The Arizona Fall League got started on Saturday with a slate of three games. The Peoria Javelinas, the team that features eight Cincinnati Reds prospects, played the late night game against Mesa. They didn’t even start the game until 9:30pm ET.
Things did not start out well for Peoria as the Solar Sox scored a run in the 1st to take a lead and then scored five runs in the 3rd inning to make it 6-0. Mesa didn’t score again. And part of that is because Reds prospect Victor Diaz came through with 2.0 shutout innings of relief. He worked a 1-2-3 top of the 5th inning that began with an 11-pitch at-bat that resulted in a strikeout. He returned for the 6th and worked himself into and out of a jam as he walked two and gave up a single, but mixed in a double play and a strikeout.
It was the bottom of the 6th inning that really helped get Peoria back into the game. They were trailing 6-1 entering the inning. Carter Graham, who started the game at third base and was hitting third in the lineup, walked and then stole second base. He would then come in to score on a home run that capped off a 4-run inning and made it 6-5.
That’s where the game remained until the bottom of the 9th. Carlos Sanchez, who started the game at shortstop and was 0-1 with two walks entering the inning, drew his third walk of the night. He then scored from first base on a double to tie the game up. Five pitches later a line drive to the wall ended the game in a walk off for the Javelinas.
Victor Diaz threw 2.0 innings and allowed a single, walked two batters, struck out two batters, and threw 40 pitches with 23 strikes. He topped out at 97.6 MPH on the night with his fastball that also got four swinging strikes on the night. Diaz threw his fastball 23 times and it was a strike 17 times. Of his secondary offerings he only threw six strikes on 17 pitches.
Carlos Sanchez popped up in his first at-bat of the game. He then walked in the other three plate appearances that he had in the game. Sanchez would steal a base in the game but was stranded at second base that inning.
Carter Graham has played plenty of third base in his career, but in 2026 he spent a lot more time at first base while mixing in time at third, as the designated hitter, and getting his first experience as a professional in left field. He made a throwing error in the 8th inning when his throw pulled the first baseman off of the bag just long enough for the runner to get to the bag first. The error didn’t cost Peoria as the next three batters went down in order.
At the plate Graham went 0-3 with a walk and three strikeouts. It was a tough night for Graham as he swung at nine pitches, fouled three off, then missed the other six. All six swinging strikes were on sliders. Three of those sliders were in the zone. All three of his strikeouts came on swinging strikes on sliders that were not close to being in the zone.
The Arizona Fall League is the only fall or winter league that will be playing games until both the Mexican and Venezuelan Winter Leagues take the field on October 13th. The Dominican Winter League begins a few days later on the 16th. Games don’t begin in the Puerto Rican Winter League until November 4th. And then on November 19th the games will begin in the Australian Winter League.
Sanchez really showed his speed scoring skills n the double from first base. I love to see these elite athletes getting hen they can shift into another gear we mere mortals do not possess.
I remember seeing Brady Anderson score from first when he was in AA in New Britain, CT, and had the exact same impression. It was, Oh, boy, that was different.
It’s funny when I think back to it all. I played sports my entire life. Only twice did I ever get on the field or court with someone else where I was just like “ok, this guy is a different kind of guy than anyone else”. One went on to play in the NBA and the other wound up playing D1 football and broke basically every record for his position at the school, but never quite got to the NFL (played pro/semi-pro for a while). Played with a lot of guys who went on to play baseball or football at D1 schools, a few went on to play minor league ball (one was a 2nd round pick). Athletically speaking, they didn’t really stand out to me like the other two guys did. The 2nd round pick had the size, and he was athletic, but he didn’t stick out athletically to me for a pro-ish athlete, or even a D1 college guy.
But there have been a few guys that in my time covering baseball that you do see guys that stick out among the crowd for some things and man, those are really fun. Most guys don’t have that “wow” in every aspect of the game like Elly De La Cruz, but some guys really do have that wow in one area and when you see it, you know it. That’s one of those things that I really hate about what happened to the short-season rookie level teams. MLB did keep their promise, mostly, that those towns wouldn’t lose their teams. But now those teams are 2nd or 3rd rate college summer leagues or indy ball leagues that are full of 22-25-year-old guys who just aren’t going to have that kind of stuff show up anymore. When Billings was affiliated they would get to see future big leaguers every year. Now you wonder if they’ll ever see another one. I think about stupid stuff like that a lot.
The loss of those short season/adv rookie teams still bugs me. It was “corporate,” pulling the plug on small town America, in just another way. So i do agree it’s a big loss, including for the players, ie those who need that incremental step between Rookie ball and A.
Having a AA team nearby was really, really great. My kids still talk about going. The Red Sox as well as the Twins played there for years. Both had tons of high quality players, and some future great ones, come through their systems in the 90’s and early 2000’s. But the lower levels are also well worth it. Imagine getting to see Reggie Sanders or Rob Dibble in Billings?
My best friend’s daughter at VCU was dating a guy who had been the starting point guard at Wake Forest before transferring to Virginia. My friend asked him what happened that he left. The kid said, “Chris Paul happened.”
I was at that game. I watched the ball hit the fence, turn around to see where Sanchez was and he was already at 3rd. Outfielder fielded the ball well and threw a good throw but Carlos had it.