Dodgers: AFL Prospects who Impressed and Disappointed

Dodgers AFL Wrap up-

The AFL is not an easy league. It’s more of an extended tournament, and players from all levels of the Minors have no real idea of what to expect.  Baseball is a game so deeply rooted in routine and regularity, these prospects are challenged in ways unique only to the Fall League and the Fall League alone.

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The unique challenges that the AFL expects players to overcome while in Arizona include dealing with taxi-cab roles on brand new teams, roles they may not necessarily agree with, and extra reps for pitchers and hitters after a long regular season.  Then there are still practices that accompany the extra games and all of these things contribute to the angst of Fall League baseball.

Therefore, it’s not totally fair to give Cody Thomas and Keibert Ruiz, the labels of “biggest letdown,” because these statistical “letdowns” are direct consequences of the sky-high expectations we (fans, media, etc.) place upon them.

If someone broke down your 2018, how would it look? My overall point is, an invitation to the AFL is, and should be viewed as a win unto itself.  What the player’s choose to do with their invitation is and isn’t always entirely up to them.

One universal constant that remains true throughout the AFL is: these players have all been chosen by their respective organizations, and they were chosen for a reason. Whatever the reasoning is, by the end of Fall, everyone should have answers, whether they’re good, bad, or ugly, is for the game to decide.

It’s the purity of baseball’s objectivity that makes the achievement of donning a MLB jersey for an MLB club just that incredible. The rest of us, as fans, are the luckiest of all.  All we have to do is, “sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.” Go Blue!