2016 Arizona Fall League could be best one yet

The spotlight may shine on the Arizona Fall League more than ever in the prospect circuit’s 25th season. Usually packed with phenoms, the league has even more blue-chip prospects than usual. And, as you may have heard, a certain Heisman Trophy winner will take the next step in his baseball development with the Scottsdale Scorpions.

Since the AFL opened play in 1992, roughly 60 percent of its participants have graduated to the big leagues — more than 2,500 players, including 247 All-Stars, 15 MVPs, six Cy Young Award winners and 26 Rookies of the Year. Alumni include future Hall of Famers such as Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols, as well as five of the six major award winners from 2015 in Jake Arrieta, Kris Bryant, Josh Donaldson, Bryce Harper and Dallas Keuchel.

Each of MLB’s 30 organizations sends a contingent of at least six players to Arizona, where they play six games per week during a 32-game regular season that runs from Oct. 11 through Nov. 17. The two division winners will meet Nov. 19 in a one-game playoff for the championship, which MLB Network will broadcast live. MLB Network also will carry the Nov. 5 Fall Stars Game and some regular-season games to be announced.

Twenty-one members of MLBPipeline.com’s Top 100 Prospects list will play in the AFL this fall, up from 12 a year ago. That group includes the best prospect in baseball, Surprise Saguaros infielder Yoan Moncada (Red Sox). The Mesa Solar Sox feature three of the game’s top 25 prospects in second baseman Ian Happ (Cubs) and outfielders Eloy Jimenez (Cubs) and Bradley Zimmer (Indians).

Yet none of those prospects is nearly as well known as Tim Tebow, arguably the second-most famous player in league history after Michael Jordan, a 1994 Scorpion. Tebow signed with the Mets for $100,000 as a non-drafted free agent on Sept. 8 and began his professional …

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