 Mesa – .125/.263/.313,19 PA

*George Springer (42.3 WAR)
2012 Mesa – .286/.412/.600, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 5 SB, 85 PA

*Max Muncy (26.8 WAR)
2013 Mesa – .224/.350/.265, 3 RBI, 60 PA

*Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (25.8 WAR)
2018 Surprise – .351/.409/.442, 17 RBI, 2 SB, 88 PA

*Will Smith (23.0 WAR)
2017 Glendale – .371/.452/.565, 2 HR, 16 RBI, 73 PA

*Andrés Giménez (19.4 WAR)
2018 Scottsdale – .125/.250/.292, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 57 PA
2019 Scottsdale – .371/.413/.586, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 2 SB, 75 PA

Tommy Edman (19.2 WAR)
2018 Surprise – .238/.400/.310, 5 RBI, 5 SB, 55 PA

Chris Bassitt (18.1 WAR)
2013 Glendale – 0.90 ERA, 10 IP, 8 H, 8 BB, 9 K
2014 Glendale – 0.69 ERA, 13 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 22 K

Daulton Varsho (17.9 WAR)
2018 Salt River – .262/.377/.308, 9 RBI, 8 SB, 77 PA

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (16.0 WAR)
2016 Surprise - .194/.350/.194, 3 RBI, 40 PA

Tyler Glasnow (11.0 WAR)
2014 Scottsdale – 3.72 ERA, 19.1 IP, 20 H, 12 BB, 20 K

Ernie Clement (7.7 WAR)
2019 Mesa – .303/.365/.364, 5 RBI, 1 SB, 74 PA

Andy Pages (5.1 WAR)
2022 Glendale – .296/.398/.506, 5 HR, 14 RBI, 98 PA

Tyler Heineman (2.2 WAR)
2014 Salt River – 2-for-5

Addison Barger (1.6 WAR)
2022 Salt River – .189/.317/.321, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB, 63 PA

Emmet Sheehan (1.3 WAR)
2022 Glendale – 3.54 ERA, 20.1 IP, 12 H, 8 BB, 24 K

Brendon Little (1.0 WAR)
2021 Mesa – 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Ben Rortvedt (0.1 WAR)
2019 Salt River – 1-for-9

Justin Dean (0.0 WAR)
2019 Scottsdale – .200/.302/.200, 3 RBI, 3 SB, 53 PA