(PHOENIX, AZ) Seventeen Northwoods League alumni are spending the next several weeks in the Arizona Fall League, often one of the stepping stones to a career in Major League Baseball. The list of 17 includes one current Major Leaguer, one former first-round draft choice and two umpires.
Shortstop Brandon Crawford (Mankato ’05) played in 66 games this year for the Giants, batting .204. He began his big league career in May by hitting a grand slam for his first Major League hit. He’s playing with the Scottsdale Scorpions this fall along with Giants pitcher Daryl Maday (Madison ’04), Phillies first baseman Darin Ruf (Wisconsin ’07) and Nationals third base prospect Zach Walters (Duluth ’09).
Outfielder Tim Wheeler (St. Cloud ’07) was a first round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies in 2009. He emerged as one of the top power hitters in all of minor league baseball this year by hitting 33 home runs for Double-A Tulsa, good for second most in all of the minors. Wheeler is a member of the Salt River Rafters this fall along with Tigers catching prospect Rob Brantly (La Crosse ’09) and Diamondbacks hurler Bryan Woodall (Alexandria ’06).
The rest of the former Northwoods League players currently competing in the Arizona Fall League are pitchers. Four of them are teammates with the Surprise Saguaros. They include left-handers Dan Jennings (Waterloo ’06-07) of the Marlins and Brendan Lafferty (Alexandria/Mankato ’06-08) of the Royals as well as right-handers Shane Dyer (Eau Claire ’07-08) of the Rays and Evan Reed (Waterloo ’05) of the Marlins.
Elsewhere in the AFL right-handers Cole Devries (Mankato ’04) of the Twins and Jake Petricka (Mankato ’09) of the White Sox are teammates with the Mesa Solar Sox. Meanwhile, righty Steven Hensley (Duluth ’06) of the Mariners is with the Peoria Javelinas and righty Dan Burawa (Madison ’09) of the Yankees pitches for the Phoenix Desert Dogs.
Umpires Mark Lollo and Kellen Levy are also making their rounds in the Arizona Fall League. Lollo, a 2001 NWL umpire, is a crew chief this fall. He umpired in the Triple-A International League in 2011. Levy was in the NWL in 2004 and worked in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League this past season.
AFL teams play a 38-game schedule that began last week and concludes about one week prior to Thanksgiving. Each Major League organization sends six prospects to their affiliated team, which is shared by five MLB organizations. Approximately 50% of the players in this year’s MLB Postseason played in the Arizona Fall League.
The Northwoods League has more teams, plays more games, and draws more fans than any other Summer Collegiate Baseball League in North America.