Yankees: The always exciting Arizona Fall League is approaching

In just a few short weeks, the Yankees will send seven prospects to participate in the annual Arizona Fall League.

With the Postseason quickly approaching, a few Yankees prospects will soon be making their way down to the Phoenix-metropolitan area for the 27th annual Arizona Fall League.

The Arizona Fall League is an offseason league that was founded by Major League Baseball in 1992. The AFL offers prospects a chance to showcase their talents for an extra month and a half after the conclusion of the MLB season.

All thirty MLB teams send prospects to fill a total of six clubs. Throughout the years, the AFL has seen the likes of Derek Jeter, Giancarlo Stanton, Aroldis Chapman, Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge and hundreds of other MLB All-Stars grace its fields.

Again, the Yankees will be sending some well-known prospects for fine-tuning and further scouting. Of the seven prospects that will represent the Bombers in Phoenix, the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect OF Estevan Florial, No. 5 prospect RHP Domingo Acevedo and No. 16 prospect INF Thairo Estrada headline the group.

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With high expectations in each of their futures, the AFL has proven to improve the skill of young men playing in front of high-pressure audiences. Each game, scouts from organizations all over the league, analyze every aspect of a player. It’s basically a month and a half long audition for a chance to one day play in the big leagues — or at the very least, potential trade chips.

Florial and Estrada are returning for their second consecutive appearance in the desert, while Acevedo will be participating in his first fall league action. Here is some insight on the three:

Estevan Florial

Florial, 20, seemed to be involved in every trade rumor surrounding the Yankees and their deadline plans this past July. Since he signed with the Yanks in March 2015, Florial has been regarded as one of the most promising prospects in the game.

He has even gained enough respect to find himself ranked 46th on MLB.com’s Top 100 Prospects List. In the three and a half seasons since being signed, Florial has posted a .281 batting average with 34 home runs and 175 RBIs. With his major league debut expected in 2020, the AFL will provide a sample of what fans can expect to see in the Bronx in the near future.

Thairo Estrada

It is pretty safe to say that 2018 was a year to forget for Thairo Estrada. In late January, Estrada, 22, was shot in the hip in a botched robbery in his hometown of Bejuma, Venezuela. After recovering from the gunshot wound, Estrada battled hamstring and wrist injuries all year before being lost for the season with a back injury.

In 2017, he recorded a .301 batting average with six home runs and 48 RBIs in Double-A Trenton. The AFL could become a way for Estrada to salvage a wasted season. The young infielder has always been regarded as one of the Yankees’ best infield prospects but has consistently been sidelined by injuries. Last year, he was ranked as the top shortstop in the AFL and will certainly look to regain that status this October.

Domingo Acevedo

In June, Domingo Acevedo achieved his ultimate goal when he received the call to join the major league roster. Even though his stay in the majors only lasted 24 hours, his promotion was no mere coincidence.

Acevedo, 24, is 6-foot-7 with an above-average fastball that comes in at a sharp downward angle. In 64.2 innings this year at Double-A Trenton, Acevedo pitched to a 2.92 ERA with 52 strikeouts. The AFL will be the perfect place for Acevedo to explore his explosive fastball and mix in his other pitches against MLB ready bats.

It will also be interesting to see if they will experiment by putting him in the bullpen, where the Yankees ultimately believe Acevedo could end up.

The Arizona Fall League is always an exciting time of the year that is often overlooked by people who are unable to attend the games. The AFL has proven to not only help develop young players into polished minor leaguers, but it also helps them gain the experience they need to become effective at the Major League level.