AFL championship preview: Big bats abound

The Peoria Javelinas and Mesa Solar Sox followed a very similar formula en route to becoming the Arizona Fall League's dominant teams.
Peoria led the circuit with 178 runs while Mesa checked in second with 158. And while neither pitching staff ranked atop the league in terms of run prevention, they did finish first and second in strikeouts. The Solar Sox racked up 285 and the Javelinas punched out 260. 

The two clubs will put those parallel talents on display Saturday afternoon in the AFL Championship Game at Scottsdale Stadium. Mesa captured the East Division with a 16-13 record while Peoria staved off a late seven-game surge by Glendale to win the West at 18-12.
The Javelinas came into the season with the most star-studded lineup of the Fall League's six teams, boasting four of MLB.com's Top 100 prospects in Atlanta's Ronald Acuña Jr. (No. 5), Seattle's Kyle Lewis (No. 41), San Diego's Luis Urías (No. 48) and Boston's Michael Chavis (No. 92). Though Lewis was limited to just two games due to complications of a right-knee injury sustained in July 2016, the rest of the quartet delivered fine campaigns, perhaps none more so than Acuna. The 19-year-old outfielder led the circuit with seven long balls while batting .325 with a 1.053 OPS. Urias hit .315 and Chavis plated 17 runs while belting four homers.
The trio helped the lineup top the AFL in runs, homers (35), triples (14), doubles (61), total bases (486), average (.281) and on-base percentage (.348).
But the Javelinas' most prolific offensive performer ended up being Seattle's Eric Filia, who won the league batting title by 25 points over Surprise's Nicky Lopez (Royals) with a whopping .408 average in 22 games. Taken in the 20th round of the 2016 Draft, the 25-year-old outfielder hit .326 in 128 games with Class A Advanced Modesto during a breakout regular-season campaign.
"[It means] a lot," Filia told MLB.com of scoring the title. "I couldn't have done it without my teammates backing me up, getting on base and opening holes for me. Our lineup is stacked through and through. I just have to give credit to the guys."
On the mound, ninth-ranked Braves prospectMax Fried proved his success in the big leagues during the regular season was no fluke by posting a 3-1 record with a 1.73, a league-high 32 strikeouts and only eight walks in 26 innings. Atlanta was well represented on the squad as 10th-ranked Austin Riley accumulated a team-leading 18 RBIs and 16th-ranked Alex Jackson belted five home runs.
The Solar Sox lineup received less hype entering the season with Washington's Victor Robles (No. 2) and Houston's Kyle Tucker (No. 7) their lone Top-100 representatives. Both players struggled at times as Robles hit .244 in 13 games and Tucker batted .214 in 22 contests.

A handful of players helped pick up the slack, led by A's No. 14 prospectSheldon Neuse. Acquired from the Nationals in a trade deadline deal for relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle, the 2016 second-round pick led the league with 23 RBIs while batting .315 and swatting five homers.
Less-heralded players stepped up to fill prominent roles for Mesa. Kody Eaves (Tigers) finished ninth in the AFL batting chase with a .337 average while David Bote (Cubs) was a tick behind at .333 with four dingers and 14 RBIs.
The Solar Sox allowed 150 runs, third-fewest in the league. In particular, the bullpen stood out as Nationals righty Jimmy Cordero and Tigers righty Zac Houston combined to allow two runs and strike out 31 batters in 23 1/3 innings.
According to MLB.com, Blue Jays No. 5 prospect T.J. Zeuch (Peoria) and Cubs No. 20 prospectAlec Mills (Mesa) are expected to start on the mound for their respective sides. Zeuch posted a 3.44 ERA and 0.98 WHIP with 15 strikeouts and four walks over 18 1/3 innings during the AFL regular season, while Mills owned a 3.91 ERA and 1.39 WHIP with 20 strikeouts and six free passes in 23 frames. This will be the first time that either pitcher has faced the other side in the Fall League.
The Final begins at 3:08 p.m. ET.