Top storylines of the 2016 Arizona Fall League season

The Arizona Fall League’s 25th anniversary season will come to an end Saturday, when Mesa takes on Salt River for the league title, capping what has been a memorable season in the desert.

The talent in this year’s Fall League was highlighted by a deep crop of hitters from MLBPipeline.com’s Top 100 Prospects list, including: Gleyber Torres (No. 17), Ian Happ (No. 21), Eloy Jimenez (No. 23), Bradley Zimmer (No. 25), Cody Bellinger (No. 31) and Franklin Barreto (No. 42). On the mound, right-handers Francis Martes (No. 29), Brent Honeywell (No. 39) and Michael Kopech (No. 67) were all mighty impressive.

Beyond the eye-opening performances from some of the game’s finest young players, Tim Tebow made headlines — both good and bad — on a near daily basis this fall as he attempted to launch his baseball career while playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions. Kyle Schwarber’s two-game stint with Mesa before joining the Cubs for the World Series created even more buzz in what was already an electric postseason.

Here are the top stories to emerge from the 2016 Fall League:

Gleyber the Great

While Aroldis Chapman was playing a key role in leading the Cubs to their first World Series title in 108 years, the centerpiece of the trade that sent Chapman from the Yankees to Chicago was making news of his own in the Fall League. At 19, Torres was the youngest player in the AFL, and not only did he hold his own in the league, he owned it. The Venezuelan shortstop hit .403 to become the youngest batting champ in the history of the league, while posting a nearly 2-to-1 walk-to-strikeout ratio (14 walks, eight strikeouts) and leading the circuit in on-base percentage (.513) and OPS (1.158). He also finished second in slugging (.645). All of this while learning a new position — he played seven of 16 games at second base.

The Tebow experiment

After not playing baseball between his junior year of high school and signing with the Mets for $100,000 in September, Tebow finished the fall with a .194/.296/.242 line in 19 games, with three doubles, eight walks and 20 strikeouts in 71 trips to the plate. The 29-year-old 2007 Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback started slowly, going hitless in his first 13 AFL at-bats and batting just .135 in his first 11 games, but he made adjustments as the season progressed en route to a .280/.438/.360 line in his final eight games, …

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