MacKenzie Gore, C.J. Abrams among Padres included on 2021 Arizona Fall League roster

The San Diego Padres are sending eight of their top prospects to the Arizona Fall League this year. The Arizona Fall League (AFL), for those who don’t know, is an offseason sports league that allows some of the top prospects in the game to play with and against one another while being evaluated by scouts.

There are six rosters that feature a combination of five major league farm systems. The full AFL rosters can be found here. Here are the AFL teams with the major league teams they’re made up of in parenthesis.

• Glendale Desert Dogs (Angels, Astros, Cardinals, Dodgers, White Sox)
• Mesa Solar Sox (Athletics, Blue Jays, Cubs, Orioles, Marlins)
• Peoria Javelinas (Braves, Mariners, Padres, Phillies, Pirates)
• Salt River Rafters (Brewers, Diamondbacks, Mets, Rockies, Tigers)
• Scottsdale Scorpions (Giants, Indians, Rays, Red Sox, Twins)
• Surprise Saguaros (Nationals, Reds, Rangers, Royals, Yankees)

As you can see, the Padres prospects will be playing on the Peoria Javelinas. The eight prospects San Diego is sending to Arizona are pitchers Tom Cosgrove, MacKenzie Gore, Jesse Scholtens, Jose Quezada, and Matt Waldron, and position players C.J. Abrams, Matt Batten, and Eguy Rosario.

Gore and Abrams are obviously the headliners here for the Padres. Gore had a disappointing minor league season mainly because he stayed in the minor leagues the entire season. There was some hope he’d be able to contribute at the major league level at some point in 2021 but he dealt with mechanical problems in his windup and delivery. Those troubles sent him all the way back down from Triple-A to Peoria.

Gore got back to pitching against higher level of competition, although it was only in Double-A. In Gore’s two most recent starts, he went a combined nine innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits and eight walks. It will be interesting to see if Gore can take that next step when he faces some of the best minor league competition out there.

Abrams will be partaking in his first game action since breaking his leg and spraining his MCL in June. As of late September, Abrams’ recovery was going as smoothly as the Padres organization could’ve hoped, which is why San Diego feels comfortable in getting him on the field in the fall. The 21-year-old was nearly hitting .300 at Double-A while playing a solid shortstop at the time of his season-ending injuries.

With Tatis obviously at shortstop long term in San Diego, perhaps we’ll see Abrams take some reps at second base or in the outfield in any action he gets in the AFL.