The footprint of some of baseball's greatest stars has been engrained into this league, beginning just a week after the major league baseball season has ended.
Ryan Braun made his mark there. Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, David Wright, and more recently Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, have all found themselves under the arid Arizona sun, trying to show the bevy of scouts on hand that they are ready to become the game's next wave of stars.
The Arizona Fall League has grown into more than just a showcase of talent since its inception in 1992. Rather, now the league is a developmental wonderland, allowing for scouts to see specific adjustments or for injured players to hone specific skills that they lost in missed time during the season, as well as being a stepping stone for the future.
And for the Milwaukee Brewers this season, the Arizona Fall League will be all of those things and more. But perhaps most importantly, the league is an opportunity to gauge whether the players involved are as close to being contributors on the major league level that the organization hopes they are.
This year, the Brewers will send at least eight prospects, including right-handers Nick Bucci, Kyle Heckathorn, Santo Manzanillo, Johnny Hellweg, and Jimmy Nelson, as well as first baseman Hunter Morris, and outfielders Khris Davis and Brock Kjeldgaard.
"The league itself is a stepping stone for most players," Brewers scouting director Bruce Seid said. "Mike Trout played in it last year. Bryce Harper played in it last year. Mike Fiers has been in it before, and so on down the line. We just want our guys to continue to face as much competition and good competition that's out there. They're out there trying to hone their skills, whether it's working on a certain pitch and continuing to develop it, or if they're hitters, it's about trying to hit a certain pitch or see a certain pitch better. … It can be their next step to the big leagues."
For Double-A Huntsville first baseman Hunter Morris, the league looks to be that next step that so many prospects before him have taken on their way to the major leagues.
The organization has always had high hopes for Morris, but outside of the Brewers, Morris was never really seen as someone with elite potential. According to a Baseball Prospectus report before the season, Morris was the organization's 19th-best prospect. His approach was "a mess", according to Kevin Goldstein, now pro scouting coordinator for the Houston Astros.
But the former fourth-round pick proved a number of people wrong in 2012, putting together the best offensive season of any position player in the Southern League, skating his way to a league MVP award. He finished with 28 home runs, 113 RBI, and a .303 batting average, warranting questions of whether Morris may be ready to contribute to the major league roster as early as next season.
Seid says, while he and the rest of the organization weren't surprised by Morris' success, continued success in the Arizona Fall League could greatly affect the trajectory of his path to the big leagues.
"Everyone outside the organization thinks it's a surprise that Hunter Morris has played the way he has," Seid said. "But the people in this organization have seen for a long time what he can do. The one thing he's done especially well is turn the corner defensively. Does that mean he's a finished product? By no means. But he has worked his tail off that now that's a part of his game where he can be a more well-rounded player. He had a great season, but no one was surprised with what he's doing. And he can show us even more in October."
And while the Arizona Fall League can help players like Morris build on the extraordinary success of the regular season, many prospects can use it as a taking-off point for what had been a season marred by injuries or one that was otherwise unimpressive for whatever reason.
That's the case for Triple-A Nashville outfielder Khris Davis, another prospect who was never touted as an elite potential guy. Davis took part in last season's Arizona Fall League, but was injured for a portion of this past season and played in just 76 games between Triple-A and Double-A. Having struggled at the Double-A level last season, batting just .210 in 35 games, Davis had to show scouts something in 2012. And after coming back from an injury, Davis was nearly unstoppable, hitting .383 in Huntsville and prompting a call-up to Nashville, where he hit .310.
Still, with his success coming so late, Davis needed extra time to continue that progress that he had so clearly made from 2011 to 2012. He was a perfect case, again, for the Arizona Fall League.
"The way Khris Davis came on in the second half, especially after having an injury, that was very impressive," Seid said. "We knew he had some power and we knew he could hit, but he hadn't really done it at the Double-A level yet. But after he came back from being hurt, he started hitting there, and then he went to Triple-A and did it there. … The fact that he missed a lot of time, this will be a great opportunity for him to keep facing competition. Hopefully that means it'll be a big stepping stone for him."
The league has even been mentioned as a potential landing spot for Brewers infielder Mat Gamel, who was set to be Milwaukee's full-time first baseman until an ACL injury derailed his season. He's since been replaced by Corey Hart, who has excelled at the position and seems to be in the plans for the future. So the Fall League could be potential proving ground for Gamel, who may be without a full-time spot at the major league level.
And while the decision on Gamel will ultimately be left to Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, Seid says that the league's use as a potential launching point for those marred by injuries makes it an incredibly useful tool.
"I'm not sure of the decision or the direction that's been made at this point (regarding Gamel)," Seid said. "But as far as being able to do that for guys like Nick Bucci and Khris Davis, those guys are just going to continue to accumulate at-bats, see the best pitching as possible, and continue to build some strength and build themselves back up. That'll lead them into spring training, and hopefully some good things next year.
"When a guy comes in because of an injury, they're coming there on a mission, and that's to continue to progress and do the things they didn't have time to do during the season."
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